Sigurd Olson's Bookshelves

When Elizabeth Olson gave me the go-ahead to write Sigurd's biography in August of 1990, my first big fear was that she would die before I had a chance to get far into my research. She was in reasonably good health, but she was nearly 93 years old. So I quickly arranged my schedule to go up to Ely for a couple of days in September to begin interviewing her. At that time I also realized that if she died the house would be sold and everything removed. I wanted to have at least a basic list of the books Sigurd owned that might have had an influence on him. I knew his personal papers documented some of these books, but undoubtedly not all of them. So when I arrived in Ely in September I also made a list of the books on the bookshelves in the house. To save time, I dictated the titles, authors, and any other key information into a handheld tape recorder. Also, to save time, I focused on those books that were more of a philosophical bent and were more likely to have influenced his intellectual and spiritual growth. After recording those kinds of books, I added a number of others: nature books, history books, literature, etc. I did not record all of these (there were, for example, a couple of family bibles, one of them in Swedish), but many of them, picking out the ones that I thought were especially interesting. I did not always record the publisher or year of a book, only where I thought it might be important to me later.

Most of the philosophical and spiritual books were kept in a first floor reading room off of the living room; Elizabeth had converted it by that time into her bedroom. Most of the nature books, adventure books, literature, etc., were kept on shelves in the three-season porch room where people usually visited Sigurd. I did not make a list of the books in the writing shack or of those in the cabin at Listening Point. The vast majority of these were natural history books, field guides, or other books unlikely to have influenced his philosophy. Three books in the list below are from the writing shack, and identified as such. These three are likely to have had an impact on his understanding of geology and biology.

This list, then, gives a clue to the kinds of books Sigurd read, but only a clue. He undoubtedly read books that he did not own, and may well have given away books that he did own. Elizabeth also may have given some away by the time I made the list in 1990, although she told me that the bookshelves were as he left them. It is also possible that some of these books below were bought by Elizabeth and never read by Sigurd, or even that he may never have read all of the ones that he bought or received as gifts. As a biographer, I could not say anything conclusive about the effect any of these books had on him without additional evidence, which usually came from his journals, in which he recorded his reactions to a number of books.

Elizabeth lived nearly four more years, until August 23, 1994, but then the house was sold and the books removed. (The writing shack and Listening Point remain as they were at that time.) It would be impossible now to reconstruct the list of books that were on the shelves in the Olsons' home. Here, then, is the list as I recorded it in 1990, arranged alphabetically by author, or, if no author, by title:

The Song of God: The Bhagavad Gita. Mentor paperback. Introduction by Aldous Huxley.

Asch, Sholem. The Apostle: A Novel Based on the Life of St. Paul. Translated by Maurice Samuel. New York: J.P. Putnam's Sons, 1943.

Atwood, Wallace. The Rocky Mountains.

Audubon, John James. Audubon and His Journals. Dover edition.

Bach, Richard. Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

Bateson, Mary Catherine. Our Own Metaphor.

Beguin, Albert. Leon Bloy: A Study in Impatience. Translated by Edith Emmel.

Berrill, N.J. Man's Emerging Mind. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1955, paperback.

Berry, Wendell. The Unsettling of America. Avon, paperback.

Bertrand, J.P. Highway of Destiny: An Epic Story of Canadian Development. Vantage Press, 1959.

Bishop, Jim. The Day Christ Died. New York: Harper and Bros., 1957.

Bodsworth, Fred. The Sparrow's Fall. Bodsworth was a friend.

Borland, Hal. Our Natural World.

Bristol, Claude M. The Magic of Believing. New York: Prentice- Hall, 1948. A 1950 printing. Sigurd bought it in 1951 but had read it earlier because it's inscribed: "Dear Bob and Vonnie, Hope you get as much hope and inspiration out of this book as we did, Mom and Dad."

Burroughs, John. Collected Works. Houghton Mifflin, 1913. The Olsons kept it in their living room. Elizabeth said it was a gift to them.

Burnford, Sheila. The Fields of Noon. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1961. This copy was a 1964 printing.

Burnham, Guy M. The Lake Superior Country in History and in Story. The Ashland Daily Press, 1930.

Butler, Sir William Francis. The Great Lone Land.

Caldwell, Taylor. The Arm in the Darkness.

