My dad gave me a Kodak Retina Reflex camera for my 20th birthday in November 1957. The first 10 or 12 photos in this blog are from the first roll of film. The rest of them were taken later in 1958 or in 1959
The first photo I took was a reflection in a ground floor window - part of the 'leader' on the film roll has exposed the right side of the photo. My reflection is dimly visible on the right
The Botany Lab from Severance Chemical Laboratory window
I had my freshman biology lab in this building and I also took Bacteriology here - that was listed in the Botany department.
This building was demolished in 1961
My reflection in the bulletin board on the edge of Tappen Square
Looking down toward Peters from a practice room in the Con
Same window of Tappen Square and Memorial Arch
The Memorial Arch was always a signature place in Oberlin when I was there. It was erected as a memorial to the missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions who lost their lives in the Boxer uprising in China in 1900. My great uncle was a missionary to China at that time, and his three children were born in China. His two sons were buried there. His daughter (my mom's first cousin) survived to marry a missionary to India. My great uncle didn't lose his life in the rebellion - he lived to be almost 100 years old.
Peters was the oldest building on campus the last time I was there. There is a date of 1895 over the door.
Tappen Square
In the rain.
Finney Chapel Originally, all students at Oberlin were required to attend church. But by the time I was a freshman, attendance at assembly was only required once a week. While there was service held in Finney Chapel four days each week at twelve o'clock, attended by students and faculty, it was only at assembly that attendance was taken. This picture shows students going to assembly.
Carnegie Library from the Chem lab
The following spring.
Carnegie Library was the main campus library. Everyone had to come here at some point.
The first floor contained rooms for special classes of readers [one was the reserve room where books that a whole class had to read were on reserve (could not be taken out of the library); another was the local town library with general fiction], and a cloak room.
A large reading room, 132 by 48 feet, extended across the entire second floor front of the building, which, with the adjoining alcove, accommodated two hundred and eighty-four readers. Also on the second floor were offices, a biographical library room, the cataloguing room. This was where you went to look up stuff in the card catalog or on microfiche.
The third and fourth floor housed 15 seminar rooms. Adjoining all floors were the stacks, six stories in height. This was where you did your research or went to study especially if the main reading room was too noisy for you.
Carnegie Library was the gift of Mr. Andrew Carnegie, of New York. The building is 135 by 110 feet and it is made of Amherst sandstone.
In 2004 it was the home to a number of administrative offices, including Admissions, Financial Aid, the Registrar, Student Accounts, Student Employment, and Office of Equity Concerns.
Jacob Dolson Cox Administration Building
Cox was where we went to pay our bills and where the student bank accounts were kept in the office of the Treasurer. Also on the first floor was the office of the secretary. The offices of the President, of the Assistant to the President, and of the Dean and the Registrar of the College of Arts and Sciences were on the second floor. The Alumni Records office was on the third floor.
The offices of the Dean of Men and the Dean of Women, though, were here in Peters
The Con - Conservatory Building at night.
The conservatory students had to (probably still do) practice a certain number of hours and for the larger instruments (piano, organ etc) there was a great deal of pressure to get a practice room. Many of them ended up practicing at night.
The two conservatory buildings were Warner Hall and Rice Hall. Between the two buildings there were over 250 practice rooms, but of course you couldn't practice the piano or organ without a piano or organ in the room. In the daytime both buildings looked a lot like Peters in the texture of the facade.
Warner Hall was demolished in October 1964 to make way for H.C. King Memorial Hall. Today, Rice Hall is filled with faculty offices. The construction project of King Memorial Hall included the renovation of Rice and the removal of its top floor.
Wright Zoological Building
This was the building where all of the zoology classes were held. It was named in honor of Albert A. Wright who was Professor of Geology and Natural History for thirty-one years. Natural History was probably what they called Biology in those days.
It was originally built as the Second Congregational Church between 1867 to 1870, and was used until the union of the First and Second Churches in 1920.
The College purchased the building in 1927, removed the steeple, and remodeled the building as a temporary home for the department of Zoology. The choir loft had been converted to a classroom. We sat in tiers looking down on the professor. There was also another classroom but I don't remember much about it.
