Student Life: Religious Organizations Records, 1852-2010
| Oberlin College Archives
Administrative/Biographical History
ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY
Oberlin College supported the missionary endeavors of Protestant organizations both at home and abroad. During meetings of the organizations, members listened to missionaries tell of their efforts and of the lands where they labored, heard their letters read, discussed the work of the various missions, and gave support by donating monies. One result was that a number of young people went into careers as missionaries. (For a good resume of Oberlin’s early connection with mission activities see Delavan L. Leonard’s The Story of Oberlin, Ch. XII, “Oberlin’s Contribution to Missions, p. 11.)
Author: William E. Bigglestone Administrative InformationTransfer by accession.
Oberlin Meditation Club (OM), 1999 - 19/3/9, Social Organizations
Voices for Christ, 1996 - 19/3/3, Musical/Dramatic
YMCA-YWCA Records, RG 29
Oberlin Menorah Society history, see Andrea R. Meyer Papers 30/321 (See also RG 21, series II. Letters)
Provenance
The records were received from the 0berlin College Library in 1979 and 1981 (accessions 1979/2 and 1981/8). Readers should also consult the unpublished "Guide to the Missionary Sources in the Oberlin College Archives.”
The records are as follows:
Student's Missionary Society of Oberlin College, 1852-64 (1 vol.). Minutes and financial information.
Young Woman's Missionary Society, 1879-94 (4 vols. & 1 folder). Minutes and financial information. This organization began as the Young Ladies' Missionary Society.
Oberlin Band of Student Volunteers for Foreign Missions, c.1886-1927 (3 vols. & 2 folders). Includes minutes and deputation committee records plus information that student members supplied about their own personal backgrounds. The student volunteers were sponsored by the YMCA and the YWCA. Also scrapbook with photos, etc., from Oberlin and abroad, 1920s.
Oberlin Union Missionary Society, 1867-70 (29 pp.). Organized for the purpose of promoting missionary spirit in the churches and among the students. The members of the committee were chosen from the First and Second Congregational Churches, Oberlin, Ohio, the College faculty and students. The records consist of minutes of meetings.
INVENTORY
Box 1
Agape Fellowship, 1989-90, 1997
American Friends Service Committee, 1978-83
Baha’i, 1967-68, 1975-97 (2f)
Christian Science Organization, 1968, 1976-83 (2f)
Ecumenical Christians of Oberlin, 1989
Foreign Missionary Volunteers, 1886
Interfaith Religious Council, 1964-67
Hillel, 1965-70, 1980, 1997
Jewish Socialist Community, 1973-79, 1983-85
Jewish Student Union, 1995
Kadima, 1979-87
Latter-day Saints Student Association, 2003-
Liberated Unitarian Universalist Voices, 2000
Muslim Students Group, 1990
Newman Club, 1968, 1979, 1997
Nexus, 1973, 1978-79
Nichiren Shosha Soka Gakkai, 1985-86
Oberlin Atheists and Freethinkers, 1991-92
Oberlin Buddhist Fellowship, 2010
Oberlin Christian Fellowship, 1949, 1977, 1997
Oberlin Interfaith Community, 1998
Oberlin Menorah Society history, see Andrea R. Meyer Papers 30/321
(See also RG 21, series II. Letters)
Oberlin Zionists, 1997
Pagan Awareness Network, 2001, 2006
Quaker Student Committee, 1998
Queers and Allies of Faith, 1999
Sangha, 1979
Society of Friends , 1967-68, 1975-78 (2f)
Box 2
Student Christian Association, 1942
Students Missionary Society, 1852-64
Student Volunteer Band, 1912-27 (4f)
Tzedek, 2002-
Union Missionary Society, 1867-70
Unity, 1998
Young Ladies Missionary Society, 1879-94 (3f)
Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, 1892-94, n.d. [2001/94]
(See also 31/4/1 - First Church, Subgroup I, Series 14]
Young Women's Missionary Society - see Young Ladies Missionary Society
Miscellaneous Publications and Programs (Prayer Meetings), 1887-89, n.d.
[2001/94]
Box 3
Student Religious Liberals, 1964-69, n.d. (7f)