Guide to the James Orin Oliphant Papers 1894-1979
Cage 232

Summary Information

Repository
Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections
Creator
Oliphant, J. Orin (James Orin), 1894-1979.
Title
James Orin Oliphant Papers
ID
Cage 232
Date [inclusive]
1894-1979
Extent
9.5 Linear feet of shelf space, 19 Boxes
Language
Collection materials are in English.
Abstract
Professional papers, hand-written manuscripts, published works, scrapbooks, and clippings, related to the Pacific Northwest history of historian J. Orin Oliphant. Also includes his personal papers, and Oliphant and Ewing family genealogies.

Preferred Citation

[Item description]

James Orin Oliphant Papers, 1894-1979 (Cage 232)

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

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Biography/History

James Orin Oliphant was born on March 23, 1894, in the Whitman County town of Elberton, Washington, not far from the Palouse River. In 1913 he graduated from the State Normal School in Cheney. Three years later he received his A.B. degree from the University of Washington in Seattle. He returned to Cheney for two years to teach high school, then joined the Normal School faculty in 1921. From 1921 to 1924 he taught as a member of the Department of History and Social Science and served as executive secretary to President Noah Showalter. During these years he used several leaves of absence to continue his work in history under the direction of Edward Meaney at the University of Washington. In 1923- 1924 he was a Denny fellow and in 1924 he received his A.M. He then returned to teaching history and social science at Cheney Normal School. In 1929 he took a leave of absence and went east to Harvard University as an Austin Scholar and in 1930 received his Ph.D from Harvard. His dissertation was on The Range-Cattle Industry in the Oregon Country to 1890. Rather than returning to the Washington State Normal School at Cheney, Oliphant joined the faculty of Antioch College in Ohio as an associate professor of history. In 1933 he moved to Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where he progressed through the ranks of the professoriate and in 1964 retired as professor emeritus of history. From 1936 to 1944 and again from 1957 to 1962 he served as chairman of the department of history. From 1949 until 1954 he edited Bucknell University Studies. His professional memberships included the American Historical Association and the Agricultural History Society. Upon his retirement Oliphant and his wife May returned to the Pacific Northwest and lived in Salem, Oregon, until his death in 1979.

Biographical sketch of J. Orin Oliphant from the Ye Galleon Press reprint of William Emsley Jackson's Diary of a Cattle Drive from LaGrande, Oregon, to Cheyenne, Wyoming, published in 1983.

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Scope and Content

Professional papers, hand-written manuscripts, published works, scrapbooks, and clippings, related to the Pacific Northwest history of historian J. Orin Oliphant. Also includes his personal papers, and Oliphant and Ewing family genealogies.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections  © 2022

https://libraries.wsu.edu/masc/

Terrell Library

P.O. Box 645610

Pullman, WA, 99164-5610 USA

509-335-6691

mascref@wsu.edu

Restrictions on Access

This collection is open and available for research use.

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions may apply.

Acquisition Information

The papers were donated to WSU in about 1968.

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Related Materials

Related Material

James Orin Oliphant Papers, 1914-1978 (Cage 563)

The Oregon Historical Society owns a small collection of James Orin Oliphant Papers.

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Names and Subjects

Family Name(s)

  • Oliphant family.
  • Ewing family.

Geographic Name(s)

  • Northwest, Pacific -- History -- Research.

Personal Name(s)

Subject(s) :
  • Oliphant, J. Orin (James Orin), 1894-1979 -- Archives.

Subject(s)

  • Washington (State)
  • Oregon
  • Overland Journeys to the Western United States

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Detailed Description of Collection

box folder

Oliphant and Ewing Family genealogies. Correspondence from W. S. Oliphant's WW II experiences in Algeria. 

1 1

Mr. Oliphant's PhD. dissertation, The Range Cattle Industry in Oregon to 1890. 

1 2

Several drafts of The Great Interprise, a history of Bucknell University by Mr. Oliphant (mss.) 

1 3-7

Drafts of The Great Interprise, a history of Bucknell University by Mr. Oliphant (mss.) (cont.) 

2 8-16
box

On the Arkansas Route to California, a translation of one Robert Green's journal by Mr. Oliphant. It relates the journey made by its author from Pennsylvania to California in 1849. 

3
box folder

Galley proofs for On the Arkansas Route to California.  

3 17
box

Sketches of the History of Northeastern Washington (clipped and bound newspaper articles by Mr. Oliphant).  

3

Early History of Spokane, Washington told by Contemporaries, (typewritten, bound mss. by Mr. Oliphant) 

3

History of the State Normal School at Cheney, (typewritten, bound mss. by Mr. Oliphant) 

3

Recent History of the Normal School, (typewritten, bound mss. by Mr. Oliphant) 

4

War-Time Letters of the Normal School, (typewritten, bound mss. by Mr. Oliphant) 

4

Sources of the History of the Normal School, (typewritten, bound mss. by Mr. Oliphant) 

4

Readings in the History of Eastern Washington, (vols. 1 & 2) (typewritten, bound mss. by Mr. Oliphant) 

4

Readings in the History of Eastern Washington, vols. 3-5.  