Campbell, Marjorie Wilkins. The Savage River.

Campbell, Sam. Sanctuary Letters. Series of small bound volumes, published out of Three Lakes, Wis. Sam was a good friend of the Olsons.

Caras, Roger. The Custer Wolf.

Carhart, Arthur. The National Forests. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1959. Sigurd got it from his friend and publisher Alfred Knopf as a gift.

Carr, Archie. So Excellent A Fish. Natural History Press.

Carrighar, Sally. Wild Heritage.

Carson, Rachel. The Edge of the Sea. Paperback version.

Carson, Rachel. The Sea Around Us. Paperback version.

Carson, Rachel. The Sense of Wonder. Harper and Row.

Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Houghton Mifflin, 1st ed.

Cihlar, Fr. Many, F.R.C. Mystics at Prayer. San Jose, Calif.: Rosicrucian library vol. 9, Supreme Grand Lodge of AMORC., 6th ed., Dec. 1951 (1st ed. 1931).

Cobb, Stanwood. Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Washington, D.C.: Avalon Press, 1951. This copy was from the second printing, 1952.

Collins, W.B. The Perpetual Forest. Lippincott.

Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. Hinduism and Buddhism. New York: Philosophical Library, no date but looked like it was from the 1940s or early 1950s.

Corte, Nicolas. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: His Life and Spirit. Translated by Martin Jarrett-Kerr, C.R. New York: MacMillan, 1960.

Davies, A. Powell. The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Washington, D.C.: Publications Committee, All Souls Church Unitarian, 1956.

DeVoto, Bernard. Year of Decision: 1846.

Diamond, Stanley. Primitive Views of the World: Essays in Culture and History. New York: Columbia U.Press, paper, Sigurd bought it Nov. 20, 1964 (paperback copyright is also 1964).

Dorer, Richard J. The Ghost Tree Speaks. Minneapolis: Ross and Hanes, Inc.

Douglas, William O. Farewell to Texas. The Supreme Court Justice was a good friend.

Douglas, William O. My Wilderness: East to Ktahdin.

Douglas, William O. My Wilderness: The Pacific West.

Douglas, William O. Of Men and Mountains.

Douglas, William O. Wilderness Bill of Rights.

Dunnington, Louis L. Handles of Power. New York: Abingdon- Cokesbury Press. A gift for Xmas 1942, from the same (unknown) person who gave the Olsons The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran.

Eckert, Allan. Wild Season.

Eddy, Mary Baker. Science and Health, With Key to the Scriptures. Boston: Published by the trustees under the will of Mary Baker G. Eddy. Jan. 31, 1948, Sig and Elizabeth got a copy from Sam Campbell and his wife, practicing Christian Scientists.

Einstein, Albert. Ideas and Opinions. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., paperback. Sigurd bought it in Washington, D.C. on February 28, 1960.

Eiseley, Loren. The Invisible Pyramid. Scribners.

Eiseley, Loren. The Night Country. Paperback copy.

Emerson, Edward Waldo. Henry Thoreau, as Remembered by a Young Friend, Edward Waldo Emerson. Concord, Mass.: Thoreau Foundation Inc., 1968.

Faulkner, William. The Sound and the Fury.

Faulkner, William. The Viking Portable Library of Faulkner.

Finegan, Jack. Wanderer Upon Earth. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1956, 1st ed.

Frost, Sergeant Robert. The Trial By Existence.

Gibran, Kahlil. The Prophet. Alfred Knopf, 1937 copy.

Glasser, William, M.D. The Identity Society. New York: Harper and Row, 1972.

Goold, S.E. You Will Come Back: A Conversation About Reincarnation and Karma. Toronto: The Blavatsky Institute, new ed. revised, 1964.

Hansen, Thorskild. The Way to Hudson's Bay.

Harding, Walter. The Days of Henry Thoreau. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Haring, H.A., ed. The Slabsides Book of John Burroughs. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1931.

Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom the Bell Tolls. Scribner.

Hilton, James. Time and Time Again. Little, Brown.

Holt, Victoria. Shadow of the Lakes.

Hornaday, William T. Campfires in the Canadian Rockies.

Hudson, W.H. Green Mansions. New York: Three Sirens Press; Sigurd bought it in 1935.

Hudson, W.H. The Purple Land. New York: Three Sirens Press; Sigurd bought it in 1935.

