Cage 288 Guide to the Alvin E. Olson Papers 1902-1970 Olson (Alvin E.) Papers Finding aid prepared by Craig Holstine Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Washington State University Libraries: Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC)

Terrell Library Pullman, WA 99164-5610 mascref@wsu.edu

Terrell Library Pullman, WA 99164-5610 USA (509) 335-6691 http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/masc/ mascref@wsu.edu

Cage 288 Olson, Alvin E. Alvin E. Olson Papers 1902-1970 4 boxes 5 linear feet of shelf space. Correspondence, financial and tax records, legal documents, and other records, principally of the family farm, which was assumed by J. Forrest Olson upon his father's retirement in the 1940s. Collection materials are in English

Alvin Emel Olson was born in 1877 near Stockholm, Sweden, and emigrated to the United States in 1883. He lived on his father's farm near Harrington, Washington, for some years before acquiring a farm of his own in Whitman County near Pullman in 1908. Olson and his wife, Ella Cecelia Lybecker, had six children, three of whom reached adulthood.

Elected to the Washington State House of Representatives in 1923, Olson served as chairman of the Educational Institutions Committee, and was a member of the Banks and Banking, Dairy and Livestock, Public Morals, and Roads and Bridges committees. During his approximately twelve years in the Legislature he was noted for supporting the interests of Washington State University.

In addition to farming and holding public office, Olson was also a director and later vice president of the First National Bank of Pullman. He served as a lobbyist in the Legislature for the Washington State Cooperative Council in the 1940s, at which time he was also president of Pullman Grain Growers, Inc. When he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the 1940s, his son, J. Forrest, assumed management of the farm. Alvin E. Olson died 19 January 1950.

The collection is arranged in six series. Letters written by A.E. Olson and his wife, Ella Cecelia, are included in the first series with correspondence to Olson and his family. Miscellaneous papers of considerable age and unique nature, mainly personal items of A.E. and J. Forrest Olson as well as First National Bank and Pullman Grain Growers materials, comprise the second series. Olson's legislative materials make up a series unto themselves, followed by non-financial records of the Olson farm. Legal documents and financial materials of A.E. and J. Forrest Olson, their families, and the Olson farm make up the final two series.

This collection is open for research use.

[Item Description]. Cage 288, Alvin E. Olson Papers. Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

The papers of Alvin E. Olson were donated to the Washington State University Library by Sally Jo Hatley in 1976 (76-9).

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Olson, Alvin Emel, 1877-1950 --Archives Farmers--Washington (State)--Whitman County--Records and correspondence Government and Politics Washington (State)

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Correspondence 1906-1965 1 1 Letters of A.E. Olson 1929-1949 23 items. 1 2 Letters of Ella Cecelia Olson 1940-1949 8 items. 1 3 Correspondence to A.E. Olson and family 1906-1965 24 items. 1 4 Miscellaneous Papers 1907-1954 27 items. 1 5 Legislative Materials 1922-1948 7 items. 1 6 Farm Materials 1921-1968 21 items. 1 7 Legal Documents 1902-1968 42 items. Financial Records 1905-1970 1 8 Financial Materials 1914-1966 70 items. 1 9-10 Tax Materials 1905-1965 70 items. 2-4 C. Cash, Account, and Employees' Time Books 1907-1970 46 volumes.