Malcolm D. Taylor Papers, 1910-1981
| Oberlin College Archives
Administrative/Biographical History
Malcolm Dean Taylor was born in Delaware, Ohio, on May 2, 1894, to Orville Edmund Taylor and Eva Amelia (Strong) Taylor. Other siblings included sisters: Mildred Taylor McGowan and Amy Taylor Hannum Guthrie. After nearly finishing high school in Delaware, Ohio, Taylor's family moved to Gustavus, Ohio, where he complete his secondary education. In order to raise money for his college tuition, Taylor spent three years teaching junior high school in Kinsman, Ohio. In 1916, Taylor matriculated to Oberlin College at 22 years old.
In 1917, Malcolm Taylor enlisted into the Army Medical Department. Upon being called into active service on March 14, 1918, he left Oberlin College and reported to the Base Hospital Unit #25 training at Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio. His service took him to Allery, Saome et Lois, France for seven months and then in February 1919 to Berlin, Germany, with an American Red Cross Commission. Discharged from service in July 1919, he returned to Oberlin to finish his A.B. degree in English and graduated in 1921. At Oberlin, Taylor was active in the Republican Party, organizing the Harding-for-President Campaign in 1920.
From Oberlin College, Taylor attended Harvard University Business School, receiving his M.B.A. in 1923. As a graduate student at Harvard, Taylor was a member of the Editorial Board of the Harvard Business Review. He also completed the 1921 summer term at Ohio State University studying commerce and education and the 1928 and 1929 summer terms at University of Chicago studying education. During the summer of 1922, Taylor worked as a researcher in the Scruggs-Vandervoort-Barney Department Store in St. Louis, Missouri. After receiving his M.B.A., Taylor spent one year as a researcher at the Harvard University Bureau of Business Research.
In 1924, Taylor was employed as an Assistant Professor of Sales Relations in the School of Commerce of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC). He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1925, and named a full Professor in 1929. During his twenty-two year tenure at UNC, Taylor took some extended leaves and held a number of outside positions in the private sector. Included is service as a Special Market Investigator for the Fayette R. Plumb Co. of Philadelphia during the summer of 1925.
Over the next twenty-five years, Taylor also held a number of positions with the federal government (consulting, research, and teaching): Economist with the Federal Trade Commission, 1931-1932; the Office of Price Administration, 1943-1944; Visiting Professor of Business Research, 1944-1945; Professor of Marketing at Biarritz American University, France, and at American University of Berlin, 1946-1949. These were schools for soldiers stationed in Europe. Taylor's Association with the Office of Military Government in Berlin continued beyond 1949, when he was made Assistant Economic Commissioner with E.C.A. [?] and U.S. State Department in Athens, Greece, a position he held until 1951. His last government position was with the Office of Price Stabilization (1952-1953).
Taylor returned to academic teaching during the fall of 1954, and over the next fifteen years he taught at a number of different institutions. Included is time as Visiting Professor of Marketing at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 1954-1959; Professor of Marketing at California Western University, San Diego, 1960-1964. Although Taylor left California Western in 1964, he stayed part-time at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) until 1969, when he retired from teaching. Taylor did "extension teaching" at UCSD until the mid-1970s.
During his professional career, Taylor held a number of offices. He was the Secretary/Treasurer of the Scholastic Honorary Fraternity at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; the Director of the American Marketing Association; the Vice-President of National Association of Marketing Teachers; an Elected member of National Distribution Council; and a Member of Southern Economic Association, Beta Gamma Sigma, and Delta Sigma Pi.
Taylor was also a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Marketing, the National Marketing Review, the National Roster of the American Marketing Association of 1942 and 1943, and the Harvard Business Review. He was also a frequent contributor to these periodicals, amassing dozens of publications. Taylor authored a Federal Trade Commission study of Chain Store Private Brands in 1932 and co-authored both an Economic Survey of Wilmington, North Carolina, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1927) and National Advertising in Newspapers, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1945).
Taylor's niece, Mary A. Hannum, graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory in 1950 with a Mus.B.
In the years before his death, the unmarried Taylor returned to Ohio to live with his sister, Mildred, in Girard, Ohio. In 1979, both he and his sister moved to the Park Vista retirement home in Youngstown, Ohio, where Taylor remained until he died, July 6, 1980. His two sisters, Mildred and Amy, survived him.
A photograph and biographical information about Malcolm D. Taylor are included in the digital collection “Oberlin College and Military Service in World War I,” presented by the Oberlin College Archives at http://cdm15963.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/ww1.
Sources Consulted
Malcolm D. Taylor’s Student File (RG 28).
Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative Information
The papers of Malcolm D. Taylor span the years 1910 to 1981 with the bulk of the collection dating from 1914-1920. During this period, Taylor taught in a junior high school in Kinsman, Ohio, was educated at Oberlin College, and served in the First World War. Less well highlighted is Taylor's professional life after graduation. There is virtually no information about Taylor's personal life.
The Taylor papers are organized into eight series: Series I. Biographical File; Series II. Correspondence; Series III. Postcards; Series IV. Invitations; Series V. Miscellaneous Speeches and Writings; Series VI. Photographs; Series VII. Travel Materials; and Series VIII. Miscellaneous Printed Material. Within these series, materials are arranged by subject and then chronologically.
Taylor's experience in the First World War is very well documented. The bulk of the Correspondence is to or from Taylor when he was serving in the Army. Most of the Travel Materials are also from this period, as are many of the Photographs, and all of the Postcards.
