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 Several
objects in the exhibition have been loaned by other Ohio institutions
including The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Columbus Museum of Art,
Metropolitan Bank and Trust, and The Toledo Museum of Art. Changing
Visions of the North American Landscape is part of a larger
initiative to integrate the museum's collection into the general
curriculum of the College, and is supported by a grant from the
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The exhibition opens October 24, 2000,
and runs through January 28, 2001. THE COLLEGE PURCHASED THE BUILDING last spring that formerly housed the Co-op Bookstore, retaining Barnes & Noble, Inc./College Division to manage the store. The new kids on the block held a massive one-day clearance of all the stock forfeited by the Co-Op Bookstore--a move which melted the stiff resistance of some of the locals who feared that "Big Business" was taking over downtown. All prices were agreeably cut, and whatever books and merchandise were left over turned up at reduced rates at the Oberlin merchants' Annual Sidewalk Sale in July. A few familiar faces reside behind the counters, and the staff has made a concentrated effort to provide all the trade books, texts, and materials that students must have, as well as other offerings that will attract the townspeople back to the store after a hiatus of nine months. There is an explosion of colorful Oberlin sweatshirts, jogging outfits, gifts, and dorm room necessities, and the new management assures us that the Oberlin Bookstore will keep pace with Oberlin's special needs, including faculty, students, townspeople, and visitors. Although a percentage of the store's annual profits will accrue to the College, the day-to-day management decisions belong to Barnes & Noble. Now begins a new chapter in the history of the little shop on the corner we have all known and loved. PIECE BY CAREFULLY-WRAPPED PIECE, the College's new Opus 116 symphonic organ arrived in August on campus, where a crew of workers from organ builder C.B. Fisk, Inc., began the lengthy task of assembling the instrument in Finney Chapel. Next began the ten-month voicing process of toning each of the organ's 3,951 pipes. Professor of Organ Haskell Thomson says that Opus 116 will be ideally suited for romantic and contemporary music, and is "capable of making a crescendo from the most ethereal pianissimo to a thundering fortissimo." The organ will be heard publicly in inaugural performances tentatively scheduled for next September. Oberlin's previous organ was dismantled in June 1999 and shipped to its new home in Truro Episcopal Church of Fairfax, Virginia.
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