Alice K. Olson Papers
Collection
Identifier: Mss 356
Scope and Contents
The Alice Olson Papers and accompanying oral history interview provide us with a view of an extremely energetic feminist agent of social change and consciousness during the turbulent years of the 1960s and into the early 1980s. We can see how she interacted with people and politics on a local and national level to bring women into politics as more than just observers of the process, for them to be activists for causes that would elevate women's rights to a higher level than they had previously attained. Her details of her arrest at the 1968 Democratic National Convention and personal observations on this event that was of national historical significance are invaluable additions to available research on this topic.
We have a glimpse into the day to day life of a busy working attorney and mother who sends a signed affidavit with her daughter to school in place of the school physical records so her daughter can participate. We can hear a wife commend her devoted husband for his support over the years so that she could pursue her career, activism, and interests. We can read in the cards and letters of the sincere support of her friends and colleagues, of their belief that Alice can become the first female Attorney General in the history of the nation in 1980 and again in her bid for Labor Commissioner of North Dakota in 1982. We can hear of her awakening into Feminism and read of her efforts to assist women prisoners and to give women in North Dakota access to an abortion clinic in order that they might have as an option their right to an abortion and exercise the basic right to maintain control of their own bodies. We can read her letter to Congressman Byron Dorgan challenging him for not taking a stand in the abortion debate, for dismissing it as irrelevant. We can read of her involvement in the formation of the standing Women's Caucus in the North Dakota Democratic-NPL party and her presence at the formation of the Minnesota Women's Political Caucus. And we can learn of the achievement of daycare at the North Dakota state convention in order that women could be involved as active participants in the democratic processes of the party. From her personal correspondence we realize that she met Gloria Steinem, influential and long-time editor of Ms. magazine.
This material came to the Institute in legal folders with brief titles. In each folder some of the papers were dated; many were not. In general, the papers of Alice Olson were in reverse chronological order, naturally compiled in legal fashion with the most recent on top. For the convenience of researchers, they have been reversed so that the earliest dated materials in the folders are first with the exception of The Personal Correspondence folders which have been kept in original order. Undated documents were found intermittently with dated documents. On the possibility that this may reflect their original point in time, or approximately so, most of them have been kept in that same sequence.
The 2011 Accession Series consists of documents deposits added by Alice Olson to her original donation. These papers have been semi-processed only. The majority of these papers relate to her 1980 run for North Dakota Attorney General and include correspondence, survey, newspaper clippings, campaign literature, donor information and other documents. There are small files on her attendance at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and her seeking the nomination for North Dakota Public Service Commissioner in 1982. In addition there is a typed copy of an interview with Alice Olson for the local Plainswoman magazine, a number of certificates of appreciation, including two from New York, several campaign artifacts and a file of photographs related primarily to her 1980 campaign.
We have a glimpse into the day to day life of a busy working attorney and mother who sends a signed affidavit with her daughter to school in place of the school physical records so her daughter can participate. We can hear a wife commend her devoted husband for his support over the years so that she could pursue her career, activism, and interests. We can read in the cards and letters of the sincere support of her friends and colleagues, of their belief that Alice can become the first female Attorney General in the history of the nation in 1980 and again in her bid for Labor Commissioner of North Dakota in 1982. We can hear of her awakening into Feminism and read of her efforts to assist women prisoners and to give women in North Dakota access to an abortion clinic in order that they might have as an option their right to an abortion and exercise the basic right to maintain control of their own bodies. We can read her letter to Congressman Byron Dorgan challenging him for not taking a stand in the abortion debate, for dismissing it as irrelevant. We can read of her involvement in the formation of the standing Women's Caucus in the North Dakota Democratic-NPL party and her presence at the formation of the Minnesota Women's Political Caucus. And we can learn of the achievement of daycare at the North Dakota state convention in order that women could be involved as active participants in the democratic processes of the party. From her personal correspondence we realize that she met Gloria Steinem, influential and long-time editor of Ms. magazine.
This material came to the Institute in legal folders with brief titles. In each folder some of the papers were dated; many were not. In general, the papers of Alice Olson were in reverse chronological order, naturally compiled in legal fashion with the most recent on top. For the convenience of researchers, they have been reversed so that the earliest dated materials in the folders are first with the exception of The Personal Correspondence folders which have been kept in original order. Undated documents were found intermittently with dated documents. On the possibility that this may reflect their original point in time, or approximately so, most of them have been kept in that same sequence.
