Chelsea Langevin
Copy editor

Deborah Olsen, professor of history, received the Oregon Historical Quarterly’s Joel Palmer Award April 18 for her essay on women’s separatism in 20th century Oregon.
The Oregon Historical Quarterly, a peer-reviewed journal, presents the award to the author of the journal’s best article that year.
In 2005, Tom Love, Linfield professor of sociology, received the award for an article he co-authored about the origin of Oregon’s name.
“It just came out of the blue and was very exciting,” Olsen said about her award.
Olsen’s article, “Fair Connections: Women’s Separatism and the Lewis and Clark Exposition of 1905,” explained how women used the World’s Fair in Portland to publicize their work.
While women worked independent of men, they embraced the separatist model to advance their interests, Olsen said. Two women in particular, Sarah Evans and Eva Dye, were successful in creating the Sacajawea statue using this model.
Olsen also discussed how women of the period created the National American Women Suffrage Association’s
annual convention.
Olsen said she is grateful to have made time to conduct research. As the former director of academic advising, professor of history and competitive scholarships adviser, Olsen said she had to squeeze in time for research during the summer.
“For a biologist or a chemist, working in a lab is exciting; for me, working in a musty room full of archives gets me excited,” Olsen said.
And that is exactly what she did. Olsen said she mulled over primary documents, relying on correspondence letters between women working on these projects, minutes from women’s clubs of the period, early articles from The Oregonian and archives from the Oregon Historical Quarterly. For Olsen, primary documents are her livelihood.
“I was interested in becoming an historian when I was introduced to primary sources,” Olsen said.
Rather than teaching history as facts and dates, Olsen said she prefers to paint historical scenes using primary sources.
Sophomore Brooke Bekkedahl, a history major, said Olsen has an active style of teaching that trains students to analyze primary documents.
“She’s so excited about history and incorporates all different sources,” Bekkedahl said.
Freshman Brandon Akerman, who is minoring in history, said he appreciates Olsen’s enthusiasm about history as well as her willingness to help.
“If you have any trouble learning history, she will spend the extra time with you,” Akerman said.
Senior Laura Ansari, a history major, has worked closely with Olsen both as a student and as a Fulbright scholarship candidate.
“She really stuck with me all four years of college,” she said. “It was nice to have a professor that kept me in mind.”
In her multiple roles as professor, researcher and adviser, Olsen manages to pursue her passion for women’s history as well as inspire students to find their path.