William Hayden Boyers Papers, 1944-1982, undated | Oberlin College Archives

The collection is arranged into nine series, which are described in the Series Descriptions.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Series 1. Correspondence, 1962, 1972, undated

This series contains nine letters and three postcards to and from W. Hayden Boyers, as well as three blank postcards. The bulk of the letters all come from Boyers’ time at Saint Paul’s College and concern production and travel logistics.

Series 2. Miscellaneous Materials, 1944, 1971-72

There are two items in this series. One is a speech written by Boyers on the study of foreign languages and the other is a syllabus for his course at Saint Paul’s College entitled “Modern Drama.”

Series 3. Newspaper Clippings and Articles, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1972

This series contains two periodicals (one of which is in French) relating to theatre, as well as several articles and advertisements concerning shows that Boyers directed. Included in this series is a news article announcing a performance by the Saint Paul Players of Don-Jo Victorious, an original adaptation by Boyers of Moliere’s Don Juan. (Programs for this production are included in the following series.)

Series 4. Programs, 1962-72, undated

The programs are divided into three sections. The first, “Performances by Boyers,” consists of programs for shows that Boyers directed, produced or oversaw, most of which were performed at either Saint Paul’s College or Oberlin College. They include Gilbert and Sullivan operettas as well as French plays. The second, “Other theatre,” contains programs from his travels in London as well as one program from Nashua, New Hampshire. The third, “Church and college,” consists of programs from Saint Paul’s College and one from the Ohio Federation of Women’s Clubs 68th annual convention, where the Oberlin College Gilbert and Sullivan Players performed as part of the program.

Series 5. Prompt Books, Scripts, Libretti and Production Notes, 1953, 1955, 1958, 1963, 1969, 1970, 1972, undated

The prompt books, scripts, libretti and production notes relate to Boyers’ productions, primarily of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and French plays. Many of the scripts are marked up with direction notes. A few of the production notes include set design drawings.

Series. 6. Scrapbooks, 1950-51, 1954-67

This series includes eight scrapbooks from the Oberlin College Gilbert and Sullivan Players. They contain photographs, periodical clippings and programs, and pertain to both Oberlin and Cape Cod events.

Series 7. Writings by Dorothy Stark Boyers, 1967, 1981-82, undated

This series consists of unpublished works of poetry and fiction, including two novels, by Boyers’ wife, Dorothy Stark Boyers. All are in typed manuscript form.

Series 8. Non-textual Materials, 1952-67

The non-textual materials are subdivided into the following three subseries.

        Subseries I. Photographs, 1952-66

        This subseries consists of photographs of Gilbert and Sullivan production performances at Oberlin College. There are also miscellaneous rehearsal photographs of the Gilbert and Sullivan Summer Players in Cape Cod. Many of the photographs and individuals are unidentified.

        Subseries II. Slides and Filmstrip, 1956, undated

        This subseries contains one filmstrip and three boxes of slides. One of the boxes, labeled “G&S Summer ’56 Cape Cod, Oberlin College,” contains images of students in costume and of productions from the Gilbert and Sullivan Players at Cape Cod in 1956. The other two boxes, each labeled “Duplicates,” appear to contain images of students and faculty at one or more receptions at Saint Paul’s College. The filmstrip, entitled “Medieval Theatre - The Miracle and Mystery Plays, Part I,” consists of a series of medieval paintings.

        Subseries III. Reel-to-Reel Recording, 1967

        This subseries includes a reel-to-reel recording (five reels) of a special performance of The Pirates of Penzance by the Gilbert and Sullivan Players. It was performed three times as part of the program honoring Boyers’s retirement during the 1967 Commencement weekend. Playing the leads in this performance are Jane Warsaw (Mabel), Frank Spoto (Frederick), Lee Shlosberg (Major General), David Cornell (Pirate King), and Terrence Tobias (Samuel).  (Source: Oberlin Alumni Magazine, August 1967, pp. 33-35)

Series 9. Posters, 1954, undated

The sixteen posters in this series advertised productions by the Oberlin College Gilbert and Sullivan Players at Highfield Theater in Falmouth at Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  All but one are oversized and mounted; many are hand-drawn in color.

William Hayden Boyers was born September 4, 1900, in Woodsfield, Ohio, to Simon Leonard Boyers, a Methodist minister, and Odella Beatrice Boyers (1868-1955.) In 1922, he received an A.B. degree for Ohio Wesleyan where, in 1924, he also completed an A.M. degree in French. He remained at Ohio Wesleyan for three years to teach Latin, Greek, and French. In 1927, he moved to the University of Chicago where he earned his Ph.D. in French and also served as an instructor in Romance Languages.

