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Minnesota Humanities Commission

Sigurd Olson

Biographical Notes

Date of birth: April 4, 1899, Humboldt Park, Illinois
Date of death: January 13, 1982, Ely, Minnesota

Sigurd Olson Sigurd Ferdinand Olson. Conservationist, author, and leader in wilderness preservation. B.S., University of Wisconsin, 1920; graduate work in geology, University of Wisconsin, 1922; M.A., animal ecology, University of Illinois, 1932. Biology instructor, Ely Junior College (currently Vermilion Community College), 1922-35; dean, 1936-47. Wilderness ecologist, Izaak Walton League of America, 1947-82; governing council, Wilderness Society, 1956-82, and president, 1968-71; consultant, Quetico-Superior Committee, 1947-65; president, National Parks Association, 1953-59; member, advisory boards, of national parks, monuments, and historic sites; consultant to the United States secretary of the interior, 1959-70. Active in environmental issues, 1920s until death. With others, responsible for establishment and protection of northern Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area and Quetico Provincial Park and the preservation of wilderness concept. Wrote many books and magazine articles. Honorary degrees from University of Wisconsin, Beloit College, Hamline University, University of Minnesota, Northland College, Carleton College, and Macalester College. Silver Antelope award, Boy Scouts of America, 1963; Distinguished Service Award, Upper Mississippi Basin Commission, 1975; Izaak Walton League Hall of Fame, 1963. First recipient, Robert Marshall Award, 1981, Wilderness Society. Justice William O. Douglas called him "our modern Muir and Thoreau."

Selected Works

When you click on the titles below, you will exit the Minnesota Historical Society web site and go to the Minnesota Statewide Project for Automated Library Systems (Web PALS) Web Database. Title searches link directly to our catalog record. Please click on your browser's back button to return.
Sigurd Olson book cover

Additional Resources

Sources used to prepare this author entry

The following bibliography may include links to Web sites that are no longer operable or have changed location. The sources are shown as they existed in the fall of 1999 when the entries were compiled.
  • American Men of Science. p. 3976. New York: Science Press, 1965.
  • Audubon Magazine. Nov. 1980, p. 28-39. New York: National Audubon Society, 1980.
  • Barron, Ron. A Guide to Minnesota Writers: Expanded and Revised. Minnesota: Minnesota Council of Teachers of English, 1993.
  • Contemporary Authors. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1963.
  • Contemporary Authors. Vol. 105. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1982.
  • Minneapolis Star, 13 June 1963, p. 4D.
  • Minneapolis Star, 19 July 1972, p. 14A.
  • Minnesota Education Radio Preview. Vol. 9, no. 11, p. 22-23.
  • Richards, Carmen. Minnesota Writers. Minneapolis: T. S. Denison, 1961.
  • St. Paul Dispatch, 7 Aug. 1980, p. 9C.
  • St. Paul Pioneer Press, 6 May 1973, Capitol Magazine Section, p. 10-11.
  • Searle, R. Newell. Saving Quetico-Superior: A Land Set Apart. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1977.
  • Stutheit, Esther, ed. Who's Who in Minnesota. Minneapolis: Minnesota Editorial Association, 1941.
  • University of Wisconsin-Milwaulkee. "Sigurd F. Olson Web Site," 16 Jan. 2000. Online. Accessed 28 Jan. 2000. http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/JMC//Olson/
  • White, Bernice, ed. Who's Who in Minnesota. Seattle: Hugh L. White, 1958.
  • White, Bernice, ed. Who's Who in Minnesota. Seattle: Hugh L. White, 1964.
  • Who's Who in America: 1978-79. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1978.
  • Who's Who in the Midwest, 1974-75. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who Inc., 1974.
  • Who's Who in Minnesota. p. 1130. Chicago: Hugh L. White, 1941.
  • Who's Who in Minnesota. p. 479. Chicago: Hugh L. White, 1958.
  • Who's Who in Minnesota. p. 282. Chicago: Hugh L. White, 1964.
  • Wilderness News. Spring 1980, p. 4. Minneapolis: Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. 1980.
This pilot database compiled and maintained by the Minnesota Historical Society.
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