The Biographical File includes an estate file, modest financial records, vital records, and other miscellany. It highlights Taylor's social and scholastic experiences at Oberlin. The financial records are a meticulous record of Taylor's investments from 1926-1949. The File is arranged chronologically by type of material.
The Correspondence, personal and professional, is arranged into three subseries: Outgoing; Incoming, Personal; and Incoming, Professional. In addition to the documentation of Taylor's experience in the First World War, there is information regarding his professional life. Each subseries is arranged chronologically.
The latter six series are each modest collections of materials. The Postcard series includes both cards he sent to his family during the War and then collected after he came home, and cards he collected but did not send. Collectively, they constitute a travel diary, documenting Taylor's service and travel in Europe during the First World War. The bulk of the Invitations series is from friends at Oberlin College, documenting some of the social events during Taylor's time at college. The Miscellaneous Speeches and Writings series contains both manuscript and printed materials documenting only a few of Taylor's writings. The Photographs series contains both amateur photographs presumably taken by Taylor and professional photographs documenting many of the institutions with which Taylor was associated. They are of varying sizes. The Travel Materials include a small selection of the memorabilia from Taylor's European travels. Finally, the Miscellaneous Printed Material, which consists of newspaper clippings and pamphlets, was collected by Taylor either because of his appearance in the document or because of its commemorative value.
Series Descriptions
Series I. Biographical File, 1913-1981 (8f)
This miscellaneous file includes an estate file, modest financial records, vital records, and other miscellany. It is arranged chronologically by type of material.
Series II. Correspondence, 1914-1945
This personal and business correspondence is arranged into three subseries: Outgoing; Incoming, Personal; and Incoming, Professional. Each subseries is arranged chronologically.
Subseries 1. Outgoing, 1918-1919 (4f)
This outgoing correspondence consists of Taylor's letters to his family during the First World War.
Subseries 2. Incoming, Personal, 1914-1917, 1919, 1921-1925 (4f)
This incoming correspondence consists of personal letters received by Taylor from friends and family. Included are letters from Oberlin students to Taylor during his service in the First World War.
Subseries 3. Incoming, Professional, 1915-1916, 1918-1921, 1937-1945 (3f)
This incoming correspondence consists of professional letters received by Taylor.
Series III. Invitations, 1918-1923 (1f)
The bulk of these invitations are from friends at Oberlin College, documenting some of the social events during Taylor's time at college.
Series IV. Miscellaneous Printed Material, 1916-1927, n.d. (1f)
This material, newspaper clippings and pamphlets, was collected by Taylor either because of his appearance in the document or because of its commemorative value.
Series V. Miscellaneous Speeches and Writings, 1914, c.1920, 1930 (1f)
This file contains both manuscript and printed materials documenting only a few of Taylor's writings.
Series VI. Miscellaneous Travel Materials, 1918-1919, 1946-1948 (2f)
This file includes selections of memorabilia from Taylor's European travels.
Series VII. Postcards, 1918-1919 (2f)
Collectively, these postcards, sent and unsent, constitute a travel diary, documenting Taylor's service and travel in Europe during the First World War
Series VIII. Photographs, 1910-1920, n.d. (2f)
These photographs contain both amateur photographs presumably taken by Taylor and professional photographs documenting many of the institutions with which Taylor was associated. They are of varying sizes.
Subseries 1. Prints, 1910-1920, n.d.
These prints are both professional and amateur photographs of a great range of subjects.
Subseries 2. Negatives, 1914-1920, n.d.
These negatives are mainly amateur photographs of Taylor and groups of his friends.
INVENTORY
Series I. Biographical File, 1913-1981, n.d.
Box 1
Biographical File
Vital Records, 1913-1921, 1946-1948, 1967 (3f)
[oversize materials housed in Box 2]
Financial Records, c. 1916, 1926-1949 (3f)
Estate File, 1981
Miscellaneous, 1915-1921, 1934, n.d.
Series II. Correspondence, 1914-1945
Subseries 1. Outgoing, 1918-1919
Box 2
Outgoing Correspondence, 1918-1919 (4f)
Personal correspondence during WWI
Subseries 2. Incoming, Personal, 1914-1917, 1919, 1921-1925
Box 2 (cont.)
Incoming Correspondence, Personal, 1914-1917,
1919, 1921-25 (4f)
Subseries 3. Incoming, Business, 1915-1916, 1918-1921, 1937-1945
Box 2 (cont.)
Incoming Correspondence, Business, 1915-1916,
1918-1921, 1937-1945 (3f)
Series III. Invitations, 1918-1923
Box 2 (cont.)
Invitations, 1918-1923
Series IV. Miscellaneous Printed Material, 1916-1927, n.d.
Box 2 (cont.)
Miscellaneous Printed Material, 1916-1927, n.d.
Series V. Miscellaneous Speeches and Writings, 1914, c. 1920, 1930
Box 2 (cont.)
Miscellaneous Speeches and Writings, 1914,
c. 1920, 1930
Series VI. Miscellaneous Travel Materials, 1918-1919, 1946-1948
Box 2 (cont.)
Miscellaneous Travel Materials, 1918-1919,
1946-1948 (2f)
Series VII. Postcards, 1918-1919
Box 2 (cont.)
Postcards
Sent, c. 1918-1919
Unsent, c. 1918-1919
Series VIII. Photographs, 1910-1920, n.d.
Subseries 1. Prints, 1910-1920, n.d.
Box 3
Photographs
Prints, 1910-1920, n.d.
[oversize materials housed in Box 2]
Subseries 2. Negatives, 1914-1920, n.d.
Box 3 (cont.)
Photographs
Negatives, 1914-1920, n.d.
(Includes materials of varying sizes)