William H. Warren Papers, 1995-2003, n.d.
| Oberlin College Archives
Administrative/Biographical History
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL, 1995-2002
The idea of creating a memorial to Oberlin College alumni who had lost their lives in the Second World War first surfaced at a special alumni reunion held in Oberlin, Ohio, August 17-20, 1995, entitled “Reflection on the 40’s: Impact of the War Years.” Moved by a monument they had seen at Oxford University listing all alumni who had been killed in the war, irrespective of the nation they had served, William H. ’48 and Caroline (Morris) Warren ‘46 informally suggested creating such a memorial at Oberlin. Those with whom they spoke responded favorably, some agreeing to serve on a sponsoring committee, so the idea was proposed to the college administration and supported by President Nancy Schrom Dye and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, William Perlik ’48. Mr. Warren, a Trustee of Oberlin College at the time, organized a sponsoring committee to conceptualize, design, build and fund the memorial. On September 17, 1995, he convened the committee of Paul Arnold ‘40, Father John Kinkopf ’47, The Reverend William Reid ’45, James Sunshine ’49, James Truitt ’47, Anne Parker Tuck ’46, Norman Williams ex-‘45, and Barbara King Wright ’41. Mr. Warren was elected chairman and Geoffrey Blodgett “53, the Danforth Professor of History who had a strong interest in Oberlin architecture, was added to the committee.
During the fall of 1995 the committee addressed issues relating to the scope of the memorial (should the Korean and Vietnam Wars be included?) the location, design, and content of the monument, and the criteria for inclusion in the memorial. With college approval, a site along the south wall of Finney Chapel was selected. The committee proposed to construct a “War Memorial Garden” with a monument listing the names of all alumni – military and civilian, irrespective of the nation served – who had lost their lives due to the Second World War, to fund maintenance of the Garden, and to endow a college scholarship in memory of those who had died in the war. The overall design was to include space for memorials of other wars, should there be subsequent interest. Don Van Dyke ‘47, a volunteer researcher at the Oberlin College Archives, undertook pro bono the task of establishing an accurate and complete list of the dead, building on a list developed by Margaret Sahs Erickson ’62 of the Alumni Office. His task was aided by a card file of names of those in service, including the alumni who had died in the war, located at the Oberlin College Archives in the papers of Oberlin WW II-era president Ernest Hatch Wilkins. Wilkins corresponded with all Oberlin alumni in wartime service. A notice placed in the Oberlin Alumni Magazine also yielded names and several contacts with families of those who had died. The discovery that Masaru Nakamura, a graduate of the Oberlin School of Theology, had been killed while serving in the Imperial Japanese Navy prompted the committee to re-examine their criteria for inclusion in the memorial. Following discussion in which most members favored including Nakamura, all agreed to incorporate his name.
Fundraising was launched in late 1995 with an appeal letter to about 5,000 alumni from the classes of 1930 through 1949. The college staff solicited proposals from several landscape designers and architects and the committee and staff awarded the contract to landscape architect James McKnight, of Cleveland, Ohio. Drawing on the Cass Gilbert Romanesque design and the materials of Finney Chapel, McKnight created a low wall in the garden, reminiscent of ruins from a cloister, on which the names of the dead were inscribed in bands of individual bronze plaques. At the committee’s request, the design of the garden included cuttings of ivy from vines planted by President Wilkins in 1946 at the northeast portico of the Men’s Building (now Wilder Hall) in memory of Herbert Derwig ’46, who was killed in action,
The groundbreaking for the Garden was held during the 1996 commencement/reunion weekend, the 50th Reunion for many of those involved. Warren presented the memorial to the College and President Nancy Schrom Dye accepted, unveiling drawings and a model of the design. Three other members of the committee offered reflections: Barbara King Wright spoke of her experience as a female Marine and discussed the bombing of Hiroshima. James Sunshine framed the lives and deaths of several of his classmates and friends in the larger narrative of the war. Norman Williams described his own experience as a conscientious objector, his being haunted by a personal letter from the battlefront, and the need to extend the reach of the memorial beyond Oberlin’s dead. (His remarks were read by Geoffrey Blodgett in his absence.) Other committee members read the roll of the seventy-five alumni named on the memorial, and Father Jack Kinkopf, the Rev. Bill Reid, and Rabbi Shimon Brand from the college’s Office of Chaplains each offered a benediction, followed by the playing of “Taps.”
Over the summer and fall the design was refined and fundraising continued. In March of 1997, real – as opposed to symbolic – ground was broken and the memorial was completed by commencement weekend in 1997 at a total cost of $52,026, in addition to materials, plantings and labor contributed by the College. Ten thousand dollars was transferred to the endowment, income from which would cover maintenance and replacement costs. Following completion of the Memorial Garden, at the committee’s request the College agreed to permit additional fundraising until June 30, 2002. In the ensuing five years, reunion classes from the World War II era and other special groups were targeted for gifts to the Fund.
The College established in May 2000 an endowed World War II Memorial Scholarship Fund to provide financial aid to an entering student. The initial $60,000 endowed fund, which came from three sources, now exceeds $100,000. The College first made the award to an entering student in the 2000-01 academic year.
Sources Consulted
The William H. Warren Papers RG 30/332. William H. Warren (OC 1948) provided additional information and editorial comments.
Author: Mark Genszler Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative InformationRecords of the Office of the Secretary (RG 5), Historical Files (World War II), Subgroup IX, Series 6, Subseries 2.
