News

Retired St. Olaf College archivist Joan Olson, one of the namesakes of the Shaw-Olson Center for College History, died on October 22.

A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. on November 2 at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Northfield, with visitation one hour prior to the service.

Olson, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University and a master’s degree from Cornell University, became the first professional archivist at St. Olaf in 1969.

Her motto as an archivist was “when in doubt, save,” and she kept at least one copy of everything — and sometimes more than one. Thanks in large part to Olson’s work, the St. Olaf archives include many photos, even glass negatives, from the early days of the college.

Olson, informally known by many as “Joan of Archives,” catalogued the people, events, and programs that make up the college’s “collective memory.” In 1974 she created a historical exhibit for the college’s centennial using this accumulation of records.

Olson worked closely over the years with St. Olaf Professor Emeritus of Religion and College Historian Joseph Shaw ’49. She retired from St. Olaf in 1998.

In addition to her work at St. Olaf, Olson also served as the president of the Northfield Historical Society and as the archivist for St. John’s Lutheran Church in Northfield.

Read more in Olson’s obituary.