Title: Photographs: Subjects, c. 1850s-Present

ID: RG 32/005/

Extent: 19.75 Linear Feet

Creators

Forms of Material (links to similar genres)

Languages of Materials

Administrative Information

Acquired: 1966. Accession No: Various; see Acquisition Note.

Restrictions: Unrestricted access.

Rights: Those photographs taken for the college as works for hire belong to the college outright. Photographs from the late twentieth century and later with stamps from photographic firms are more likely to have requirements as to credit lines or restrictions; consult the College Archivist. Born digital photographs on reference CD-ROMs must be viewed on the public computer in the reading room.

Acquisition Note: The bulk of the photographic record of the college was transferred without accession from the Office of the Secretary after the establishment of the Archives in 1966. Since that time photographs have come from a variety of offices and individuals. In 2009 the Communications Office moved to a different building on campus, and a great many photographs, negatives, slides and other visual materials were transferred to the Archives that year. Most of this material dated from the 1980s through the early 2000s. Born digital photographs have come to the Archives in small numbers since about 2000.

Related Materials:

32/1 Students: World War I

32/2 Miscellaneous Photographs

32/3 Portraits

32/4 Buildings

32/6 Negatives

32/7 Photograph Albums

32/8 Hi-O-Hi Yearbook Photographs

32/9 Slides

32/10 Oversize Photographs

32/11 Panorama and Rolled Miscellaneous Photographs

32/12 View Books and Other Publications

Other Collections with Photographs

6 Business and Finance

9/3 Allen Memorial Art Building

9/6 Physical Education Department

10 Conservatory of Music

15 Oberlin Shansi Memorial Association

18 Office of Communications

30 Personal Papers

36 Postcards

40 Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Other Framed Items

41 College Archives

See also Oberlin College Archives digital collections at: http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/digital/index.html

Finding Aid Revisions: Processed by Archives staff. Finding guide prepared by Anne Cuyler Salsich, April 2014; August 2018.

Collection Material Type: Artificial Collection

Scope and Contents:

This grouping, arranged by subject, holds the largest numbers of photographic prints in the Oberlin College Archives. The bulk of them are 8” x 10” or smaller, and are stored vertically in file cabinet drawers. Older, more fragile prints are stored separately in records cartons and require more careful handling. The subject headings were locally derived and do not adhere to any controlled vocabulary.

The older prints, dating from the 1850s to the later 1910s, were produced by independent photographers in the region. In 1917 a College Photographer position was created for Arthur Ludwig Princehorn. He and his son Arthur Ewing Princehorn produced nearly all of the college’s negatives and photographs from 1917 to 1969 (see the Princehorn Family Papers, RG 30/416). The prints for this period were derived from negatives kept by the college photographers and noted on a log sheet by year. Other photographers were retained for special assignments, such as the All-College Photographs and illustraions for the yearbook. Later the College used photographers working in the college’s Communications Office, or local commercial photographers, and negatives were not systematically recorded or kept. During the 1980s and 1990s color slides were frequently used, and prints were only made on demand. In some cases photographs were taken by professionals outside the Northeast Ohio region. Sometimes photographers’ names or firm names appear stamped or inscribed on the backs of prints.

Beginning in the early 2000s, campus offices and individuals documented the College with digital cameras. As of 2018, this represents a small number of photographs in this group. The subjects represented in born digital photographs are indicated on the inventory. If reference CD-ROMs are available for these subjects, they can be viewed on a public access computer in the reading room.

The subject heading "Visitors to Campus” lists names and dates for the visits. These include John Cage, Shirley Chisholm, Ralph Nader, Odetta, Pete Seeger, Gloria Steinem, Mark Twain, and many other famous persons. Sound or moving image recordings from these visits may be available.

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