From the Director / Spring 2026

January 26, 2026

Chiseled in stone over the entrance to the Allen’s original building are the words “The Cause of Art is the Cause of the People.” The phrase stems from William Morris’s 1884 lecture “Art and Socialism,” perhaps not the first words you would expect to be emblazoned on a building built with Standard Oil money from Elisabeth Severance Prentiss.

As it happened, in early 1917, an ongoing debate about the inscription at Oberlin College had reached an impasse. Competing bland, late Victorian truisms were under consideration, but no one was truly inspired.

Recent research by Annie Storr (OC 1975) has demonstrated the direct line from the March 1917 campus visit by Ellen Gates Starr—activist, social reformer, and co-founder of Chicago’s Hull House—to the words we now see today.

Starr’s visit to Oberlin included multiple lectures, reported to be mesmerizing. She also made curatorial contributions to campus exhibitions of handcrafted utilitarian objects and held numerous meetings with students and faculty. She believed passionately in the aspirations of Morris’s Arts and Crafts movement, which countered industrial production and lionized handmade design and “dignified, creative human occupation” that drew inspiration from history and vernacular ways of making. Ultimately, she swayed the campus in favor of the quotation from Morris.

But where do these early 20th-century aspirations for the role of art take us today? I maintain that we are still best served by taking our cues from the building and leaning into the ideas literally inscribed on its surface.

From the very beginning, the Allen has been called to serve its entire community. Our work connecting the museum’s collection to faculty and students is truly a gold standard in the industry and must continue. However, it is critical to see the Allen also as a public good, designed to serve the concentric circles of the city of Oberlin, Lorain County, Northeast Ohio, and beyond.

What excites me about this work is that the Allen is ideally poised to be a hinge between the campus and the community. We know that some of our neighbors at times don’t feel welcomed or believe the campus is closed to them. But the museum, which stands at a critical intersection of major roads in the county, has the obligation to serve both campus and community, and to be a bridge between them.

Oberlin College students, of course, have a long history of community service. As public engagement research has become increasingly important in academia, we have more colleagues across campus eager to work with our local communities and connect students to them, including through the Bonner Center at the Center for Engaged Liberal Arts.

In this issue, I invite you to read about our recent initiatives in this arena, including the work of our educators, Jill Greenwood and Ellis Lane; the contributions of our stellar student Gallery Guides; and especially that of Alyssa Traster, the museum’s liaison to the community, who has been a terrific partner and visionary in this rapidly evolving mission for the Allen.

And naturally, a whole lot more, including our exhibition devoted to the remarkable artist June Leaf. Her work will be a revelation to most of you. The exhibition June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart has been on view most recently in New York City, where it received excellent reviews.

Please reach out and let us know what you think.

Jon L. Seydl
John G. W. Cowles Director