Mr. Speaker, our Nation and especially our great State of California, lost part of our soul last week. Thousands of historians have written about American history, but it took J.S. Holliday to analyze, understand, define and describe the…
Mr. Speaker, our Nation and especially our great State of California, lost part of our soul last week.
Thousands of historians have written about American history, but it took J.S. Holliday to analyze, understand, define and describe the monumental effect on our State and Nation of the California Gold Rush.
In authoring the two classic histories about the Gold Rush--The World Rushed In (1981) followed by Rush to Riches (1999)--Jim Holliday captured the spirit, the human face and the meaning of what he defined as the seminal event that changed the American West and indeed all of America. He described recklessness, entrepreneurship, resourcefulness, greed, speculation, ambition and thrill, and how gold abolished all the old rules. He explained dry diggers and long toms and sluice boxes and ditching and tailing, and he opened our eyes to life on the Yuba River and Sutter's Mill and Marysville. His meticulous research exposed the life of the miner and through him, the culture of the time and the impact of it all on us, as Californians and Americans.
Beyond being a great historian and a great writer, Jim Holliday was a great friend. The decibel level of his voice was not the only thing that ensured he was a presence in the room; his laughter, his warmth, his passion to learn and capacity to listen, and his sheer brainpower, made him the center of gravity in any setting. He was as irrepressible and dynamic as they come.
On behalf of the members of the California delegation--both those who knew him personally and those who knew only his work--I send condolences to all members of his family.
Mr. Speaker, I ask that obituaries from the San Francisco Chronicle of September 2 and the Carmel Pine Cone of September 8 be printed in the Record.
[From the San Francisco Chronicle,
Sept. 2, 2006]
J.S. Holliday: 1924-2006
(By Carl Nolte)
J.S. Holliday, one of the most eminent historians of
California and the West, died at his home in Carmel on
Thursday at the age of 82. He had been suffering from
pulmonary fibrosis.
Holliday was the author of ``The World Rushed In,'' a
history of the California Gold Rush that was a best-seller
when it was published in 1981; it went through 13 printings,
and a new edition was reissued recently by the University of
Oklahoma Press.
Kevin Starr, another noted historian of the West, called
``The World Rushed In'' ``a classic.''
If it were only for the one book, Holliday's reputation as
a historian would be secure, but he was also the founding
director of the Oakland Museum of California and executive
director emeritus of the California Historical Society,
taught history at San Francisco State University, and served
for a time as assistant director of the Bancroft Library at
UC Berkeley.
He also lectured, appeared on television and wrote articles
on history. ``No one writes better about California's
irresistible past,'' said Ken Burns, the television
documentary expert. ``I am a huge fan.''
``He was a towering figure in California history,'' said
Gary Kurutz, principal librarian for special collections at
the California State Library. ``His death is a real loss.''
Holliday was born Jaquelin Smith Holliday II, June 10,
1924, in Indianapolis. His family was in the steel business,
and young J.S. Holliday attended private schools. He seldom
used his given name. His friends called him ``Jim.''
Holliday attended midshipman school at Northwestern
University during World War II and served in the U.S. Navy as
an officer aboard an escort aircraft carrier in the Pacific.
He attended Yale University and graduated with a degree in
history in 1948. At Yale, one of his teachers brought to his
attention letters and a diary written by a man named William
Swain, who set out from Michigan in 1849 with a group of
adventurers called the Wolverine Rangers to make his fortune
in far-off California.
In Swain, Holliday found his own mother lode. Swain's
letters and diary--his adventures traveling across the Great
Plains, down the dreary Humboldt River in Nevada, his trek
across the Black Rock Desert, his life in the California Gold
Country--were the basis for ``The World Rushed In.''
Holliday often said that the story of the Gold Rush--which
he said was the greatest peacetime mass migration in
history--brought him to California. He moved West in 1949, on
the 100th anniversary of the Gold Rush. ``I came here for
gold and found other ways of seeking success in California,''
he said.
He got a doctorate in history from UC Berkeley in 1958 and
a research fellowship at the Huntington Library, then worked
at the Bancroft and taught at San Francisco State.
By then he had a considerable reputation as a forceful and
vigorous exponent of his views of history. ``He was one of
the most vital people I ever knew,'' said Joe Illick, who
served with him on the faculty at San Francisco State.
He was ``a big, handsome, rumpled man with a passion for
the rugged life,'' The Chronicle said of him when he had
become well known. Early in his career, however, Holliday's
passion for history did not always go down well with more
sedate custodians of the State's past.
In 1967, he was named the founding director of what later
became the much-praised Oakland Museum of California.
However, he was so forceful and uncompromising in his views
that he was fired just before the museum opened in 1969.
He then became executive director of the California
Historical Society and organized a series of major traveling
exhibitions, including one about the internment of Japanese
Americans during World War II. ``It caused quite a stir,''
said David Crossen, the current executive director of the
society. ``People in historical societies didn't deal with
issues like that back then. He was a model for the young
Turks in historical organizations.''
