Oliver Ormerod Jensen (1914–2005)

[from University of Connecticut Library website]
Oliver Ormerod Jensen was a writer, editor, self-taught historian, and railroad enthusiast. Born on April 16, 1914, in Ithaca, NY, the son of Gerard E. Jensen and Dorothea Ormerod Jensen, Oliver grew up in New London, Connecticut. He attended Philips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, matriculated to Yale University and graduated a Phi Beta Kappa student in 1936. Oliver became a free-lance writer for several advertising agencies, developed a board game for Love, Inc., and briefly worked as editor for Judge Magazine until he landed a permanent writing position on the staff of Life Magazine in 1940. After the outbreak of World War II, Oliver took a duration-of-the-war leave from Life in 1942 to join the United States Navy with the rank of ensign. From 1942-1943 he served on the U.S.S. Babbitt, a First World War destroyer employed on convoy duties in North Atlantic and Icelandic waters in addition to Caribbean and North African runs. After transfering to naval aviation, Oliver spent time in England among search-plane squadrons and served in the Pacific aboard the U.S.S. Yorktown until the end of the war. Drawing on his experiences in the Navy, Oliver penned Carrier War in 1945 and returned to Life Magazine as a writer/editor until 1950.

Following his employment with Life, Oliver co-founded American Heritage Publishing Company along with James Parton and Joseph J. Thorndike, Jr. The non-advertising, hardcover, popular history magazine American Heritage was launched soon after in 1954. While serving as editor from 1959-1976, Oliver also wrote numerous articles for American Heritage and its sister publication Horizon Magazine. From 1971-1974, Oliver served as president of the Connecticut Valley Railroad Company and from 1976-1980 as chairman of the board of directors. The Connecticut Valley Railroad Company restored tracks along the original Valley Railroad line, transforming the railroad into a popular tourist attraction based in Essex, Connecticut. He appeared on a variety of television programs, including CBS Sunday Morning and Connecticut Profiles for Connecticut Public Television. In 1981, Oliver went on to become chief of the division of prints and photographs at the Library of Congress until 1983. He remained involved with American Heritage Magazine and a variety of clubs and organizations dealing closely with history, railroads and Connecticut, including Connecticut Historical Society, Acorn Club, Friends of the Alice Austen House, Society of American Historians, Eastern National Park and Monument Association, Century Association, Yale Club, and American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. After spending much of his life in Connecticut, Oliver died on June 30, 2005, and is buried near his home in Norwich.

Oliver wrote and edited several books on American history, including Carrier War (1945), The Revolt of American Women (1951), American Album (1969), The American Heritage History of Railroads in America (1975), America's Yesterday's (1978), Connecticut Railroads: An Illustrated History: One Hundred Fifty Years of Railroad History (1986), High Honor: Recollections by Men and Women of World War II Aviation (1989), and The Miracle of Connecticut (1992).