The photograph albums in this collection were compiled by members of the Wilson Bruce Evans (1824-1898) and Sarah Jane Leary Evans (1829-1898) Family of Oberlin, Ohio. The Evans Family came to Oberlin from North Carolina in 1854. Wilson and his brother Henry (1817-1886) opened a cabinetmaking establishment in Oberlin. The family played a major role in the radicalization of Oberlin abolitionism. Wilson and Henry participated in the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of 1858. Their nephew John Copeland (1834-1859) and their brother-in-law Lewis Sheridan Leary (1835-1859) both gave their lives for John Brown’s 1859 uprising.
Two Evans daughters attended Oberlin College: Julia (1860-1925) completed the Literary course in 1880 and Sarah Jane (1868-1926) graduated from the college in 1890. In 1880, Julia married James W. Johnson (d. 1931) who had attended the Oberlin Academy 1875-1879. In 1891, Sarah Jane married Thomas Sewell Inborden (1865-1951), who boarded with the Evans family when he attended the Oberlin Academy 1883-1888, before earning a degree from Fisk in 1891.
The albums appear to include photographs from the 1870s through the 1900s. Subjects include members of the Evans Family, Oberlin College presidents, students and faculty, members of the community of Oberlin and other individuals, and some scenes of Oberlin, Ohio. Some individuals have been identified, including family members, neighbors, and student friends of Inborden; others remain as yet unknown. If you have information about any of the photos please contact us at manager @ evanshhs.org.
The albums are part of the collection of the Wilson Bruce Evans Home Historical Society of Oberlin, Ohio. For more information about the Evans Family and the Historical Society, please see the website at https://evanshhs.org/.
The creation of this online collection was a collaborative effort between the Wilson Bruce Evans Home Historical Society and the Oberlin College Libraries and Oberlin College Archives.