Huxley, Aldous. The Art of Seeing. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1942. This was a 12th edition copy.

Huxley, Aldous. The Perennial Philosophy. New York: Harper and Bros., 1945, 1st ed.

Huxley, Aldous. Time Must Have a Stop. New York: Harper and Bros., 1944, 1st ed.

Huxley, Julian. Religion Without Revelation. New York: Mentor Books, New American Library, 1st printing, Nov. 1958, copyright 1957. A dog-eared paperback copy. Sigurd underlined the following from last paragraph of preface: "What the world needs is an essentially religious idea system, unitary instead of dualistically split, and charged with a total dynamic of knowledge of old and new..."etc.

Innis, Harold. Peter Pond.

Jackson, A.Y. The Autobiography of A.Y. Jackson. Clark Irwin. Jackson, one of Canada's famous "Group of Seven" artists, was a friend of Sigurd's.

Kenoyer, Leslie, and Henry N. Goddard. General Biology. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1937. Sigurd bought it in 1937; he kept it in his writing shack.

Kipling, Rudyard. The Olsons kept a series of his books in their living room.

Krutch, Joseph Wood. Henry DavidThoreau. New York: William Sloane Associates, 1948.

Krutch, Joseph Wood. Human Nature and the Human Condition. New York: Random House, 1959, second printing.

Krutch, Joseph Wood. Voice of the Desert. New York: William Sloane Associates, 1954. Sigurd bought it on Nov. 7, 1955.

La Bastille, Anne. Woodswoman.

Lao Tzu. Way of Life. Transl. Witter Bynner. New York: Capricorn Books, 1944; this was a 1962 printing. Gift to Sigurd, who heavily underlined the book.

LeConte, Joseph. Elements of Geology. New York: D. Appletom and Co., 1881). Sigurd bought it for college on November 1, 1919; he kept it in his writing shack.

Lecompte du Nouy, Pierre. Human Destiny. Longmans Green and Co., 1947. First ed. was Feb. 1947, Sigurd's is a March 1947 copy.

Leopold, Aldo. Round River.

Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac. 2nd printing, 1950, gift from Sigurd Jr. and his wife, Esther.

Lewis, C.S. The Abolition of Man. New York: MacMillan, 1947, 1st ed.

Lewis, C.S. The Screwtape Letters. London: The Centennary Press. First published in 1942, this was a Sept. 1944 reprint, and Sigurd got it for his birthday on April 4, 1945.

Liebman, Joshua Loth. Peace of Mind. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1946. This copy was from the third printing.

Lindbergh, Anne Morrow. Gift From the Sea.

Lindbergh, Anne Morrow. North to the Orient. Harcourt Brace and Co.

Logan, Ben. The Land Remembers. Paperback copy.

Ludwig, Emil. Of Life and Love. New York: Philosophical Library, 1945.

MacLean, Norman. A River Runs Through It.

Malinowski, Bronislaw. The Scientific Theory of Culture and Other Essays. New York: Oxford U. Press, 1960. This was a Galaxy paperback.

Mann, Thomas. Joseph In Egypt, vol. 2. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1938. This one was from the 6th printing.

Maritain, Jacques. A Preface to Metaphysics: Seven Lectures on Being. New York: Mentor Omega Book, New American Library, 1st printing, 1960. Bought by Sigurd on May 23, 1965.

Masefield, John. So Long to Learn. New York: MacMillan, 1952. Sigurd bought it in Washington, D.C. in 1952.

Mech, L. David. The Wolves of Isle Royale.

Merton, Thomas. Seeds of Contemplation.

Michenor, James. Caravans. Random House.

Miller, Perry (notes and commentary). Consciousness in Concord. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1958. He got it in 1958 from Robert K. and Yvonne Olson.

Morley, Christopher. Four Favorite Books By Christopher Morley. New York: Garden City Publishing Co., 1939.

Morrison, Samuel Eliot, ed. The Parkmann Reader. Little, Brown.

Morse, Eric. Fur Trade Routes of Canada: Then and Now. Morse was a good friend, one of "The Voyageurs."

Nash, Roderick. The American Environment.

Neatby, L.H. In Quest of the Northwest Passage.

Overstreet, Harry and Bonaro. The Mind Alive. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., Inc., 1954.

