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Guide to the Olsen Family Photograph Album Collection # 2013.005

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Guide to the Olsen Family Photograph Album Collection # 2013.005 Guide to the Olsen Family Photograph Album Collection # 2013.005 University Libraries Department of Archives and Special Collections Loma Linda University 11072 Anderson Street Loma Linda, CA 92350 Phone: 909-558-4942 Fax: 909-558-0381 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.llu.edu/llu/library/speccoll/ © 2014 Loma Linda University. All rights reserved. University Libraries, Publisher. Collection digitized by Michael Olivarez, March 2014 Electronic finding aid created by Michael Olivarez, April 2014, revised June 2014, revised September 2014 by Lori N. Curtis Descriptive Summary Creator: Elizabeth E. Hanson Olsen Title: Olsen Family Photograph Album Date Span: Late 19th – early 20th centuries Abstract: On July 24, 1890, Edward Gunder Olsen gave the photograph album to his wife Elizabeth “Lizzie” E. Hanson Olsen for her 33rd birthday, shortly before returning to the United States from Norway and Denmark. The album, consists of 17 leaves (34 pages) and 79 photographs – 18 cabinet cards and 60 carte des visite. Only two dates appear in the album - 1884 on page 15, and that of 1890 in the inscription at the beginning of the album. There appears to be no sequential order to the photographs, nor any known location, although the majority of the photographs were taken at studios in Norway. Besides family members, the photographs contained herein are of individuals and families that E. G. and Elizabeth Olsen worked with in Norway and Denmark. The album is in fair condition, considering its age. The majority of the photographs come with handwritten captions in blue ink. The identity of the individual who wrote the captions is unknown. Due to the differences in handwriting and ink, it is clear that several individuals provided identification. We have attempted to correctly identify all the photographs, but there are still some for which this information is lacking. Languages: English Extent: 34 pages, 79 photographs Collection number: 2013.005 Repository: Department of Archives and Special Collections, University Libraries, Loma Linda University Biographical / Historical Notes E.G. (Edward Gunder) Olsen, 1856-1931 and Elizabeth “Lizzie” E. Hanson Olsen, 1857-1943 Edward Gunder Olsen was born in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, in 1856, the fourth son of Andres and Berte Olsen. Edward died at Mason City, Iowa on March 18, 1931.1 As a young man he attended Battle Creek College. In 1879, he decided to become a minister. His parents were not as supportive as one may think, having already three sons in the ministry, the oldest being Ole Andres Olsen. In 1881 he was ordained and soon was sent off to Iowa, where he worked until he was called to Europe in 1884 to help Elder John Gottlieb Matteson in Norway. He was married to Elizabeth Hanson on December 25, 1883, and they later had four children from the marriage. Elizabeth E. Hanson Olsen was born in Village Creek, Iowa, on July 24, 1857, and passed away on December 9, 1943, at the Boulder [Colorado] Sanitarium2. After seven years in Norway and Denmark, Edward and his family came back to the United States, living most of the time in Iowa. During this time, he was president of the Iowa Conference. In 1919 he was called to be the pastor of the Sioux Falls church in South Dakota. While there, he had five churches under his pastoral care. In 1928, the Olsens moved to Greely, Colorado to be near their daughter, but Edward did not find the living conditions (high altitude) to his liking. The Olsen family moved to a home in Oakland, Wisconsin. Records state he 1 Adventist Review and Sabbath Herald, 108.13 (1931): 28. 2 Central Union Reaper, 13.6 (1944): 7 was buried next to their oldest son, David, in Forest City, Iowa. The funeral was conducted in the Swedish Baptist Church, as the home church was too small to seat all the guests who attended the service. Elder Albert G. Christiansen presided over the services. O.A. (Ole Andres) Olsen, 1845-1915 The first of five sons born to Andres and Berte Olsen, Ole Andres Olsen was born on July 28, 1845 in Skogan, Norway. At the age of five, the Olsen family immigrated to Wisconsin in 1850. In 1876, Olsen attended Battle Creek College. In 1873, the Wisconsin Conference issued Olsen a ministerial license and he began working among the growing Scandinavian immigrant population. Ole served as president of the Wisconsin conference 1874-76 and 1880-81; the Dakota conference from 1882-83; the Minnesota conference from 1883-85; and the Iowa conference from 1884-85. Ole then headed overseas to serve as president of the Norwegian, Danish and Swedish conferences. When the Adventist message entered the Scandinavian countries in 1886, the General Conference sent Olsen to lead the church there. While in Europe, Olsen was elected General