Geoffrey Blodgett (October 13, 1931 – November 15, 2001) was Robert S. Danforth Professor of History at

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

, located in

Oberlin, Ohio Oberlin () is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. It is located about southwest of Cleveland within the Cleveland metropolitan area. The population was 8,555 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Oberlin is the home of Oberlin ...

Career

As a student at Oberlin from 1949 to 1953, he was a student of Oberlin history professor Robert Samuel Fletcher He was also a wide receiver on the Yeomen, the college's men's football team. After graduating

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from Oberlin in 1953, Blodgett served two years with the

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in the Pacific Fleet. He received a PhD at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1961, and returned to the college a year later to join the History Department. His dissertation focused on a group of political reformers of the late 19th century who left the Republican Party to join the Democratic Party, the

Mugwump The Mugwumps were History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican political activists in the United States who were intensely opposed to political corruption. They were never formally organized. They famously Party switching, swit ...

s. Throughout his career as a professor he focused on the history of

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

, publishing several books and many articles. He also published many articles on the history of Oberlin College, continuing the work of Fletcher. His articles on Oberlin have been collected in ''Oberlin History. Essays and Impressions'' (2006).

Selected publications

*Geoffrey Blodgett (1966). ''The Gentle Reformers: Massachusetts Democrats in the Cleveland Era''.

Press. *Geoffrey Blodgett (1985). ''Oberlin Architecture, College and Town: A Guide to Its Social History''.

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

Press. *Elizabeth A. Brown and Geoffrey Blodgett (1992) ''Robert Mangold: The Oberlin Window''. Oberlin College. *Geoffrey Blodgett (1999). ''Cass Gilbert: The Early Years''.

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Historical Society Press.

References

*Clayton Koppes (2002).
A Tribute to a Scholar.
''Oberlin Alumni Magazine''. Vol 97, No 4. {{DEFAULTSORT:Blogdett, Geoffrey 1931 births 2001 deaths Oberlin College alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Oberlin College faculty 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers