Pacific Northwest Historian Dorothy O. Johansen



Dorothy O. Johansen was not a prolific historian of the Pacific Northwest -- probably because she got it right the first time. Her textbook, Empire of the Columbia: A History of the Pacific Northwest, written with Charles M. Gates of the University of Washington in 1957, became the “standard text on the subject,” according to Richard Engerman in his profile of Johansen for the OregonEncyclopedia.org. Ten years later, four years after Gates’ death in 1963, Johansen published an extensively-revised edition of the text, and the “popular and well-written survey” remains an authoritative resource to this day. (Engerman, 1)

In addition to her scholarship, Johansen also excelled as an educator, administrator, and archivist – all without venturing out of her native Pacific Northwest. Born on May 10, 1904, in Seaside, Oregon, Johansen graduated from Astoria High School in 1922 and went on to earn a teaching certificate in 1925 from the Oregon Normal School, now Western Oregon University. In 1933, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Reed College in Portland and then did graduate work at the University of Washington, earning a master’s degree in 1934 and a doctorate in 1941. In 1938, Johansen began an association that she maintained for the length of her professional life. In 1938, she was hired as a history instructor at Reed College, and 31 years later, in 1969, she retired from the College as a full professor of history and humanities. After retiring from teaching, Johansen continued to serve Reed College by acting as its archivist until 1984.


Johansen also served her profession and her community, often being the first woman to hold governing positions. She was the first woman president of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association and one of the first women to sit on the board of Portland Public Schools. In addition, she sat on the board of the Oregon Historical Association and on the editorial board of the Pacific Historical Review.


Her editorial accomplishments also included a series of “attractive little books” about Pacific Northwest history published by Portland’s Beaver Books. One of the titles she edited was “Voyage of the Columbia around the World with John Boit,” for which Dana Small, Johansen’s longtime housemate, provided “comments on the Art of Navigation.” Small “taught mathematics in the Portland schools,” according to Engerman. (Clark, 88; Engermann, 1 of 1)

Throughout her career, Johansen received numerous awards in recognition of her contributions to Pacific Northwest history: in 1957, the Oregon Women of Achievement award;  the C.E.S. Wood Award for lifetime achievement from the Oregon Institute of Literary Arts, 1988; the Captain Robert Gray Award for distinguished achievement in Pacific Northwest history from the Washington State Historical Society, 1969 and 1970; and an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Reed College, 1973. Professor Dorothy Olga Johansen died in Portland on December 13, 1999.

Text Sources:
Clark, Malcolm, Jr., “Reviewed Works: March of the Volunteers; Soldiering with Lewis & Clark by Constance Bordwell; Voyage of the “Columbia”: Around the World with John Boit, 1790-1793 by John Boit, Dorothy O. Johansen, Dana Small,” Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 62, no. 1, March 1961, pp. 88-89.

“Dorothy Olga Johansen, ’33.” In Memoriam, Reed Magazine, May 2000.

Engerman, Richard. Dorothy Olga Johansen (1904 - 1999), last visited March 1, 2021.

Image Sources:
Johansen photo in Reed College Bulletin: Image is courtesy of Special Collections and Archives, Eric V. Hauser Memorial Library, Reed College.

Dorothy Johansen House, Reed College: Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dorothy_Johansen_House,_Reed_College.jpg, last visited March 1, 2021.

Book cover: Image courtesy of the University of British Columbia Library Digitization Centre and its generous donors.



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