Beschreibung:

Lot of 2 CDVs showing exterior views of the Second Ladies Hall at Oberlin College, ca 1868. CDV displaying the Italianate architecture of Oberlin's Second Ladies Hall, erected 1861-1863. A.C. Platt: Oberlin, Ohio, n.d., ca 1868. Four figures are visible on the enclosed rooftop balcony, with additional figures, presumably student residents occupying the landscaped foreground. Beginning in the fall of 1865, the Second Ladies Hall was regularly open for student accommodations. The first floor included spaces for an assembly room, a reading room, a dining room, parlors, and stewards' quarters, while the second and third floors housed dormitory rooms for around 100 women. Studio imprint of A.C. Platt, Oberlin, Ohio on mount below image. CDV with frontal presentation of the Second Ladies Hall facade, with figures visible on the steps at entrance. Platt & Hawley: Oberlin, Ohio, n.d., ca 1868. In 1881, a two-story addition was constructed for use as a gymnasium before the hall was razed by a fire in January 1886. Backmark of Platt & Hawley, in active partnership in Oberlin, Ohio 1867-1871, with inked inscription reading, "Ladies Boarding Hall Oberlin O." Oberlin College was the first college in the United States to admit black students beginning in 1835, two years after its founding. It quickly gained a reputation as a center for abolitionist activities and was a key stop along the Underground Railroad. The school's involvement in the 1858 Oberlin-Wellington rescue of a fugitive slave and subsequent trial of two students under the Fugitive Slave Act garnered national attention. Condition: Platt CDV: toning with cropping/rounding to mount corners. Alphanumeric pencil notation on verso, with adhesive residue suggestive of a revenue stamp. Platt & Hawley CDV: chipping along right edge of photograph. Alphanumeric pencil notations on verso.