Two vignetted studio portraits of African American students. Oberlin, OH: A.C. Platt, n.d. 2 1/8 x 3 9/16 in. CDVs on cardstock mounts (minor toning). Photographer's gilt imprint to mount rectos. 

[With:] Outdoor photograph of a large brick building, possibly at Oberlin. Mount Vernon, OH: Payne's Photograph Gallery, ca 1864-66. 2 1/8 x 3 5/8 in. CDV on cardstock mount (light soiling, upper corners clipped). Photographer's imprint to verso. (Gagel, Diane VanSkiver. Ohio Photographers, 1839-1900, p. 85). 

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.