The five labs were in the basement and the library/reading room and offices were in the former pastor's study area. There was a large auditorium where the main part of the church was, and the floor around the edge and in the gallery was occupied by the Zoological Museum which had a lot of stuffed and preserved animals.
A tablet, placed in Spear Laboratory in 1908 as a memorial to Professor Wright, occupied a place near the entrance.
This building was not in use when this picture was taken. It was already scheduled to be torn down.(August 1959). Currently the site is occupied by Bibbins Hall of the Conservatory complex.
This little building out by the Field House was where I had zoology classes my senior year. There is now a new science building that includes all the science classes and houses the aluminum statue of Charles Martin Hall. (Which will hopefully keep him from being moved to other locations by rowdy students)
The money to construct Hall Auditorium came from Charles Martin Hall to be built in memory of his mother Sophronia Brooks (Hall). Mrs. Hall herself had given 42 acres of land to the college when Finney was President. For various reasons, the auditorium was not actually built until 1952.
Hall Auditorium was only 2 or 3 years old when I went to Oberlin and it was known as the Great White Whale. It was probably one of the first 'modern' buildings on Tappen Square. I worked on the Gilbert and Sullivan productions - mainly fitting and making costumes.
The auditorium was constructed to have perfect acoustics. However, the architects forgot to include an orchestra pit. When one was retrofitted under the front edge of the stage, the orchestra could not hear the singers on stage, nor could the singers hear the orchestra very well.
Hall seats 500 and is the main campus theatre. It also served as the location for large freshman classes like Biology.. Large-scale theater productions and the annual fall and spring operas are staged here, as are performances by visiting dance companies and other artists. The Central Ticket Services box office is also located at Hall.
Smaller plays are performed in the Hall Annex's Little Theater, which provides a more intimate performance space. Connected to Hall, this annex (built since 1959) also contains classrooms and faculty offices. In May 1959, the students were lobbying for additional space for dance.
The first photo I took was a reflection in a ground floor window - part of the 'leader' on the film roll has exposed the right side of the photo. My reflection is dimly visible on the right
The Botany Lab from Severance Chemical Laboratory window
I had my freshman biology lab in this building and I also took Bacteriology here - that was listed in the Botany department.
This building was demolished in 1961
My reflection in the bulletin board on the edge of Tappen Square
Looking down toward Peters from a practice room in the Con
Same window of Tappen Square and Memorial Arch
The Memorial Arch was always a signature place in Oberlin when I was there. It was erected as a memorial to the missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions who lost their lives in the Boxer uprising in China in 1900. My great uncle was a missionary to China at that time, and his three children were born in China. His two sons were buried there. His daughter (my mom's first cousin) survived to marry a missionary to India. My great uncle didn't lose his life in the rebellion - he lived to be almost 100 years old.
Peters was the oldest building on campus the last time I was there. There is a date of 1895 over the door.
Tappen Square
In the rain.
Finney Chapel Originally, all students at Oberlin were required to attend church. But by the time I was a freshman, attendance at assembly was only required once a week. While there was service held in Finney Chapel four days each week at twelve o'clock, attended by students and faculty, it was only at assembly that attendance was taken. This picture shows students going to assembly.
Carnegie Library from the Chem lab
The following spring.
Carnegie Library was the main campus library. Everyone had to come here at some point.
The first floor contained rooms for special classes of readers [one was the reserve room where books that a whole class had to read were on reserve (could not be taken out of the library); another was the local town library with general fiction], and a cloak room.
A large reading room, 132 by 48 feet, extended across the entire second floor front of the building, which, with the adjoining alcove, accommodated two hundred and eighty-four readers. Also on the second floor were offices, a biographical library room, the cataloguing room. This was where you went to look up stuff in the card catalog or on microfiche.
The third and fourth floor housed 15 seminar rooms. Adjoining all floors were the stacks, six stories in height. This was where you did your research or went to study especially if the main reading room was too noisy for you.