Ernest Hatch Wilkins Papers (RG 2/7).
Architectural Records (RG 53) (1999/037), Architectural Drawings of the World War II Memorial Garden, James McKnight.
The papers of William H. Warren are comprised of materials collected by Warren that document the efforts of the World War II Memorial Sponsoring Committee to plan, design, and fund the World War II memorial on the Oberlin College campus. Warren served as the chair and guiding force of the committee from its inception in 1995. Received in two accessions in 2001–with one later addition in 2003–the materials document the work of the committee as a group and of Warren as an individual to create the content of the memorial, establish an accurate list of Oberlin alumni who died during the war, and raise the money necessary for the memorial's construction and maintenance as well as for the establishment of a World War II Memorial Scholarship. In most cases, Warren's basic arrangement of the materials has been retained at the folder level.
The collection is separated into four series: Series I. Memorial Design and Construction Files; Series II. Research Files; Series III. Fundraising Files; and Series IV. Photographs. The first three series contain a variety of materials, including a sizable amount of correspondence. Copies of articles and personal notes also make up a large part of the materials, many of which are copies of originals in the Oberlin College Archives.
A basic documentary history of the committee's work is contained within Series I. Of particular interest are the memos sent by Warren to committee members over the course of their work together, 1995-2000. The committee reached consensus on a variety of issues: whom to include in the memorial's list of names; what quotation to add, and what tone to set; what to call the memorial, itself, and where to locate it; what font to use for words inscribed in the memorial's sandstone; how ambitious to be in fundraising. Throughout the process, Warren maintained a wide correspondence with committee members, Oberlin staff and alumni, those involved in the construction process, and many from outside the college community interested in the building of the memorial for one reason or another.
The architectural plans are also contained in Series I, as is correspondence between the landscape architect for the project (James McKnight), Warren, and others. Another subject documented in the correspondence is the controversy surrounding the eventual inclusion on the memorial of Masaru Nakamura, a graduate of the Oberlin School of Theology who died while apparently serving in the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Also, with Warren as the collecting nexus, the papers document the research undertaken to compile a list of alumni names for the memorial, as well as the project's fund raising. Photographic prints and photocopies provide a visual context for the collection as a whole.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series I. Memorial Design and Construction Files, 1995-2000 (9 folders)
This series is a compilation of folders received from Warren, generally left as they were received. Committee communication - both internal memos and external correspondence – architectural plans, construction invoices and correspondence, personal notes, transcripts from speeches at the groundbreaking ceremony, programs, and an audio cassette tape of that ceremony, and a student paper all document the process whereby an idea that had its genesis at an alumni gathering in 1995 reached fruition in a memorial and a scholarship several years later.
See also: Architectural Drawings of the WW II Memorial Garden by James McKnight, Architectural Records RG 53 (1999/037).
Series II. Research Files, 1995-96, 2002-03, n.d. (6 folders)
This series consists of several versions of the list of alumni to be honored on the memorial, each growing with additions made or verified by volunteers working in the College Archives; copies of pertinent articles from Oberlin College and other publications; notes taken by those doing research – chief among them Don Van Dyke (OC 1947) - at the Oberlin College Archives and other college offices; a registry of names with biographical and death information; correspondence relating to the inclusion or exclusion of specific names or groups of people. One folder consists of materials received from Van Dyke rather than from Warren. Also in this series is correspondence received by the College Archives in 2003 that addresses the question of the proper class year affiliation for Richard Cowan (OC ex-1944), one of those whose name is listed on the memorial.
Series III. Fundraising Files, 1995-2000 (4 folders)
This series consists of correspondence between Warren and various Oberlin College officials involved in the arranging of the mechanisms by which money would be raised and retained for the memorial and subsequent scholarship. Versions of the various fundraising letters and committee correspondence pertaining to the fundraising process are complemented by samples of the pledge cards sent with the mailings.
Series IV. Photographs, 1997, n.d. (13 photos/ copies)
This series consists of two color photographs of the completed memorial, color copies of photographs of the memorial site and completed memorial, and black and white photocopies of the site and memorial.
INVENTORY
Series I. Memorial Design and Construction Files, 1995-2000 (9f)
Box 1
Committee memos and replies, 1995-2000
Committee surveys, replies re: memorial
content, 1995
Correspondence, general, 1995-2000
Design and construction, 1995-99 (2f)
Groundbreaking ceremony, 1995-96 (3f)
Mosby, Kimberley. ‘In memory of those we lost.’
Student paper/history of memorial, 2000
See also Architectural Drawings of the WW II
Memorial Garden, by James McKnight.
Architectural Records Group
RG 53 (1999/037)
Series II. Research Files, 1995-96, 2002-03, n.d. (6f)
Box 2
Articles and notes, 1995-96
Casualty list, correspondence, notes, 1995-96
Registry (biographical information), notes,
1995-96
Cowan, Richard (correspondence re: proper
class affiliation), 2002-03
Sunshine, J.K. ‘Tis Not The Dying,’ Oberlin
College Alumni Magazine, 1996
Van Dyke, Don, Additional research materials,
c. 1995-1997
Series III. Fundraising Files, 1995-2000 (4f)
Box 2 (cont.)
Correspondence, 1995-96
Letters to alumni (drafts), 1995-2000 (2f)
Pledge card (samples), n.d.
Series IV. Photographs, 1997, n.d. (2f)
Box 2 (cont.)
Memorial and site, 1997, n.d. (2 color prints,
6 color copies, 5 b/w copies)