Oberlin

 

Mary Edmonia Lewis, also known as "Wildfire" (c. July 4, 1844 – September 17, 1907), was an American sculptor. In 1859, when Edmonia Lewis was about 15 years old, her brother Samuel and abolitionists sent her to Oberlin, Ohio, where she attended the secondary Oberlin Academy Preparatory School before entering Oberlin Collegiate Institute(since 1866, Oberlin College), one of the first U.S. higher-learning institutions to admit women and people of differing ethnicities.The Ladies' Department was designed "to give Young Ladies facilities for the thorough mental discipline, and the special training. Sculpture above at the Allen Museum at Oberlin.

Dan agreed to facilitate my second attempt in two years to visit the Allen Museum at Oberlin College. As luck would have it (again) the museum was not open when we arrived on January 2nd, 2026. This time, Dan and I, both checked to make sure it would be open when we arrived around 11:30. I wanted to see, among other things, if the 3/4 bust of an Abolishionist (above by Mary Edmonia Lewis) and what might be on view from their collection. 

If my memory serves - the director of admissions at the University of Miami, of whom I reported as an admissions representative for two years (1979-1980, 1980-1981) worked in admissions at Oberlin before joining UM. George Giampetro gave me a wonderful opportunity to travel on behalf of the University of Miami in 12 states while visiting about 300 High Schools and a number of college fairs in the Northeast and Midwest. 

Oberlin appeared is a sort of interesting story as I was researching the career of character Edward Everitt Horton (1888-1970). He was dismissed from the college where he was studying German after pulling a sort of stunt from atop a building on campus. He threw a mannequin creating the appearance of a suicide jump. (Well talk about a dramatic stunt...)