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Oliver Luther Austin Collection, 1945-2013, Date accessioned: 2013-11-13, bulk 1945-1952

 

Summary

Creator:
Austin, Oliver Luther, 1903-1988
Austin, Anthony, 1935-2019
Culver, Annika A.
Extent:
3 Linear Feet This collection contains 3 boxes of colored slides and 1 folder containing an oral history transcript.(3 flat boxes)
1 folders This collection contains 3 boxes of colored slides and 1 folder containing an oral history.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], Oliver Luther Austin Collection, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. https://purl.lib.fsu.edu/fa/02-13-1975

Background

Scope and content:

This collection relates to ornithologist Oliver Luther Austin and includes 3 boxes of colored photographic slides most of which were taken in various locations around Japan. The majority of slides depict Japanese buildings, cultural events, and everyday life. In addition, there is a oral history from Anthony Austin, Oliver Luther Austin's son detailing his experiences living in Japan during the U.S. occupation.

Selected materials from this collection have been digitized and are available through the FSU Digital Library.

All images from this collection are available through The Oliver L. Austin Photographic Collection online exhibit as well as through PASS which provides updated images of the slides.

Biographical / historical:

Dr. Oliver Luther Austin was born in 1903 in Tuckahoe, New York, and in 1931, received Harvard University's first Ph.D. Degree in Ornithology. As a seasoned sailor whose family owned a large summer home on Cape Cod, Austin felt that he could be of service to the US Navy, and volunteered for sea duty, a somewhat unpopular posting prior to the Battle of Midway when the Japanese were still a formidable presence in the western Pacific Ocean. In 1942, when he was already 39 years old, he went to naval headquarters in Boston and received his orders in late July. After three months of communications school, he was assigned to the USS Tryon, an evacuation transport, or armed hospital ship, headed for an embattled contingent of Marines in New Caledonia. Deck service was followed by duty in Admiral Bull Halsey's communication pool and as communications officer on a gas tanker to forward bases. While in dock, he collected over 2,000 bird and bat specimens in "no man's land" of the Pacific Theater's roughest battles, including Tulagi and Bougainville, and even discovered two new bat species in Guadalcanal. After two years in the Navy and earning Lieutenant Commander rank, Austin was transferred to "military government school" at Princeton University to prepare him for service in the future occupations of Korea and Japan.

Acquisition information:
Tony Austin
Custodial history:

Transferred from the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience to FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives in July 2022.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open to all researchers.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], Oliver Luther Austin Collection, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. https://purl.lib.fsu.edu/fa/02-13-1975

Location of this collection:
116 Honors Way
Tallahassee
FL
32306-2047
USA