5

Northwest History Notes, vol. 1 (bound notes and clippings)  

5

Northwest History Notes, vols. 2-4. 

6
box folder

Notes and material regarding the foundation and development of churches and lodges in Cheney, Washington. 

7 18

Notes and material regarding the history of Cheney Normal School.  

7 19

Notes and material regarding the history of Cheney educational institutions. 

7 20

Notes and material regarding the history of Cheney Academy. 

7 21

Bulletins from the Washington State Suprentendant of Schools for 1930-1932. 

7 22

Early drafts and notes for The Library of a Fur Trader in Oregon, a book published by Mr. Oliphant. 

8 23

Typewritten translation of the Lueg Journal. 

8 24

Descriptions of the Washington frontier by pioneers 

8 25

Note regarding transportation in 19th century eastern Washington. 

8 26

Notes and clippings re Pacific Northwest History. 

8 27

Pioneer sketches of Eastern Washington. 

8 28
box

Makers of the Nation, a college term paper giving biographical sketches of prominent personalities in American History. (2 vols.)  

9

Essays in Pennsylvania History, by J. Orin Oliphant. Reprints and booklets containing articles published. 

10

Reprints and articles by J. Orin Oliphant. 

10-11
box folder

World War I Scrapbooks. (kept by Mr. Oliphant, contain personal notes and newspaper clippings.) 

11 29

Teaching notes prepared by Mr. Oliphant for a course in American Government at Antioch College from 1930-1931 to 1932. Content relates to the constitutionality of prohibition. 

11 30-31

Notes prepared for a speech on Frank Lester Ward. 

11 32
box

Miscellaneous pamphlets, newspapers, circulars, advertisments and prospectuses regarding special collections containing material on American history. 

12

Miscellaneous reprints, journals, and pamphlets regarding American History and special collections 

13

Miscellaneous reprints, journals, and booklets regarding Pacific Northwest History and the cattle industry. 

14

Miscellaneous booklets regarding Pacific Northwest History.  

15

Stevens County, Washington by W.P. Winas (bound typewritten mss.)  

15

Reminiscences of Leoti L. West, J. Orin Oliphant (ed.) (bound volume of newspaper clippings by Miss West)  

15

Experiences of a Pioneer Teacher in Eastern Washington, J. Orin Oliphant (ed.) (bound volume of newspaper clippings by Miss West). 

15
box folder

Letters re: miscellaneous information sought by Dr. Oliphant in his research. 

16 33

Newspapers, Spokane and Whitman Co, notes., 1880-1889 

16 34

Notes for Hist. 306, 1789-1833 

16 35

Notes re: L. E. Kellogg, founder of the Northwest Tribune. 

16 36

Notes re: frontier settlement. 

16 37

Notes re: the Pacific Northwest during the Civil War. 

16 38

Notes re: use of public land. 

16 39

Ohio Letters, J. H. Johnson: 1833-1837. By Dr. Oliphant 

16 40

Notes re: frontier and western letters. 

16 41

Notes re: the westward movement in Oregon and California. 

16 42

Newspaper clippings re: Sprague, Washington. 

16 43

Notes re: cattle in the Pacific Northwest. 

16 44

Freedom of the Press, by J. Orin Oliphant. 

16 45

History as Knowledge, or  History: its Methodology, its Philosophy, and its Uses, by J. Orin Oliphant. 

16 46

Description of Oregon in 1850 and early literature on Oregon, mss. and notes. 

17 47

Methodism in Eastern Washington, (notes). 

17 48

Notes re: Walla Walla in the 1860s. 

17 49

Cheney Washington, Early History, extensive notes and early mss. 

17 50

Notes re: Early eastern Washington mining. 

17 51

Notes re: Cheney newspapers. 

17 52

The Founding of Cheney, 1880-1881 

17 53

Cheney, 1881-1890 

17 54

Notes re: economic conditions in early Cheney. 

17 55

Notes re: Cheney in 1880s. 

18 56

Notes re: Spokane County in 1880s. 

18 57

Notes re: state normal schools. 

18 58

Notes re: Washington territory. 

18 59

Notes re: Eastern Washington towns. 

18 60

Notes re: Cheney and Eastern Washington. 

18 61

The Diary of George D. Anderson, 1879-1889. 

18 62

Miscellaneous notes and clippings re: the Pacific Northwest. 

18 63

American Constituticnal Readjustment, notes and mss. by Dr. Oliphant. 

18 64

Miscellaneous notes re: Pacific Northwest territories, boundries, and administration. 

19 65

Notes re: newspapers of eastern Washington and northern Idaho. 

19 66

Notes re: Cattle in the Palouse country. 

19 67

Notes re: eastern Washington economic development. 

19 68

Notes re: the beginnings of Washington Territory. 

19 69

Notes re: the Grange movement in the Pacific Northwest. 

19 70

Galley proofs for On The Cattle Ranges of the Oregon Country.  

19 71
box

Miscellaneous pamphlets and reprints re: Pacific Northwest history. 

19

Photograph of first printing press in Pacific Northwest. 

19
box folder

Recollections of life in Elberton 1972 November 25   4 p. typescript

19 72