Scope and Contents: The Objects Collection comprises approximately 400 objects as of 2014, most of which are not associated with another record group or personal paper group. All of the objects have been photographed and described for an image database at http://cdm15963.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/objects. This image database, titled the Archives Museum Collection, also holds digital surrogates for RG 40, Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Other Framed Items.
It is difficult to pinpoint the oldest item in the Objects Collection, which includes a crosscut of the “Historic Elm” which stood on the site of what became the Oberlin Colony when its founders purportedly prayed under it in 1833. The crosscut was made in 1965, when the elm succumbed to Dutch elm disease. The collection also holds a wooden box made from timbers from Tappan Hall, an early college dormitory and instructional building built in 1836 and demolished in 1885.
Most of the items in the collection were donated by alums and date from their time as Oberlin College students or from alumni reunions. The collection holds trophies, banners, clothing, buttons, medallions, hand presses for seals, glassware, ephemera, canes, umbrellas, and other memorabilia. New objects are added to the collection, and to the image database, every year.
Forms of Material (links to similar genres)
