John Frederick Oberlin Collection, 1766-2013, n.d.
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Abstract
Administrative/Biographical History
John Frederick (Jean-Frédéric or Johann Friedrich) Oberlin (1740‑1826) was the man after whom the Oberlin Collegiate Institute [the school's original title] was named. Oberlin never came to America. He was a pastor in an underdeveloped portion of the French border province of Alsace whose benevolent social work and interest in Sabbath Schools appealed to Oberlin College founders John J. Shipherd and Philo P. Stewart. Shipherd and Stewart read about Pastor Oberlin in a little book published in 1830 by the American Sunday School Union: The Life of John Frederick Oberlin, Pastor of Waldbach, in the Ban de la Roche (two copies in Special Collections). For a brief account of Oberlin's career see "John Frederick Oberlin: A Bicentenary Address" by Ernest Hatch Wilkins (1940) in the digital collection on the Oberlin College Archives website at http://dcollections.oberlin.edu/cdm/ref/collection/jfoberlin/id/167. For a full biography see John W. Kurtz, John Frederick Oberlin (Westview Press, 1976).
See also Oberlin’s Namesake: John Frederick Oberlin (multimedia presentation, Oberlin College Archives website, © 2010).
Author: Roland M. Baumann, Anne Cuyler Salsich Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative InformationSee Oberlin's Namesake, John Frederick Oberlin, a multimedia presentation by the Oberlin College Archives, 2010.
Printed matter re John Frederick Oberlin in 16/5 Library Autograph File, and in the Subjects (Vertical) File.
See John W. Kurtz Papers (30/216) for material related to his biography of J.F.O., including printed material on J.F.O. and additional bible verses printed by J.F.O.
RG 30/37 contains copies of Florence M. Fitch's pamphlet "John Frederick Oberlin," n.d.
RG 45 contains an English translation (by Louis Levine) of Wilhelm Scheuermann's biography of Oberlin as well as a Strasbourg Museum catalogue featuring J.F.O.
See also RG 5 Office of the Secretary, Subgroup IX Historical Files, Series 5 Subject Files.
Additional photographs relating to J.F.O. and Waldersbach are filed in 32/3. These include photographs used in J. W. Kurtz's biography of J.F.O. and the Coat of Arms of the Oberlin Family (original available; researchers should use the photographic copy unless there is a special need).
Portraits of John Frederick Oberlin (engraving) and Jérémie-Jacques Oberlin (lithograph) are in RG 40, Paintings, drawings, and framed items.
John Frederick Oberlin Digital Collection, Oberlin College Archives, 2010.
Oberlin's Namesake: John Frederick Oberlin, Oberlin College Archives, 2010.
The collection was rearranged into series in 2002 to accommodate a sizable accretion of J. F. Oberlin related material received from the Oberlin College Library, Department of Special Collections. Also at that time several files were transferred to this group from RG 21 "Oberlin File." Series I, II, and III represent the original collection, with a few additional items. Series IV, V, and VI consist of material received in subsequent accretions.
The collection is arranged in six series: I. Letters, II. Manuscripts and Notes, III. Miscellany, IV. Addresses about John Frederick Oberlin, V. Printed Materials, and VI. Non-Textual Materials (other than Miscellany).
Items created by John Frederick Oberlin include one letter, inscriptions, three watercolors, a map, woodcuts, music, and printed Bible verses. These items are filed in Series I. Letters, and Series III. Miscellany.
In addition to these items created by Oberlin himself, the papers include a number of items created during his lifetime. They include two sermons written by a contemporary for J. F. Oberlin and letters written by family members or friends. Other items include exercise cards by three of his pupils, a double silhouette of J. F. Oberlin and his wife done from life, and silhouettes of friends. A 1791 memory book of Philipp J. Heisch contains inscriptions by J. F. Oberlin and several of his children and friends. These items are filed in Series I. Letters, Series II. Manuscripts and Notes, and Series III. Miscellany.
Memorabilia relating to J. F. Oberlin include drawings, lithographs and photographs of the Ban de la Roche, commemorative medals, and printed materials commemorating J. F. Oberlin anniversaries. Addresses by Oberlin College President Ernest Hatch Wilkins (1940, n.d.) and by faculty members Robert S. Fletcher (1955), Walter M. Horton (1952), Maurice Kessler (1953), and John W. Kurtz (1972, 1976) discuss J. F. Oberlin's life and his influence on the founders of Oberlin College.
Series V, Printed Material, is subdivided into three subseries: 1. Writings about John Frederick Oberlin; 2. Miscellaneous Printed Material; and 3. Materials from the Musee Oberlin in Waldersbach, France. A number of printed works discuss Oberlin's life and work; many of these publications are written in French or German. Included in the publications in Series V, Subseries 1 is an extract of Oberlin's notes (in French) on the fauna of the Ban de la Roche; these notes were published by Dr. Ernest Wickersheimer in the annual of the Société historique, littéraire et scientifique du Club Vosgien in 1934. A new publication acquired in 2010 is a German cartoon book on the life of Oberlin published for young readers in 1989. Series V, Subseries 2 includes a number of commemorative items celebrating the bicentennial (1967) of J. F. Oberlin's arrival at Waldersbach. Subseries 3 holds printed materials generated by the Musee Oberlin in Waldersbach in recent years, collected by visitors to the area connected with the College.