He and his future wife, Janet Dorothy Stark (A.B., Ohio Wesleyan, 1927; A.M., Oberlin College, 1931), met on stage during a student production at Wesleyan while both were students. They were married on September 5, 1927.

A many faceted man, Hayden Boyers, as he preferred to be known, served Oberlin College as a member of the French Department for 39 years. In 1928, he joined the faculty as an instructor in French and was promoted to full professor in 1956. His one major book project, which he never completed, dealt with the “Influence of the French Enlightenment on Protestant American Thought of the 19th Century.” For over four decades, he was active in professional organizations associated with his academic field, notably, the Modern Language Association of America and the American Association of Teachers of French. He contributed articles to Modern Philosophy, Italica, and Modern Language Notes; he also translated and edited Frederic Bastiat’s Economic Harmonics and edited his Economic Sophisms and Essays (both 1964). On campus and throughout the Oberlin community, he was recognized for his fluent French, his concern for students, and his role as a faculty marshal, when, resplendent in his University of Chicago colors, he directed commencement ceremonies.

During nearly half of his tenure, he directed the Oberlin College Gilbert and Sullivan Players, a group he founded in 1949, in over 80 campus productions.  In 1953, Boyers took the group to Cape Cod for a summer session, the first in a tradition that continues today. The Players’ first Gilbert and Sullivan productions were staged off campus to demonstrate the need for a theater on the campus. After Hall Auditorium was built (1953), semi-annual performances of Gilbert and Sullivan became a mainstay of campus life for many years. The 1968 season was the last of the Oberlin Gilbert & Sullivan Players at Highfield Theater in Falmouth, Massachusetts.  The College Light Opera Company, founded and still run by former student participant and current Oberlin College Secretary Robert Haslun, immediately followed it in 1969. Many Oberlin students participate in this program each summer, but are no longer particularly a Gilbert and Sullivan troupe, nor are they officially associated with Oberlin College. (For more information, see Records of the Oberlin College Gilbert and Sullivan Players, RG 19/3/3.)

In 1955-1956, a sabbatical leave enabled Boyers to study in France and also to observe methods of producing Gilbert and Sullivan in England. A second leave in 1963 took him to France with visits to England and Austria to research and observe various forms of operetta: French (Offenbach), English (Gilbert and Sullivan), and Austrian (Strauss).

Boyers often conferred with Martyn Green, an actor with the London D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, famed for his interpretation of Gilbert and Sullivan, and included him in performances in both Oberlin and Cape Cod. In 1967, at his retirement dinner, Robert Gibson, former Director of the D’Oyly Carte, credited Boyers as the greatest authority of Gilbert and Sullivan. The Oberlin College Alumni Association also recognized William Hayden and Dorothy Boyers for their contribution to the College Gilbert and Sullivan Program.

In addition to his dedication to scholarship and musical theater, Boyers was an avid golfer. In the early 1930's, he and Olaf Christianson were unofficial coaches for the intramural teams. He became coach of varsity golf in 1934 and continued through 1947, garnering 36 wins, 38 losses, and 4 ties. He played golf at the Oberlin Golf Club but was also known to practice shots at city playgrounds almost to the end of his life.

Another aspect of Boyers’ multi-faceted personality is revealed in his devotion to his Christian faith as a member of Christ Episcopal Church in Oberlin. An active member, he was known for his serenity and inner strength, acknowledged as a pillar of strength for those in trouble, especially anyone struggling with alcoholism, a disease against which he himself battled, one that delayed his advancement and promotion at the College.

After retiring from Oberlin College, Boyers joined the faculty of St. Paul’s Episcopal College in Lawrenceville, Virginia, a small school. There he was a man for all seasons: chair of the English Department, director of drama (himself becoming a student of Black theater), director of more than 35 plays, and instructor of golf. He enjoyed his work and was so successful that his initial one-year appointment stretched to eight. Upon his second retirement in 1975, he returned to Oberlin.

While on vacation in 1980, W. Hayden Boyers died of a heart attack in Edenton, N.C. He was survived by his wife and an adopted son, John Hayden Boyers (Oberlin College, 1959), and three grandchildren.

Sources Consulted:

Faculty file of William Hayden Boyers, Alumni and Development Records (RG 28/3)

Lothrop, Richard. “Dick Lothrop’s Thoughts,” Oberlin News-Tribune (May 22, 1980), p. 4

“Losses in the Oberlin Family,” Oberlin Alumni Magazine, undated, p 48