Records of Camp Onaway, 1908-2021 (inclusive), 1960-2010 (bulk)

The collection includes directors' files documenting the management of the camp; brochures; songbooks; photographs; campers' letters home and reminiscences of camp; financial records; a scrapbook; writings by campers; a history of the camp; audio and videotapes and motion pictures; and a time capsule. The camp's web site is being captured periodically as part of Schlesinger Library's web archiving program. Electronic records were received on three 3.5" disks. Disks were imaged using FTK Imager and Duke Data Accessioner and four text documents were converted to PDF/A format. Camp newsletters have been transferred to the Schlesinger Library's Published Materials Division. Most folder titles were created by the processor; those created by Camp Onaway appear in quotation marks.

Series I, Camp administration, 1908-2021 (#1CB-7CB, 8.1-22.5, 30.1m, 29F+B.1m-29F+B.4m, 34.1-34.7, E.1-E.5), documents the operation of Camp Onaway. The series includes camp brochures ranging from the late 1920s to 2012, which reveal the evolution of the camp's programs and scope; financial records; and index cards with information about former campers and staff, organized both by state and by year. The series also contains camp directors' files, including Sunday sermons by Jane Kent, Margaret Stiles, and Lisa Stokes Taylor, articles and manuscripts by Margaret Stiles; and correspondence about the operation of camp (including personnel issues). In addition, the series includes a draft of Helen Stokes Greven's history of Camp Onaway, Let Her Strong and Ageless Be, and the recollections of Rusty MaCarthy, a former camp nurse; Henry Hollister (Mabel Hollister's son); and other campers and staff regarding their experiences at camp. See #T-403.1 - T-403.7 for audiocassettes of staff's reminiscences and #28.1 for campers' and counselors' recollections of Mabel Hollister's era. The series also includes financial records; songbooks; material on camp management and on camp programs, such as riding and dance; a time capsule marking the camp's 100th anniversary; material originally received in electronic format; and the camp's web site. Camp historian Helen Stokes Greven and camp director Lisa Stokes Taylor both attended the camp in the 1950s; see Series II for related letters. The series is arranged alphabetically.

Series II, Campers', aides', and counselors' letters and writings, 1918-2012 (#22.6-28.4, FD.1, F+D.1-F+D.2, OD.1, 32FB.1v, 33F+B.1v-34F+B.1v), contains material documenting campers,' counselors,' and aides' experiences at Camp Onaway. The series includes an album of campers' thank you messages to director Caroline Southall; "birchbark boxes" (collections of campers' poems and writings placed into a special box at camp, many of which were read out loud as part of the camp's Sunday evening activities); logs of camp activities, with entries by different campers; and campers' letters home, including letters by future camp historian Helen Stokes Greven and her sister, future camp director Lisa Stokes Taylor. Of particular note are the letters aide Becky Rawson sent home, including a note by Rawson explaining that the letters essentially constituted a diary of her time at camp and that she sent them to her home addressed to herself (#27.3). These letters were numbered sequentially by Rawson. The series also includes a scrapbook (digitized by the Schlesinger Library) compiled by campers in 1935, including specimens of ferns and other plants, pieces of snake skin and hornet's nest, and drawings. The series is arranged alphabetically.

Series III, Photographs, 1911-1969 (#PD.1f+-PD.17), includes a photograph of the camp's first director, Mabel Hollister, with campers; images (both loose and in albums) of camp grounds and cabins and of campers engaging in activities such as riding, swimming, dancing, dramatics, and land sports; and group shots of campers. Most of the photographs in this collection are or will be digitized and available online. The series is arranged chronologically.

Series IV, Audiovisual, 1930-2001, undated (#T-403.1 - T-403.7, Vt-208.1 - Vt-208.2, MP-71.1 - MP-71.4) includes a promotional videotape; film footage of activities at the camp; audiotapes of staff's reminiscences about camp, including camp nurse Rusty MaCarthy's remembrances of her friendship with Margaret Stiles ( #T-403.4) and Mabel Hollister's son Henry's recollections of the camp (#T-401.1 - T-403.2). The series also contains a video transfer of movies camper Harriet Barney Lidgerwood made at camp in 1938 and 1939 (#Vt-208.2); the video includes Lidgerwood's 1998 narration. The series is arranged with audiotapes appearing first, followed by motion pictures, and then by videotapes.