Photographs: Oversize Prints, 1868-1993, n.d.
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Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative InformationThe photographs in this grouping, with the exception of one item, are difficult to trace to specific accessions. The bulk of the photographs dating from before 1966 were transferred from the Office of the Secretary with the establishment of the Archives. A framed photograph of the Oberlin College Glee Club of 1919-20 was received in 2006 from George Bent, Oberlin College class of 1952.
The college hired freelance photographers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 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). Sometimes photographers’ names appear stamped or inscribed on the backs of prints.
In 2009 the Communications Office moved to a different building on campus, and a great many photographs, negatives, and other visual materials were transferred to the Archives that year. Most of this material dated from the 1980s through the early 2000s.
Photographs of the construction of the original geodesic domes used as art studios in 1971 were received with other records about the domes in accession 2017/034, from the Art Department.
Photographs: Oversize Prints is an artificial classification for prints larger than legal paper size (8.5 x 14”). These prints, if smaller than oversize, would have been relegated to the subject classifications used for smaller photographs such as portraits, buildings, and so on. A wide range of subject matter and types of images fall into this group. The physical sizes of the prints determined the way in which they were boxed.
When this group of photographs was first organized and described, they were boxed in order relating to their subject, with the first 20 boxes classified as Oversize and boxes 23 to 24 as Oversized Oversize and Miscellaneous. Since then new boxes have been added without distinguishing between large and extra large box sizes.
The following major headings appear in box order. See the Inventory for a more detailed description of box contents.
Oversize
Box 1
Aerial Views
Boxes 2-5
Athletic Teams
Boxes 6-10
Buildings
Boxes 11-13
Class Group Portraits
Boxes 14-15
Diverse Groups
Box 16
Graduate School of Theology
Box 17
Individuals
Boxes 18-20
Musical Groups and Glee Clubs
Boxes 21-22
Miscellaneous
Aerial View of Oberlin
Oberlin Houses and Streets
Oberlin Kindergarten Training School
Oberlin Preparatory Academy
Oberlin Public Schools
Oversized Oversize and Miscellaneous
Box 23
Aerial Views
Buildings
Class Group Portraits
Box 24
Diverse Groups
Musical Groups and Glee Clubs
Miscellaneous
Oversize
Boxes 25-29
Exhibits
Box 30
Miscellaneous
Box 31
Portraits
Groups
Buildings
Subjects
Box 32
Framed Photographs
Glee Club
Box 33
Exhibits
Box 34
Athletics
Band
Class of 1899 Reunion
Box 35 (Tall Legal)
Band
Domes, Geodesic
Warner Hall
Portraits
Groups
Illumination Night
Mock Convention
Oberlin-Wellington Rescuers
Dedication of UGRR Monument