Contents

Collection Overview

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Organization of the Collection

Search Terms

Allison W. "Eli" Marsh (AC 1913) Papers, 1915-1979

Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by .

© 2005

Biographical Note

Allison W. "Eli" Marsh, professor of Physical Education at Amherst College from 1917 to 1958, was born in Quincy, Massachusetts on July 28, 1892. At Amherst he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and Phi Beta Kappa. He earned a Master's degree at Harvard University. After teaching at Ohio Wesleyan University and Ohio State University, he joined the Amherst faculty in 1917. During that time he was chairman of Department of Physical Education and Intercollegiate Athletics from 1950 to 1958 and was one of two men to serve twice as president of the College Physical Education Association. In 1924 he married Margaret Alexander.

Known to his students as "Eli," Professor Marsh was one of the chief architects of the physical education program at Amherst. He was consistently opposed to professionalism in college athletics and became a respected spokesman on the subject nationally.

Professor Marsh introduced soccer to Amherst College in 1920 and was its head coach until his retirement, compiling a 38-year record of 147 won, 62 lost, and 15 Little Three championships.

In retirement, Professor Marsh devoted much of his time to painting and held many one-man exhibitions in Amherst and Wellfleet, his summer home on Cape Cod. On his retirement, Amherst conferred on him the honorary L.H.D. degree in 1963, as did Washington and Jefferson College in 1971.

Allison "Eli" Marsh died April 3, 1976 in Northampton.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

Publications, photographs, clippings, letters, memorabilia, academic regalia and other materials documenting "Eli" Marsh's career as a coach and professor of Physical Education, chiefly at Amherst College, 1917-1958, but also at Ohio State University from 1915-1917. The collection includes many letters received from his former soccer players at Amherst as well as materials collected by Marsh relating to Robert Frost, President Alexander Meiklejohn, and the transition of the Amherst presidency of the administration of John William Ward to Julian Gibbs, 1979. Many of Marsh's notes on physical education, games, and fitness are included in the collection, along with yearbooks from Marsh's brief professional appointments at Ohio Wesleyan University (1915) and Ohio State University (1917). Academic gowns and other memorabilia documenting his honorary degrees from Washington and Jefferson College and Amherst College are also a part of the collection.

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Search Terms

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into five series:

• 1. PERSONAL AFFAIRS, 1915-1971
• 2. PHYSICAL EDUCATION/FITNESS, 1904-1958
• 3. AMHERST COLLEGE, 1923-1979
• 4. PRINTED MATTER, 1857-1944
• 5. MISCELLANEOUS, 1926-1951

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Series 1: PERSONAL AFFAIRS, 1915-1971

Series 1, PERSONAL AFFAIRS, 1915-1971, contains personal correspondence and materials documenting professional appointments, honorary degrees, insurance and taxes.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

Series 2: PHYSICAL EDUCATION/FITNESS, 1904-1958

Series 2, PHYSICAL EDUCATION/FITNESS, 1904-1958, includes many of Eli Marsh's notes on games, physical education, exercise, lesson plans, and articles he wrote on athletics, such as an article on tumbling and another on posture.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

Series 3: AMHERST COLLEGE, 1923-1979

Series 3, AMHERST COLLEGE, 1923-1979, contains material related to Eli Marsh's honorary degree from Amherst in 1963, clippings and articles about events at the college, notes related to Physical Education at Amherst and his department. Also included are Amherst publications, students' poetry, and information about President Alexander Meiklejohn (including an article by Marsh about Meiklejohn) and the inauguration of President Gibbs in 1979.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

Series 4: PRINTED MATTER, 1857-1944

Series 4, PRINTED MATTER, 1857-1944, includes miscellaneous printed material. One item of interest is an 1857 edition of Edward Hitchcock's (AC 1849) "History of a Zoological Temperance Convention."

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

Series 5: MISCELLANEOUS, 1926-1951

Series 5, MISCELLANEOUS, 1926-1951, includes photographs, clippings about Robert Frost, plans for educational modeling at Reed and Bard Colleges, some of Marsh's speeches, and Eli Marsh's summary of a study he prepared on the correlation between mental tests and academic achievement among members of the Amherst College Class of 1926.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.