About the Collection
Frederick Binkerd Artz began building a personal book collection in 1923 specifically for didactic purposes, to serve as material examples for use during his lectures.
Artz began to formally exhibit his collection as early as 1930, and began a long history of donations to the library as early as 1957. His generosity and enthusiasm culminated in a bequest of his library made before his death, and another large exhibit and symposium held to celebrate the man and his books in 1986, and these events coincided with the inauguration of the Friends of the Oberlin College Library.
Artz collected books in three primary areas: wood block and engraved maps from the 15th to the 18th centuries; works on architecture from 1500 to 1800; and books/fragments illustrative of manuscript culture through the history of the printed book. This latter collection covered the very beginnings of typography, and included the master printers of 15th century Europe. Artz also added many products of the 19th and 20th century Arts & Crafts printing revival.
The Artz donation of over 300 rare books, maps, title pages and manuscripts are documented in files held by Special Collections and items do contain book plates and labels, but the online bibliographic records do not. Nevertheless, books written by, or about Frederick Artz have complete bibliographic records, and a catalog search can pull up records for those.
Many of the manuscripts and fragments donated by Artz; both European and Islamic manuscripts, and the fragments from early printers, are searchable through Oberlin College Digital Collections, with a keyword search for "Artz." There are also many mentions of Artz in College publications such as yearbooks and newspapers.
It is not an exaggeration to claim that this donation is one of the most significant in the history of Oberlin College Library's Special Collections, and it has contributed greatly to our ability to lead class instruction using books derived from all periods of study. This is particularly true of our Book Studies Minor.
Written by Ed Vermue. Last updated August 2026