SIGURD F. OLSON:

Information for the chronology was compiled from the collection and from The Sigurd F. Olson Web Site produced by David Backes, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

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The collection contains published and unpublished literary manuscripts and related material; book drafts and publication proofs; correspondence with publishers, editors, agents, and illustrators; a 1972 bio-bibliography; correspondence; graduate school research and course papers; research notes; subject files; maps; photographs; film scripts; organizational records and minutes; speeches and lecture material; schedules; newspaper and magazine clippings; reports; surveys; land use studies and proposals; newsletters; pamphlets; brochures; and other printed material from the early 1930s through 1981 related to the writing career and environmental advocacy of Sigurd F. Olson. Considered one of the state's leading outdoor writers and wilderness preservationists, Olson published nine books of essays describing his outdoor experiences, his travels throughout the Quetico-Superior waterways, and his physiophilosophy. Through his conservation and ecological activities he was an instrumental figure in issues surrounding the Superior National Forest, the Voyageurs National Park, and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

Additional information regarding each of the nine series in this collection may be found in the Detailed Description of the Collection. For a list of these series, consult the Organization of the Collection which follows.

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These records have been divided into the following nine sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Sigurd F. Olson Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Location of Master Files:

Digital masters of sound tape recordings are maintained on the Society's secure digital collections storage servers and are managed and preserved in accordance with archival best practices.

Original sound tape and cassette recordings were disposed after the recordings were digitally reformatted into WAV and MP3 audio files, June 2017.

Accession Information:

Accession numbers: 11,715; 12,747; 12,908; 15,181; 16,598

Processing Information:

Processed by: Bonnie B. Palmquist, December 1980, December 1981; Monica Manny Ralston, June 1997; Shelby Edwards, January 2012

Digital audio transferred from the master sound tape reels by the Minnesota Historical Society for preservation purposes.

Catalog ID number: 990017349130104294

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Olson's literary manuscripts and related materials include research notes, outlines, handwritten and typed drafts of published and unpublished articles, essays, poems, and books, as well as publisher's proofs and reprints. Materials included within this series date from the early 1930s up until Olson's death in January 1982. Also included within these portions are Olson's correspondence with his literary agent, Marie Rodell; his editor, Ann Langen; and his publisher, Angus Cameron of Alfred A. Knopf. Correspondence, sketches, photoprints, and proofs from the illustrators, Francis Lee Jaques, Robert Hines, Leslie Kouba, and Les Blacklock may also be included within these materials or may be found scattered throughout his correspondence and miscellaneous papers. A group of unpublished manuscripts written during the latter portion of Olson's life contain some of his most autobiographical writings. These consist of boyhood memories and other memoirs touching upon his wilderness guide experiences, his canoe outfitting business, his army service, his cabin on Listening Point at Burntside Lake, and his advocacy activities.

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Compiled by a University of Minnesota student, this bio-bibliography provides a brief but informative biography and a fairly comprehensive listing of Olson's publications up to 1972. The list includes newspaper and magazine articles, book publications, and co-authored works, as well as reviews of Olson's publications, and works about Olson.

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This series focuses on Olson's role as a wilderness preservation advocate and consulting ecologist by documenting his involvement with, as well as the activities of, various organizations. The papers within this series have been further divided into four sets pertaining to Olson's membership on the Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings, and Monuments of the U.S. National Park Service (1958-1974); his membership in the U.S. National Parks Association (1953-1960); his activities in the preservation of the Quetico-Superior wilderness region including his membership on the President's Quetico-Superior Committee (1930s-1974); and his association with the Wilderness Society (1952-1974). Particularly well documented are Olson's efforts to preserve the wilderness areas of northern Minnesota which includes the Superior National Forest and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Additionally, Olson's advocacy of the national wilderness preservation system, enacted in 1964 as the United States Wilderness Act, and his consultative service to both the U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1960-1966) and the Izaak Walton League of America (1948-1982) are well documented.

Included within the papers are correspondence, proposals, surveys, maps, photographs, petitions, legislative bills, newsletters, and printed material pertaining to land acquisitions, congressional appropriations, park and forest management, road development, mining, logging, aircraft, motorboats, wildlife management, and recreational facilities. The papers also contain the newsletters, proposals, reports, meeting minutes, conference material, press releases, and other published material of the organizations of which Olson was a member as well as many other organizations committed to wilderness issues in general and to the Quetico-Superior region in particular.

Correspondents include other preservation advocates, organization executives, Minnesota congressmen, and state and federal parks, forestry, and conservation officials. Individual correspondents especially noted within the papers include John A. Blatnik, Frank B. Hubachek, Charles S. Kelly, William H. Magie, Donald P. O'Hearn, Ernest C. Oberholtzer, Ken Reid, Frank Robertson, Edward J. Thye, J. William Trygg , Stewart L. Udall, Harold C. Walker, Ralph P. Wentworth, Chester S. Wilson, and Frederick S. Winston. Organizations and government offices represented within the collection include the American Forestry Association, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the United States Forest Service, the Friends of the Wilderness, the United States Department of Interior, the Minnesota Arrowhead Association, the Minnesota Department of Conservation, the National Wildlife Federation, the Nature Conservancy, the United States National Park Service, the Northern Environmental Council, the President's Quetico-Superior Committee, the Quetico-Superior Council, the Quetico Foundation, the Quetico-Superior Foundation, the Sierra Club, and the Wildlife Management Institute.

While the bulk of the documentation covering Olson's preservation activities and his relationships with the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the President's Quetico-Superior Committee, the Izaak Walton League of America, and the Wilderness Society will be found within this series, additional materials may be found scattered throughout the remaining correspondence and miscellaneous papers.

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The correspondence and miscellaneous papers contain what amounts to Olson's research, subject, and correspondence files. Some of these materials are arranged on a chronological basis; others are arranged by the name of a topic, place, event, project, institution, organization, or correspondent. These papers include a wide variety of material covering a wide range of topics, projects, and activities. Included are correspondence, motion picture and television scripts, proposals, land use studies, park master plans, trip files, conference and meeting files, speeches, lecture notes, trip journals, maps, newsletters, brochures, and other printed materials. Information covered by these files includes Olson's speaking, lecture, and workshop engagements; his awards and honorary degrees; his interviews and relationships with other writers and illustrators, such as Sister Noemi Weygant or various staff of the National Geographic; his Burntside Lake property; his memberships; and his ecological interests. Files related to Olson's interest in the Quetico-Superior wilderness area and his work with various conservation organizations and the National Park Service are also included.

Not an exceptionally organized record keeper, many of Olson's original literary drafts were included as his own personal reference material within these files. Furthermore, information concerning a particular topic, project, institution, organization, or correspondent may overlap from one file to another. Frequent or notable correspondents whose letters may be found either within the correspondence and miscellaneous papers or within the conservation series include Robert Marshall, Ernest Oberholtzer, Frank Hubachek, Robert Matteson, William Douglas, Victor Shelford, and Aldo Leopold.