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Orange A. Olsen Audio Visual Collection

 Collection
Identifier: A0912

Scope and Contents

The Orange A. Olsen audio visual collection consists of film clips which feature a variety of animals and scenic locations, in addition to people enjoying outdoor activities in the Utah wilderness. All video has been digitized and is available on DVD in the Special Collections Reading Room.

Dates

  • 1926-1945

Creator

Language of Materials

Collection material in English .

Conditions Governing Access

Materials must be used on-site; no use of original material, access copies will be made available for viewing. Five business days advanced notice required. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law, condition of the material, or by donor.

Conditions Governing Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.

Permission to publish material from the Orange A. Olsen Audio Visual collection must be obtained from the Special Collections Multimedia Archivist.

Biographical Note

Orange A. Olsen was born October 10, 1890 with a twin named Henning. Both were named after their grandfathers, Utah pioneers Orange Seely and Henning Olsen. Their parents Abenadi and Hannah Seely Olsen raised them on a farm.

Olsen attended three years of high school in the Emery Stake Academy and, from 1910 to 1912, served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints LDS mission in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Afterwards, he worked as a clerk in the Castle Dale Cooperative store (2 years), then as a bookkeeper for the Consolidated Wagon and Machine Company. He married Aileen Brown of Salt Lake City in 1915 and took a correspondence course in law.

Olsen began work with the Forest Service in November 1917 as a clerk in the Manti Supervisor’s Office in Ephraim. He was the Mammoth District Ranger (near Fairview) on the Manti from 1918 until 1922 when he became deputy forest supervisor. His next appointments were as forest supervisor of the Lemhi (1922-23), La Sal (1923-26), and Dixie (1926-31) national forests. In 1931, Olsen transferred to Region 4’s regional office in Ogden, Utah to head up the wildlife division. In order to regulate big game hunting and fishing activities in his region, he began conducting the annual wildlife census via aircraft. He was considered a pioneer in developing this new technique of the big game census. Unfortunately, he died in 1945 in an airplane crash while conducting an aerial count of elk in the Bridger National Forest.

Olsen was known for always carrying a videocamera with him. This audio visual collection consists of 16mm film clips of various Forest Service footage taken by Olsen during his time working for the Forest Service.

Extent

48 Items

Abstract

The Orange A. Olsen collection provides a look into Utah National Forests between approximately 1926 and 1945 as filmed by Orange A. Olsen. The film clips feature a variety of animals and scenic locations, in addition to hunting and forests fires in the Utah wilderness.

Arrangement

Material is organized by subject matter. Approximate film dates determined by film edge codes, which identify the year the film stock was manufactured. A reasonable estimation of film date would be between the film stock manufacture year and the year of Olsens death, 1945.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Carole Gardner in 2006.

Related Materials

Processing Information

Processed by Jared Nistler in 2017.
Title
Guide to the Orange A. Olsen Audio Visual Collection 1917-1945
Author
Finding aid created by Jared Nistler
Date
© 2016
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid encoded in English in Latin script.

Repository Details

Part of the J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections Repository

Contact:
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City Utah 84112 United States
801-581-8863