Conference president, but did not take the presidency until a year later in May of 1889.3 After his presidency with the church, he went as a missionary to South Africa. In 1901, he was asked to head the work in Great Britain. At the time of his death of a heart attack on January 29, 1915, he occupied the position of General Secretary of the Foreign Department of the North American Division Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Andrew D. Olsen, 1851-1890 The second son of Andres and Berte Olsen, Andrew D., received his ministerial license in 1876 and was ordained in 1880. Andrew served as president of the Dakota conference from 1883-1887, and the Minnesota conference from 1888-1889. Andrew died of pulmonary consumption in 1890 at the age of thirty-eight.4 Martin M. Olsen, 1854-1940 The third Olsen son, Martin M., was born in 1854 and received his ministerial license at the age of twenty-two. Martin served as a minister for ten years in Michigan and the Dakota Territory. In 1889 Martin was sent by the Church to Denmark, where he remained until his death in 1940. Martin served the Seventh-day Adventist church as a teacher, minister, editor, and conference president. 3 "Death of Elder O.A. Olsen (Obituaries)." Review and Herald 92.6 (1915): 2. General Conference Archives of Seventh-day Adventist. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. <www.adventistarchives.org> 4 Onsager, Lawrence W. “Pilgrims in a Strange Land: The First Norwegian-American Seventh-day Adventist Church in the United States.” Adventist Heritage Magazine 11 (1986) 39. J.G. (John Gottlieb) Matteson, 1835-1886 Born, May 1835 on the island of Langeland in Demark, John Gottlieb Matteson and family migrated to America in 1885 and lived in Brown County, Wisconsin. Raised as a Baptist, he attended a college in Chicago in order to become a Minister. It wasn’t until the fall of 1862, after careful investigation, Matteson converted to a Seventh-day Adventist5. A large part of his congregation followed Matteson in the move and the Poy Sippi Danish church was organized and became the second Scandinavian Adventist church in Wisconsin. Shortly after this move, he began publishing his own tracts and began distributing them. One in particular, Det Nye Testamentes Sabbat, (The New Testament Sabbath) helped further the churches evangelistic efforts. Another important publication that Matteson was instrumental in was the Advent Tidenle, a twenty-four page Danish journal. This publication first went to press in January of 1872. It was one of the first journals issued by the Church in a foreign language. Matteson was one of the Adventist pioneers station in Europe for ten years. During this time, he published articles in the Review and Herald about his travels. On March 30, 1886 Matteson died of Tuberculosis, in Santa Monica California. 6 An Interment Record shows that Matteson is buried at Woodland Cemetery in Santa Monica, California, with a headstone that reads “J.G. Matteson”. W.C. (William Clarence) White, 1854-1937 Born in the summer of August 1854, William Clarence White was the son of James and Ellen White. ”Willie”, as his mother referred to him, helped Ellen with her travels, writings and publishing after his father’s death in 1881. On February 8, 1876 he married Mary E. Kelsey and they had a daughter Ella Mae in 1882. In the summer of 1887, Willie and Ellen G. White attended the first European camp-meeting of Seventh-day Adventist held on an island near Moss, Norway, where brothers O. A. and E. G. Olsen were working along with J. G. Matteson and others.7 William was one of four individuals entrusted with his mother’s estate after her death in 1915. He also served as secretary and director of the White Estate until his own death in 1937. 5 Olsen, Ole Andres. "Another Faithful Laborer Fallen." Review and Herald 73.15 (1869): 234. General Conference Archives of Seventh-day Adventist. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. <www.adventistarchives.org> 6 Wilcox, Milton C. "Obituaries." Signs of the Times 22.15 (1896): 16. General Conference Archives of Seventh-day Adventist. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. <www.adventistarchives.org> 7 Olsen, M. Ellsworth. A History of the Origin and Progress of Seventh-day Adventists. Takoma Park, Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1932. 3rd ed. 359. Scope and Content Note The album was a birthday gift from Edward Gunder Olsen to his wife L.E. [Elizabeth] Olsen on her 33rd birthday, July 24, 1890. Most of the photographs are members of the extended Olsen family, but also includes photos of Uriah Smith, William Clarence White and John Nevins Andrews, Goodloe Harper Bell, E. J. Waggoner, and others. All of the photos in this collection are mounted on thick card stock paper as carte de visites (4 x 2 ½ in.) or cabinet cards (4 ¼ x 6 ½ in.) Carte de visites, developed in France in 1854, were wildly popular and were used almost as trading cards.
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