Henry Matson Papers, c. 1901 | Oberlin College Archives

Henry Matson (June 23, 1829 - May 21, 1901), stenographer, Congregational minister, librarian and author, was born in Ellsworth, Ohio, studied stenography as a young man and moved to New York City where he worked for phrenologists Fowler and Wells besides reporting addresses of the time for city newspapers. He returned to Ohio, graduated from the Oberlin College Seminary in 1861, and held pastorates in Massachusetts (1861-64) and Ohio (1864-72). Matson returned to Oberlin in 1867-68 , long enough to take Charles Finney's dictation of his memoirs. After serving as the College Librarian, 1974-77, Matson retired to devote full time to his literary pursuits. He had previously published Jesus the Cure of Skepticism. Matson's other publications included References for Literary Workers with Introductions to Topics and Questions fro Debate, A.C. McClurg and Co., Chicago (1892) and Knowledge and Culture (1895). Matson died in Oberlin. [See Obituary in the Oberlin News, May 24, 1901, for more detail about his life.]

Sources Consulted

William E. Bigglestone's unpublished "[Guide] to the Oberlin College Archives," which was prepared on individual entry sheets in a three-ring binder during the early 1980s.