Oberlin College Archives

A true hidden treasure of Oberlin. Located on the 4th floor of Mudd on the west side (away from the main staircase) along with the library's Special Collections, the archives are a trove of material on Oberlin and much of Lorain County history. Materials range from correspondance of past presidents, to the original charter of the Oberlin Anti-Slavery League from before the civil war, to programs from student productions and more.

Roland Baumann, the head archivist, himself knows tons about Oberlin history both recent and not so recent. His sense of humor and verbosity reflect a life spent with musty books, but if you know how to extricate yourself when you have to get to class you can learn a whole lot -- and be very entertained -- by talking with him.

In 2005, the Archives, along with Development launched a very successful fundraising push to create a digital preservation and cataloguing system, allowing archiving of digital materials, more permanet archiving of the contents of older materials, and worldwide access to the collections.