John Baldwin (1799-1884) , a native of Connecticut, settled in the Berea, Ohio, area in 1828. After several years of farming he joined with other Methodists to establish an experimental utopian commune called Lyceum Village. The post office for this "United Community of United Christians" was named Berea. The Berea Seminary was incorporated in 1837 as a "working school" based on the lyceum system developed by Josiah Holbrook. The community failed in 1844. Upon his invention of a lathe for turning sandstone grindstones, Baldwin founded the Baldwin Quarry Co. in 1842. This established the Berea sandstone industry which lasted over a century. Baldwin donated land to the Methodist Episcopal Church for the Baldwin Institute in 1845, which became Baldwin University in 1855, and eventually Baldwin-Wallace College in 1913. Baldwin established a sawmill in Palmyra (later Baldwin City), Kansas in 1857 and an educational institute there which later became Baker University. The collection consists of photostatic copies of records of land sales in Kansas, documents relating to Lyceum Village, Berea Seminary, Baldwin Institute and Baker University, and copies of Methodist Church minutes, but primarily xeroxed copies of articles in histories and reference texts pertaining to John Baldwin, Lyceum Village, Berea Seminary, and Baldwin's activities in Kansas, particularly the establishment of Baker University. The collection is useful for those interested in John Baldwin, the lyceum movement of the 19th century, and the establishment of higher education in the Middle West. The collection was compiled by Herbert L. Heller, Professor of Education at Baldwin-Wallace College in 1972.