The 2011 Accession Series consists of documents deposits added by Alice Olson to her original donation. These papers have been semi-processed only. The majority of these papers relate to her 1980 run for North Dakota Attorney General and include correspondence, survey, newspaper clippings, campaign literature, donor information and other documents. There are small files on her attendance at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and her seeking the nomination for North Dakota Public Service Commissioner in 1982. In addition there is a typed copy of an interview with Alice Olson for the local Plainswoman magazine, a number of certificates of appreciation, including two from New York, several campaign artifacts and a file of photographs related primarily to her 1980 campaign.
Dates
- 1968-1983.
Creator
- Olson, Alice K., 1945- (Person)
Access
The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the Institute.
Copyrights
Copyrights to this collection are held by the Institute.
Biography
Alice Olson was christened Alice Ann Katherine Kinsella, namesake of her Aunt, Alice Sleevar Haycraft. Alice was born on December 19, 1945 in St. Joseph‘s Hospital in Bloomington, Illinois. Alice‘s father was Francis Michael Kinsella, who was born February 14, 1910. He died on January 25, 1985 in Clay County, Minn. Alice‘s mother was Irene Agnes Kinsella, who was born November 16, 1914 to Anton and Agnes Sleevar who emigrated from Poland. Irene Kinsella died on July 24, 2004 in Cass County, N.D.
Alice is a graduate of Moorhead State University in Moorhead, Minnesota, has pursued graduate studies at North Dakota State University in Fargo, and has her law degree from the University of North Dakota School of Law. Alice practiced law in Fargo for six years with the firm of Lamb, Schaefer, McNair, Larson & Olson, Ltd.
Alice served as both an officer and a member of the Board of Governors of the North Dakota Trial Lawyer‘s Association; she has been on the Executive Committee of the Cass County Bar Association; and she maintained memberships in the American Bar Association and the National Trial Lawyers Association. She is a graduate of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, an intensive training program for trial attorneys, and also served as a member of the teaching facility for that program.
Alice‘s involvement in government service has included work as a legislative research assistant to the House Committees on Education, Natural Resources, and Veterans Affairs during the 1975 Legislative session. In addition she has been a legal research assistant with the State Social Service Board, has served on the North Dakota Commission on the Status of Women, the Advisory Committee to the Governor‘s Commission of Commercial Air Transportation, the North Dakota Supreme Court‘s Services Administration Committee and the Citizen‘s Committee on the New Judicial Article. In addition, Alice has served as one of the seven members of the North Dakota State Social Service Board. She has been President of the Board of Directors of CENTRE, Inc., North Dakota‘s only halfway house for prison parolees and served as an officer and member of the Board of the NDSU Campus Y. Alice has also been a member of the Board of Directors of Nokomis child Care Center. She was the Democratic-NPL candidate for the North Dakota attorney general in 1980 and for the Labor Commissioner in 1982.
Alice is a well-known feminist activist. While still a law student, Alice briefed and argued a case before the North Dakota Supreme Court which resulted in a unanimous decision of the Court prohibiting a referendum of the Legislature‘s ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. She has represented women prisoners in efforts to obtain equal treatment for them at the North Dakota State Penitentiary; and in her law practice she was involved on a daily basis in domestic litigation, that area of the law which impacts individual women most directly. She was a frequent speaker before women‘s groups of all kinds addressing not only legal issues, but also a wide range of social issues related to the changing role of women.
Alice‘s husband, Michael, was a certified public accountant with the firm of McGladrey Hendrickson & Co. in Fargo, North Dakota and New York, New York. Mike and Alice have two daughters, Angie and Beth.
Extent
2 Linear Feet (2 linear ft.)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Alice Olson Papers and accompanying oral history interview provide us with a view of an extremely energetic feminist agent of social change and consciousness during the turbulent years of the 1960s and into the early 1980s. We can see how she interacted with people and politics on a local and national level to bring women into politics as more than just observers of the process, for them to be activists for causes that would elevate women‘s rights to a higher level than they had previously attained. Her details of her arrest at the 1968 Democratic National Convention and personal observations on this event that was of national historical significance are invaluable additions to available research on this topic.
Provenance
Donated by Alice K. Olson 2010-2011 (Acc. 2931 & 2980).
Separation Record
Photographs (Photo P314)
10 photographic prints of Alice Olson during campaign and with Henry Martinson
Audio cassettes Insitute Audio Cassette Tape Collection numbers 221-226 and 236-238.
Audio cassettes Insitute Audio Cassette Tape Collection numbers 221-226 and 236-238.
Property rights
The Institute for Regional Studies owns the property rights to this collection.
Creator
- Olson, Alice K., 1945- (Person)
- Title
- Finding Aid to the Alice K. Olson Papers
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Institute for Regional Studies Repository
Contact:
West Building N
3551 7th Avenue North
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States
ndsu.archives@ndsu.edu
West Building N
3551 7th Avenue North
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States
ndsu.archives@ndsu.edu