Old School
Photo by Bob Christy '95
Kent State College diploma, 1934, Blue flocked cover, 8 x 10 in.
When integrated social studies major Elijah Baker ’16 tweeted a photo of his great-grandmother’s 1934 diploma from Kent State College, we asked for a closer look.
“I had no idea any of my relatives had gone to Kent State,” says Baker, whose grandmother recently found the diploma and gave it to him. “I learned my great-grandmother was a teacher, and I’m training to be one. What stands out to me, though, are the signatures.”
The diploma is signed by J.O. Engleman, the third president of Kent State College (1928 to 1938) and Engleman Hall’s namesake, and C.W. Seiberling, president of the board of trustees and vice president of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, which he founded with his brother F.A. Seiberling in 1898. The company made Akron the “Rubber Capital of the World” and financed F.A.’s family estate, Stan Hywet Hall, Akron’s first and largest National Historic Landmark.
As for his piece of history, Baker plans to keep it. “When I get my diploma, I’ll put it next to this one,” he says. “That would be cool.”