Olson, James C. 1917-2005 (James Clifton Olson)

PERSONAL:

Born January 23, 1917, in Bradgate, IA; died August 17, 2005; son of Arthur Edwin (a businessman) and Albertina Olson; married Vera Blanche Farrington, June 6, 1941; children: Elizabeth (Mrs. Steven R. Goldring), Sarah Margaret. Education: Morningside College, A.B., 1938; University of Nebraska, M.A., 1939, Ph.D., 1942. Religion: Protestant.

CAREER:

Northwest Missouri State Teachers College (now Northwest Missouri State University), Maryville, instructor in history, summers, 1940-42; University of Nebraska, Lincoln, lecturer, 1946-54, associate professor, 1954-56, professor, 1956-58, Martin Professor of History, 1962-65, chairman of department, 1956-65, associate dean of Graduate College, 1965-66, dean, 1966-68, vice-chancellor for graduate studies and research, 1968; University of Missouri—Kansas City, chancellor, 1968-76; University of Missouri System, interim president, 1976-77, president, 1977-84, president emeritus, 1984—. Municipal University of Omaha (now University of Nebraska at Omaha), lecturer, 1947-50; visiting professor at College of Mexico, 1962, and University of Colorado, summer, 1965. Consultant to U.S. Air Force and U.S. Department of Defense. Nebraska State Historical Society, director, 1946-56; member of board of directors, State Federal & Loan Association, Standard Milling Co., and United Telecommunications, Inc.; chairman of board of trustees, Mid-America Arts Alliance; president of Missouri Council on Public Higher Education; vice president of Kansas City Public Television 19, Inc.; member of board of trustees, Midwest Research Institute. Member of College of Electors, Hall of Fame for Great Americans, Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement, Nelson Gallery Foundation, and William R. Nelson Trust. Group secretary, Great Plains Conference on Higher Education, 1956; participant in National Security Forum, Air War College, Air University, 1957. Participated in The Great Plains Trilogy, a series for Educational Radio and Television Center. Military service: U.S. Army Air Forces, 1942-46; became first lieutenant.

MEMBER:

American Association for State and Local History (member of council, 1948-56; regional vice president, 1956-62; president, 1962-64), American Association of University Professors (vice president of University of Nebraska chapter, 1958-59), Association of Urban Universities (vice president, 1972-73; president, 1973-75), American Historical Association, Council for Basic Education (charter member), Organization of American Historians (secretary-treasurer, 1953-57; member of executive committee, 1963-66), Harry S. Truman Library Institute (member of board of directors), Western History Association, Nebraska History and Social Studies Teachers Association (president, 1957-58), Nebraska Writers Guild (president, 1951-53), Nebraska State Historical Society (member of executive board, 1957-68; president, 1962-68; honorary life member), Mississippi Valley Historical Association (secretary-treasurer, 1953-56), Kansas City Museum Association (member of board of trustees), Kansas City Museum of Science and Industry (member of board of governors), Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Gammu Mu, Omicron Delta Kappa, Rotary Club of Columbia, Missouri.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Annual award, Alpha Epsilon Rho (national honorary radio-television fraternity), 1955; Montana Heritage Award, State Historical Society of Montana, 1958; Woods faculty fellowship, University of Nebraska, 1959-60; LL.D., Morningside College, 1968.

WRITINGS:

J. Sterling Morton, University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln, NE), 1942, reprinted, Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation (Lincoln), 1972.

(With George E. Condra and Royce Knapp) The Nebraska Story, University Publishing Co. (Lincoln, NE), 1951.

(Contributor) W.F. Craven and J.L. Cate, editors, The Army Air Forces in World War II, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), Volume II, 1951, Volume V, 1953.

History of Nebraska, University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln, NE), 1955, 3rd edition, 1997.

(With wife, Vera Farrington Olson) Nebraska Is My Home, University Publishing Co. (Lincoln, NE), 1956, 2nd edition, 1965.

(With V.F. Olson) This Is Nebraska, University Publishing Co. (Lincoln, NE), 1960, 2nd edition, 1968.

(Editor and author of introduction) James H. Kyner, End of Track, University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln, NE), 1961.

Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem, University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln, NE), 1965.

The Role of Local History (lecture), American Association for State and Local History (Nashville, TN), 1965.

(With V.F. Olson) The University of Missouri: An Illustrated History, University of Missouri Press (Columbia, MO), 1988.

Serving the University of Missouri: A Memoir of Campus and System Administration, University of Missouri Press (Columbia, MO), 1993.

The Historical Dictionary of the 1960s, Greenwood (Westport, CT), 1998.

Stuart Symington: A Life, University of Missouri Press (Columbia, MO), 2003.

Author of several columns appearing in Nebraska newspapers, 1946-56. Contributor to Encyclopedia Americana, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Collier's Encyclopedia, and World Book Encyclopedia. Contributor of articles and reviews to history journals. Editor, Nebraska History, 1946-56; member of editorial board, Mississippi Valley Historical Review.

SIDELIGHTS:

The author of histories of Nebraska and the University of Missouri, James C. Olson also published an account of the Sioux Indian chief Red Cloud and the events that led to the Sioux people being brought to a reservation.

In Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem Olson draws on materials in the National Archives, as well as on unpublished manuscripts recording the thoughts of the Sioux, to present a "thoroughly readable narrative, spiritedly written," as the critic for Choice explained. The critic went on: "Olson's researches yielded pertinent new material and illuminate much of the dark complexities in the relationships between government officials and the Indians." E.W. Sterling, in his review for the Journal of American History, believed that Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem "will undoubtedly stand as the standard account of the relations between the Sioux and the federal government."

Reviewers also welcomed Stuart Symington: A Life, a biography of the first secretary of the Air Force. Olson traces Symington's career from his early life and education at Yale University to his subsequent political career, which began during the Truman administration. As secretary of the newly independent Air Force, Symington pushed for racial integration of the Air Force and became an impassioned advocate for the 70-group plan, which was formed in response to the perceived threat of the Soviet Union. In researching the book, Olson drew on Symington's private family papers and was also able to interview his two sons. These sources, as Cecilia Stiles Cornell pointed out in a Journal of Southern History review, "enrich the study."

In addition to providing insights into Symington's motivations and achievements, wrote Stiles Cornell, the book also "allows the reader to witness the heated debates with the Truman administration and to examine policy implications during a crucial period. Reviewing Stuart Symington in Air Power History, I.B. Holley, Jr., praised its thorough research and readable style, concluding that "this excellent biography fills a long felt need."

Olson also edited the well-received work The Historical Dictionary of the 1960s, which Library Journal contributor Stephen L. Hupp deemed an "excellent" reference on that decade that "covers Vietnam, China, the Soviet Union, and the British contributions of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones," as well as "American politics, society, and culture."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Air Power History, spring, 2006, I.B. Holley, Jr., review of Stuart Symington: A Life.

Choice, February, 1966, review of Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem; September, 2004, J.L. Gall, review of Stuart Symington, p. 176.

Journal of American History, March, 1966, E.W. Sterling, review of Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem.

Journal of Southern History, February, 2005, Cecilia Stiles Cornell, review of Stuart Symington, p. 205.

Library Journal, April 1, 1998, Stephen L. Hupp, review of The Historical Dictionary of the 1960s, p. 80.

OBITUARIES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times, August 22, 2005.

Sarasota Herald Tribune, May 22, 2007.