Carnegie Library was the gift of Mr. Andrew Carnegie, of New York. The building is 135 by 110 feet and it is made of Amherst sandstone.
In 2004 it was the home to a number of administrative offices, including Admissions, Financial Aid, the Registrar, Student Accounts, Student Employment, and Office of Equity Concerns.
Jacob Dolson Cox Administration Building
Cox was where we went to pay our bills and where the student bank accounts were kept in the office of the Treasurer. Also on the first floor was the office of the secretary. The offices of the President, of the Assistant to the President, and of the Dean and the Registrar of the College of Arts and Sciences were on the second floor. The Alumni Records office was on the third floor.
The offices of the Dean of Men and the Dean of Women, though, were here in Peters
The Con - Conservatory Building at night.
The conservatory students had to (probably still do) practice a certain number of hours and for the larger instruments (piano, organ etc) there was a great deal of pressure to get a practice room. Many of them ended up practicing at night.
The two conservatory buildings were Warner Hall and Rice Hall. Between the two buildings there were over 250 practice rooms, but of course you couldn't practice the piano or organ without a piano or organ in the room. In the daytime both buildings looked a lot like Peters in the texture of the facade.
Warner Hall was demolished in October 1964 to make way for H.C. King Memorial Hall. Today, Rice Hall is filled with faculty offices. The construction project of King Memorial Hall included the renovation of Rice and the removal of its top floor.
Wright Zoological Building
This was the building where all of the zoology classes were held. It was named in honor of Albert A. Wright who was Professor of Geology and Natural History for thirty-one years. Natural History was probably what they called Biology in those days.
It was originally built as the Second Congregational Church between 1867 to 1870, and was used until the union of the First and Second Churches in 1920.
The College purchased the building in 1927, removed the steeple, and remodeled the building as a temporary home for the department of Zoology. The choir loft had been converted to a classroom. We sat in tiers looking down on the professor. There was also another classroom but I don't remember much about it.
The five labs were in the basement and the library/reading room and offices were in the former pastor's study area. There was a large auditorium where the main part of the church was, and the floor around the edge and in the gallery was occupied by the Zoological Museum which had a lot of stuffed and preserved animals.
A tablet, placed in Spear Laboratory in 1908 as a memorial to Professor Wright, occupied a place near the entrance.
This building was not in use when this picture was taken. It was already scheduled to be torn down.(August 1959). Currently the site is occupied by Bibbins Hall of the Conservatory complex.
This little building out by the Field House was where I had zoology classes my senior year. There is now a new science building that includes all the science classes and houses the aluminum statue of Charles Martin Hall. (Which will hopefully keep him from being moved to other locations by rowdy students)
The money to construct Hall Auditorium came from Charles Martin Hall to be built in memory of his mother Sophronia Brooks (Hall). Mrs. Hall herself had given 42 acres of land to the college when Finney was President. For various reasons, the auditorium was not actually built until 1952.
Hall Auditorium was only 2 or 3 years old when I went to Oberlin and it was known as the Great White Whale. It was probably one of the first 'modern' buildings on Tappen Square. I worked on the Gilbert and Sullivan productions - mainly fitting and making costumes.
The auditorium was constructed to have perfect acoustics. However, the architects forgot to include an orchestra pit. When one was retrofitted under the front edge of the stage, the orchestra could not hear the singers on stage, nor could the singers hear the orchestra very well.
Hall seats 500 and is the main campus theatre. It also served as the location for large freshman classes like Biology.. Large-scale theater productions and the annual fall and spring operas are staged here, as are performances by visiting dance companies and other artists. The Central Ticket Services box office is also located at Hall.
Smaller plays are performed in the Hall Annex's Little Theater, which provides a more intimate performance space. Connected to Hall, this annex (built since 1959) also contains classrooms and faculty offices. In May 1959, the students were lobbying for additional space for dance.
- Next entry in the series 'Oberlin College 1958-2004': Dorms at Oberlin College 1958-1959 (Pictures I took)
- Previous entry in the series 'Oberlin College 1958-2004': People at Oberlin - 1958 to 1959 (Pictures I took)
