Norman Brown Adkison, educator and author, was born March 31, 1886, at Grangeville, Idaho. He was the son of pioneer parents, John Riley Adkison and Harriett Brown Adkison. He attended Grangeville High School and graduated with honors from the University of Idaho in 1907. In the years immediately following his graduation, he taught in Denver, Idaho, and at Grangeville High School, also serving as superintendent at Denver and principal at Grangeville.
In 1910 he was invited to become head of the science department at the Idaho Academy in Pocatello. The school was soon renamed the Idaho Technical Institute, and later became Idaho State University. Adkison remained at Idaho Technical Institute during the school's formative years, until 1923. Besides his teaching duties, he served as dean of men and established the pharmacy department, now the Pharmacy School at I.S.U.. While on the faculty of Idaho Technical Institute, he studied during the summers at Columbia University in New York, earning a masters degree in chemistry in 1919.
Adkison left Idaho Technical Institute in 1923 to become secretary to Idaho Governor Charles C. Moore, serving as speechwriter and general political aide. He worked for Governor Moore until 1925, when he became secretary-manager of the Idaho Home Industries Association. In that position he founded and edited the association magazine, Golden Idaho through 1934, retaining the position during service in Washington, D.C. (1931-1932) as secretary to U.S. Senator John Thomas.
The activities and publication program of the Idaho Home Industries Association declined during the early 1930s, and Adkison took a position as an educational director with the Civilian Conservation Corps in Idaho. He remained with the CCC until 1936, when President Eugene B. Chaffee of Boise Junior College asked him to head up the education and psychology department at the college. Adkison was a member of the faculty of Boise Junior College until 1940, when, as an officer of the National Guard, he was called to active duty to organize the Idaho Selective Service System. He operated the Idaho Selective Service System throughout the war, and after the war became an administrator with Veterans Administration. He remained with the Veterans Administration until he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 in 1956.
Adkison wrote historical articles for newspapers and magazines and in 1966 published a book,
Adkison was married twice, first to Della Shaff in 1910, and secondly to Rose Richer Gilgan in 1935. Adkison died November 19, 1978, at a Boise nursing home and was interred at Morris Hill Cemetery in Boise.
The Norman Brown Adkison collection contains an oral history of Adkison's life, some of his correspondence, photocopies of his newspaper and magazine articles and some biographical material on his mother, Harriet Brown Adkison and himself. The oral history is the main item in the collection.
Adkison was a prominent educator at Idaho State University (1910-1923) and later at Boise Junior College (1936-1940), during their formative years. Adkison describes in great detail his career at the two colleges, in his oral history. He also served as secretary to Idaho Governor Charles C. Moore (1923-1925) and U.S. Senator John Thomas (1931-1932). Adkison records his perceptions of these men as he worked with them, as well as other figures such as President Warren G. Harding. Adkison also describes his involvement in the Selective Service System and the Veterans Administration during and after World War II, and recounts in detail his family history, childhood, farm life near Grangeville, Idaho, student days at the University of Idaho, and work with the Idaho Home Industries Association and the Civilian Conservation Corps. The oral history exists in unedited transcript form, and the original tape recordings have been retained.
Many of Adkison's articles and publications contained in the collection deal with Idaho history around Grangeville. From 1926-1934 Adkison was the editor of Golden Idaho, a publication which sought to promote home industries in the state. The collection also includes biographical material relating to Adkison's mother, who took part in the Nez Perce Indian wars of 1877.
Collection is available for research.
Gift of Mr. Adkison, 1975
[item description], Norman B. Adkison Papers, Box [number] Folder [number], Boise State University Special Collections and Archives.