Archives West Finding Aid

Olaus Murie was nationally known as an outstanding naturalist, writer, artist and speaker. Born in Moorhead, Minnesota in 1889, He grew up exploring the Red River Valley with his two brothers. His college education began in North Dakota at Fargo College, majoring in biology. After one year his mentor, Professor Arthur M. Bean, left and started teaching at Pacific University. Murie followed in 1909 when Bean promised him a job as a paid assistant in the Biology Department. After graduation Murie worked as a field assistant and photographer for the first Oregon State Game Warden. In 1914 Murie accepted a position with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, exploring the Hudson Bay region in Canada. After his WWI Army service, Murie started his 26-year career with the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). In Alaska he studied caribou migration patterns and waterfowl populations. During his time in Alaska (1920-1927) he met and married his wife, Margaret. In 1927 he moved to Jackson, Wyoming, beginning his elk life-history research. During the late 1920s he also earned an M.S. degree from the University of Michigan. When his field career ended in 1946, Murie became the director of the Wilderness Society. He passed away at his Jackson home in 1963.

Olaus Murie exemplified and taught wilderness appreciation and preservation. He was a founding member of the Wilderness Society in Washington, D.C. He received many awards for his efforts in conservation and field work, chief among them was the "Outstanding Service in the Conservation of American Resources" presented by the American Forestry Association. In the fall of 1959 Murie returned to Pacific University to received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree during the University's centennial homecoming celebration. He visited again as a speaker for Homecoming, 1958: "Roosevelt Elk in the Olympic Rain Forest".