Jean Brown McAllister Papers, 1938-1942
| Oberlin College Archives
Administrative/Biographical History
Jean Gordon Brown (also known as “Brownie” and “Johnny”), born February 20, 1921 in Queens Village, New York, received the BA in Sociology at Oberlin College in 1942. While at Oberlin Jean was active in the Oberlin Review, Musical Union, First Church Choir, and the College’s 1940 Mock Convention.
Jean Brown married Kenneth LaVern McAllister on August 16, 1942. McAllister also attended Oberlin College, receiving a BA in 1941, before enlisting. Kenneth served as a corporal in a medical detachment at the Plattsburg barracks when the couple were first married. He enrolled at the Pratt Institute as a student in industrial design after his service. The family moved to the Birmingham, Michigan area for his position as the manager of the Plymouth Interior Design Studio for the Chrysler Corporation. Their two daughters and a son were born in 1944, 1952 and 1960.
In 1966 Jean McAllister enrolled as a part-time graduate student at the Wayne State University School of Social Work, finishing her degree in 1970. That year she took a position as a medical social worker at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Pontiac, Michigan. In 1971, Jean and Kenneth McAllister were divorced. Jean became a psychiatric social worker and a field instructor at the University of Michigan in 1981.
Jean McAllister participated in a number of social and civic organizations, as a Girl Scout Leader; Sunday School teacher; United Foundation Drive worker; Baptist Children’s Home worker; volunteer for Meals on Wheels; member of the Parent Teacher Association; elder and secretary-treasurer at the Church of Our Savior, United Presbyterian; Farmington Youth Guidance Committee member; Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA); the Women’s Health Initiative; and as an active member of the National Association of Social Workers. She received an award for outstanding volunteer service from the Lighthouse of Oakland County, Michigan (provider of emergency food and housing) and the service award from the Detroit City Council for her volunteer work with COTS (Coalition for Temporary Shelter).
Jean Brown McAllister moved to Mission Ridge Retirement Community in Billings, Montana in 2006, where she continued to do volunteer work and ministered to those in failing health. She died on September 26, 2017 at ninety-six years of age at the RiverStone Hospice house in Billings, with her son and a daughter at her side.
Sources
Jean Brown McAllister student file, Alumni and Development Records (RG 28), Oberlin College Archives.
“Jean B. McAllister,” Billings Gazette, 6 October 2017. Accessed 7/7/2020.
Obituary of Jean Brown McAllister, Heights Family Funeral Home and Crematory, Billings, MT. Accessed 1/27/2022.
Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative InformationStudent Life (RG 19)
Student file for Jean Brown McAllister, Alumni Records (RG 28)
The Jean Brown McAllister Papers is a small collection, covering her years as an Oberlin student (1938-42), coinciding with the years leading up to and including the early years of U.S. involvement in World War II.
The letters written by Brown to her family in Series 1 represent the bulk of the collection. Undated letters were inscribed with postmark dates from envelopes by Archives staff. They reveal student life and its rituals and customs at Oberlin at the time. Early In her first year, she relates a version of the history of her dormitory (Fairchild House), the Underground Railroad in Oberlin, and the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue. She also mentions speakers and activities on campus, including Shansi representatives, a Black guest speaker on racism, pacifist speakers, and a college effort to bring a German refugee student to Oberlin. In some of her letters Brown tallied her college and personal expenses for her parents. There are letters addressed to Brown’s parents from her roommate, Ginny Baker, one of which included a photograph of herself (see Series 4, Photographs). One folder contains a few pieces of correspondence received by Jean Brown.
The memorabilia in Series 2 represents college activities such as dances, parties, and the college’s Mock Convention. Of interest is a typed writing by Brown reflecting on her four years at Oberlin in her senior year. A scrapbook from Brown’s Freshman year is much like many student scrapbooks in the Student Life record group. Series 3, Photographs, holds a small number of views of Oberlin, Mock Convention, and one photograph each of Brown and her roommate, Ginny Baker. The two photographs of Mock Convention include a sign on a float for Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican Party’s nominee for the presidency in 1944. Additional photographs can be found in the scrapbook.
INVENTORY
Series 1. Correspondence, 1938-42
Box 1
Correspondence by Jean McAllister Brown to parents, 1938-42 (11f)
Correspondence received by Brown, 1938-39, n.d.
Series 2. Oberlin Memorabilia, 1938-42, n.d.
Box 1 (cont.)
Dance cards, ca. 1938-42 (3)
Invitations, ca. 1938-42 (5)
Dascomb Cottage (dormitory) Tea
Garden Party
Other invitation
Spring Tea (2)
Membership cards, ca. 1938-42
Mock Convention memorabilia, 1940
Miscellaneous
Engagement announcement clipping, March 26, 1942
Jean Brown’s reflection on her Oberlin experience, 1942
Schedule card, ca. 1938-42
Box 2 (Oversize)
Scrapbook: “Oberlin Life, an Ignorant but Blissful Freshman,
September 1938-June 1939” (clippings, photographs,
printed matter, ephemera)
Series 3. Photographs (taken in Oberlin), ca. 1938-42
Box 1 (cont.)
Jean Brown McAllister, ca. 1938-42
Buildings and views, ca. 1938-42
Mock Convention, ca. 1942