J.V. Howell was a geologist in Oklahoma, and a founding member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Jesse V. Howell, known as J.V. was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa on March 11, 1891. He was the only child of William J. and Jennie Esther Craft Howell. J.V. graduated from Penn College with a BS in Chemistry in 1912. He then acted as a high school principal in Lander, Wyoming during the 1912-1913 school year. J.V. enrolled in at the University of Iowa in the fall of 1913 and graduated with a MS in Geology in 1915. From 1916-1918, Howell worked as a geologist for the Texas Company in Oklahoma and Kansas. On December 1, 1918, J.V. married Blanche Marilyn Pahlow. From 1918-1921, he was a geologist for Gypsy Oil Company in Oklahoma and Kansas. In the fall of 1921, he returned to school, working as an instructor at the University of Iowa while earning his PhD in geology. He earned his doctorate in 1922 and then joined the Maryland Oil Company as a geologist. While with the Maryland company Howell, and Noel Evans, along with their wives, traveled to Prince Edward Island and mapped the entire province. He continued working with the Maryland Oil Company until 1929. From 1929 until his death in 1971, J.V. was a consulting or independent geologist in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Howell’s key interest was the history of both science and geology and focused heavily on the Hayden Survey with F.M. Fryxell. He also held interest in the T.H. McCasland and Mack Oil Company and was a partner in Adkins Oil Associates. Howell was a founding member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and served as secretary-treasurer from 1947 to 1949. J.V. also served as the president of the Tulsa Geological Society from 1944 to 1945 and was president of the American Geological Institute from 1957 to 1958. In 1966, he was appointed honorary curator of the History of Scientific Exploration and History of Geology for the William Robertson Coe Memorial Library of the of the University of Wyoming.