The Drake Brothers in Oberlin

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This little carte de visite image caught my eye not only because of the rather flamboyant-looking pair pictured here, but because of its location in Oberlin, Ohio. Since I went to Oberlin College (though, ahem, some years after this picture was taken), I was intrigued. Founded in 1833, the college has always been the main business of the small town that grew around it, so it seemed reasonable to assume that these two were somehow involved in academia, probably students or teachers. Their striking faces looked similar enough that I assumed a relation. Written on the back is:

The first initial fooled me (I thought it was an S), but I came to realize these two are L. E. and W. A. Drake, and indeed they were brothers. I also learned a bit of Oberlin history. In the early days, a number of institutions of education sprouted up around the college. There was some overlap, with shared students, shared Board members, etc. Some, like the Conservatory, were eventually absorbed into the College. But some were not. One of the latter was the Union Business Institute, where the Drake Brothers were employed as teachers who taught, of all things, penmanship. A two-volume history of Oberlin by Professor Robert Fletcher that I found online [thank you, Internet Archive!] says, In the chirographic department the Drake brothers taught business and ornamental Spencerian penmanship, including “Off-Hand Flourishing, Old English, German And Church Text.” Funny to think of a time when good penmanship mattered that much to a businessman.

As for dating the photo, I’m finding some conflicting information online. The school was created from the merger of two others in 1865, and by 1866/67, the Drakes had moved to a new Union Business Institute location in Hillsdale, Michigan, as evidenced by this newspaper item from 1868:

(Funny to think of a time when Michigan was considered “the West”.) On the other hand, the photographer, Alfred C. Platt, supposedly sold his photography business to his brother in 1865, as mentioned in this article here. Additionally, there is no revenue stamp on the back, which would’ve been required from late 1864 to late 1866. So maybe the Drake brothers were already around before 1865, working for one of the schools that became the Union Business Institute? Maybe one of these articles has its facts wrong? Maybe the revenue stamp fell off? Hard to say. But it’s been a fun rabbit hole to go down so far.