Nils Andreas Olsen Collection

Collection

Identifier: MS0123

Staff Only

Content Description

The Nils Andreas Olsen Collection consists of journals, ledgers, and other account books of the Evans Hardware Company, Princeton, Minnesota, covering transactions prior to 1920; records of Alfred Erickson, Washington County, Minnesota; meeting minutes, payroll book, cash books, and other records of the Golden Valley Creamery Association, a cooperative functioning from 1908 to 1910, and its member groups; crop reports and land development literature from the Great Plains states; some 19th century military post records; and other miscellaneous material.

Dates

Creation: 1855-1936

Conditions Governing Access

Contact Special Collections for access.

Biographical Sketch

Nils Andreas Olsen (1886-1940) was born in Herscher, Illinois. He graduated from Luther College, Iowa, in 1907. He was a graduate student in history and economics at Johns Hopkins University from 1907 to 1908, and completed his master's degree in history and economics at the University of Wisconsin in 1909. Olsen taught history and economics at Muhlenberg College, Pennsylvania, from 1909 to 1910. He then became an instructor and graduate student in history and economics at Harvard University from 1910 to 1912. He worked as a farm manager from 1912 to 1919.

Olsen joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1919 as an assistant agricultural economist. He was promoted to Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics in May 1925. In this position, he was responsible for the development and coordination of the research work in the bureau, and also directed the research and investigations of the Division of Agricultural Finance. On July 16, 1928, Olsen became Chief of the bureau. He retired in 1935.