Paramananda, Swami. Emerson and Vedanta, 2nd ed. Boston: Vedanta Centre, 1918.

Parkmann, Francis. The Oregon Trail. Paperback copy.

Parmenter, Ross. The Plant in My Window: An Adventure of the Spirit. Crowell.

Perri, Francesco. The Unknown Disciple. New York: MacMillan, 1950.

Pieper, Josef. Leisure: The Basis of Culture. New American Library, Mentor/Omega Book, 1st printing, Dec. 1963. Sigurd heavily underlined this book.

Powys, John Cowper. The Meaning of Culture. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1929. Sigurd bought it on Nov. 11, 1952.

Pusey, Merle J. Eisenhower the President.

Rich, E. E., ed. Hudson's Bay Co. Records, vols 1 and 2.

Roosevelt, Theodore. African Game Trails.

Rutstrum, Calvin. The Wilderness Life.

Sandoz, Mari. The Beaver Men.

Sarett, Lew R. Covenant With Earth. University of Florida Press.

Sax, Joseph. Mountains Without Handrails:Reflections on the National Parks. University of Michigan Press, 1980.

Schuchert, Charles. Historical Geology. Part 2 of Louis V. Pirsson and Schuchert, A Textbook of Geology. New york: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1915. Sigurd bought it for college on March 4, 1920; he kept it in the writing shack.

Schweitzer, Albert. Christianity and the Religions of the World: Lectures Delivered at the Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, February 1922. New York: MacMillan Co., 4th impression, 1951 (copyright 1923).

Schweitzer, Albert. The Mystery of the Kingdom of God: The Secret of Jesus' Messiahship and Passion. New York: MacMillan, 1950.

Schweitzer, Albert. The Wit and Wisdom of Albert Schweitzer. Edited by Charles R. Joy. Boston: Beacon Press, 1949.

Service, Robert. Rhymes of a Red Cross Man. New York: Barse and Hopkins, 1916.

Seton, Ernest Thompson. The Arctic Prairies.

Sheldon, Charles N. In His Steps. New York: Grossett and Dunlap, 1935.

Sittler, Joseph. The Care of the Earth and Other University Sermons. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1964. Part of the Preacher's Paperback Library.

Slaughter, Frank G. The Map Maker.

Sokoloff, Boris. Science and the Purpose of Life. New York: Creative Age Press, 1950. Originally bought May 25, 1951 by someone whose name is unreadable, something like Forkeur. In the book, Sigurd bracketed off the last paragraph on p. 30, cont. on 31 -- underlined and asterisked the sentence that says "The ideal to strive for was 'our idea of God ennobled by our increasing knowledge'".

Stefansson, Vilhjalmur. Hunters of the Great North. Harcourt Brace.

Stegner, Wallace. Behind the Hundredth Meridian. Stegner was a good friend.

Stevenson, William. A Man Called Intrepid.

Swing, Raymond, ed. This I Believe. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1954. Written for and with a forward by Edward R. Murrow. Sigurd's was vol. 2.

Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre. The Future of Man. New York: Harper and Row, 1964 English translation. 2nd printing. Sigurd bought this in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 9, 1964.

Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre. The Phenomenon of Man. New York: Harper and Bros. Introduction by Sir Julian Huxley. Sigurd bought it on Feb. 10, 1960.

Thoreau, Henry David. The Works of Thoreau, ed. Henry S. Canby. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1937.

Van Der Post, Laurens. Venture to the Interior.

Van Doren, Carl, ed. Modern American Prose. Literary Guild.

Van Name, Willard G. Vanishing Forest Reserves: Problems of the National Forests and National Parks. Boston: Richard G. Badger, Publisher, the Gorham Press, 1929.

Walton, Isaac and Charles Cotton. The Compleat Angler, or, The Contemplative Man's Recreation. New York: A.L. Bert Co.

Walton, Isaac. The Compleat Angler, edited by John C. Nimmo, pub. in London.

Wood, Edward Cope. Death: The Gateway to Life. New York: Exposition Press, 1958. Sigurd got it as a gift from the author in January 1963.

Wylie, Philip. An Essay On Morals. New York: Rhinehart and Co., Inc., 1947. New York: Wiley and Co., 1947. Sig bought it on March 1, 1947.

Zola Emile. The Collected Works.