This collection contains professional papers related to J. Orin Oliphant's historical research, including extensive notes from various east coast and midwestern newspapers, personal diaries, and published memoirs that focus on topics of public land laws and western migration, from to the 1770s to 1888. The collection also contains incoming correspondence, newspaper clippings from 1951 and 1954, and a scrapbook of a trip to France with the American Expeditionary Force in 1919 including photographs, postcards, letters, and ephemera.
James Orin Oliphant (1894-1979) was a Professor of History at Bucknell University. Born in Elberton, Washington, Dr. Oliphant graduated from the State Normal School in Cheney, Washington, in 1913, and then received both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of Washington in 1916 and 1924 respectively. After serving as a high school teacher at the State Normal School in Cheney for short time, Dr. Oliphant received his Ph.D. in History from Harvard University in 1930. He first served as a Professor of History at Antioch College in Ohio for three years before joining the faculty at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1964. While at Bucknell University, Dr. Oliphant served as the chair of the History Department from 1936 to 1944 and again from 1957 to 1962. Dr. Oliphant lived out the remainder of his life in Salem, Oregon, with his wife Mary Oliphant.
Collection donated by Robert Prudy of Salem to the Washington State University Libraries in 1994 (MS1994-02).
This collection is open and available for research use.
This is an unprocessed collection. It has not yet been arranged.
J. Orin Oliphant Papers (Cage 232 and Cage 563)