Douglas V. Steere Papers, 1910-11, 1926, 1941, 1976, n.d. | Oberlin College Archives

The materials in the Douglas V. Steere Papers have exclusively to do with his interest in and study of John Frederick (Jean-Frédéric or Johann Friedrich) Oberlin (1740-1826), the Alsatian pastor who served in the Ban de la Roche region in the Vosges Mountains of Alsace in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries.  Steere visited Oberlin’s pastorate in the years following World War II, when he was involved in recovery efforts by the American Friends Service Committee.

Steere, Douglas V. (1902-1995)

Douglas V. (Van) Steere was an author and philosophy professor at Haverford College from 1928 to 1964.  He was born in Harbor Beach, Michigan in 1902.  He received an undergraduate degree from Michigan State University in 1929, a master’s degree from Harvard University in 1925 and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard in 1931.  He also earned degrees from Oxford University in 1927 and 1954.  Also in 1954, Oberlin College bestowed upon him an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.

A Quaker leader throughout his career, Steere interrupted his teaching after the Second World War to urge recovery efforts by the American Friends Service Committee in Europe.  It was during that time that Steere visited the region of Alsace-Lorraine, France in which John Frederick Oberlin served as pastor in the Ban de la Roche in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries.  Steere took photographs and collected materials related to Oberlin’s life and work.

He represented the Society of Friends at the Second Vatican Council in 1964, and was chairman of the Friends World Committee for Consultation from 1964 to 1970.  The organization helped arrange international meetings of theologians in Japan and India to explore ecumenism.

Steere was the author of more than 10 books, including “On Beginning From Within” (1943), “Doors Into Life” (1948), “On Listening to Another” (1955), and “Work and Contemplation” (1957).

On February 6, 1995, Douglas V. Steere died of Alzheimer’s disease.  He was survived by his wife, Dorothy Mac Eachron Steere, and his daughters, Helen Horn and Anne Nash.

Sources Consulted

J. Michael Elliott, “Douglas Steere, 93, Author, Professor, and Quaker Leader,” The New

            York Times, February 16, 1995, accessed online on 11/21/2016.

Oberlin College Archives

            RG 0 College General, 1954 Commencement File.

            RG 32/3 Photographs: Faculty, Staff, and Others: John Frederick Oberlin.

Author: Anne Cuyler Salsich

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