Holliday served two terms in the top job at the California
Historical Society. However, he always came back to the Gold
Rush book. He felt the 1849 Gold Rush was a seminal event in
the state's history that, in his words, ``changed California,
changed the whole West and changed America's sense of
itself.'' He wanted to present it in human terms, to make the
lives of the long-dead Forty-Niners come alive.
It took him 30 years to write.
``He was such a careful writer that it sometimes took him a
week to get two paragraphs right,'' said Kurutz. ``He was as
thorough as can be.''
The result was what Starr called ``a masterly narrative.''
The book won the Silver Medal of the Commonwealth Club of
California and the Oscar Lewis Award for Achievement in
Western History from the Book Club of California.
In 1999, Holliday wrote ``Rush for Riches: Gold Fever and
the Making of California,'' which also received critical
acclaim.
Holliday was married twice. His first marriage, to Nancy
Adams, ended in divorce. He was married to Belinda Vidor
Jones in 1983, and she survives him.
He also leaves three children: Timothy Holliday of New
Orleans, Martha Brett Holliday of Farmington, Conn., and W.J.
Holliday of Menlo Park.
A memorial service is pending.
[From the Carmel Pine Cone, Sept. 8, 2006]
Gold Rush Historian, CRA Founder Was an ``Oversized Slice of Life''
(By Mary Brownfield)
``He was a very forceful and outspoken person, but also
very sensitive and very gentle, too,'' John Hicks said of his
friend, Jim Holliday, the notable California historian and
author who died of pulmonary fibrosis at home in Carmel last
Thursday morning at the age of 82. ``That made for an
interesting paradox, I think.''
Mr. Holliday, who helped found the Carmel Residents
Association after Clint Eastwood was elected mayor of the
town 20 years ago and was named the group's Citizen of the
Year in 2001, was best known for his books and studies on the
California Gold Rush.
In 1981, Simon & Schuster published ``The World Rushed
In,'' which described the Gold Rush and its impacts on
California's development and American values. The book,
heralded by fellow historians, underwent 13 printings. Its
latest edition, published by the University of Oklahoma
Press, remains available.
In 1999, assisted by Hicks, he wrote ``Rush for Riches:
Gold Fever and the Making of California,'' copublished by the
Oakland Museum and the University of California Press in
Berkeley.
His writing earned honors from the Library of Congress, the
Commonwealth Club of California (silver medal), the Book Club
of California and Western Writers of America, Inc. Known as a
strong speaker, Mr. Holliday lectured throughout the State
and Nation.
In Carmel, Hicks and Mr. Holliday served on the board of
trustees at Tor House. Hicks described his friend as a ``big,
vigorous person, but endlessly curious and a great
listener,'' and said they agreed on the local and national
significance of Robinson Jeffers and his historic home on the
point.
``He was a big, oversized slice of life and more than some
people could take at times, but he was a good spirit,'' Hicks
said. ``The little town will be different without him.''
Attorney and CRA cofounder Skip Lloyd first met Mr.
Holliday in San Francisco, and the two became reacquainted
years later when Mr. Holliday moved to Carmel. Lloyd also
lauded his friend's public speaking skills and said, ``He
brought tremendous enthusiasm, energy, generosity,
leadership and a wonderful spirit'' to the residents
group. ``He was a really accomplished person, but he never
wore it on his sleeve,'' Lloyd said. ``He was always
friendly, helpful and generous to everybody.''
Historian and longtime San Francisco Chronicle journalist
Carl Nolte, who wrote Mr. Holliday's obituary for his
newspaper, read Mr. Holliday's books ``with much admiration''
and described the author as ``a charmer.'' ``He was very,
very impressive as an historian,'' Nolte said, ``and also
very kind with his praise, which is rare among authors.''
Born Jaquelin Smith Holliday II, on June 10, 1924, to steel
magnate William J. Holliday and Martha Henley Holliday in
Indianapolis, IN, Mr. Holliday was most commonly known as
J.S.--Jim to his friends.
He graduated from the Hill School in Pottstown, PA,
attended midshipman school at Northwestern University and
served on the USS Santee in the Pacific during World War II.
Mr. Holliday graduated from Yale University with a degree in
history in 1948.
Drawn west, he undertook graduate studies in history at UC
Berkeley in 1952 and received his Ph.D. in 1959, following a
year as a research fellow at the Henry Huntington Library in
San Marino. He also worked as an associate professor at San
Francisco State University and a lecturer at other
institutions. He was editor of ``American West'' magazine and
served as executive director of the Oakland Museum of
California. From 1970-1977 and 1983-1985, he was director of
the California Historical Society.
Socially, Mr. Holliday belonged to the Bohemi-an and
Roxburge clubs in San Francisco, and the Zamorano Club in Los
Angeles.
His first marriage, to Nancy Adams, ended in divorce in
1974, and he married Carmel resident Belinda Vidor Jones in
1983. She and three children from his first marriage--Timothy
Holliday of New Orleans, LA, Martha Brett Holliday of
Farmington, CT, and William J. Holliday of Menlo Park--
survive him.