W. Turrentine "Turpie" Jackson (1915, Ruston, Louisiana – May 28, 2000) was an American professor of history, specializing in Western U.S. history.[1][2]
Jackson's research covered policy history and social history.[1] He debunked the stereotype of rugged individualism and small property owners in the Old West with evidence for development involving U.S. government surveys,[3] U.S. federal subsidies, and international capital.[1][4] He published extensively and served on the editorial boards of several academic journals. Three of his books won prizes.[3]
Wells Fargo hired Jackson as a consultant and corporate historian.[5]
As a consulting historian to the company for 20 years, he had 13 monographs and articles on the company’s history in the Western states published in scholarly journals. Taking on other projects for law firms, environmental consultants and government agencies, he became a partner in JRP Historical Consulting Services in Davis. He retired from the company in 1990.[3]
With his wife, Barbara, he endowed an undergraduate history scholarship, and both a graduate fellowship and a faculty chair in the history of the American West. The Jacksons were also major benefactors to the Western History Association and the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, both of which have named major scholarly awards in Turpie's honor.[1]
Awards and honors
1957 — Guggenheim Fellowship for the academic year 1957–1958[6]
1964 — Guggenheim Fellowship for the academic year 1964–1965[6]
1977 — elected president of the Western History Association
Selected publications
Articles
Jackson, W. Turrentine (1942). "The Creation of Yellowstone National Park". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 29 (2): 187–206. doi:10.2307/1896270. JSTOR1896270.
—— (1948). "The Wyoming Stock Growers' Association: Its Years of Temporary Decline, 1886-1890". Agricultural History. 22 (4): 260–270. JSTOR3739523.
—— (1949). "Federal Road Building Grants for Early Oregon". Oregon Historical Quarterly. 50 (1): 3–29. JSTOR20611894.
—— (1955). "The Infamous Emma Mine: A British Interest in the Little Cottonwood District, Utah Territory". Utah Historical Quarterly. 23 (4): 339–362. doi:10.2307/45057846. JSTOR45057846. S2CID254440133.
—— (1966). "A New Look at Wells Fargo, Stage-Coaches and the Pony Express". California History. 45 (4): 291–324. doi:10.2307/25154156. JSTOR25154156.
—— (1972). "Wells Fargo: Symbol of the Wild West?". The Western Historical Quarterly. 3 (2): 179–196. doi:10.2307/967112. JSTOR967112.
Books
Wagon Roads West. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1952.[7]1979 pbk reprint
with Maurice Frink and Agnes Wright Spring: When Grass Was King. Boulder: University of Colorado Press. 1956.[8][9]
Treasure Hill: The Portrait of a Silver Mining Camp. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. 1963.[10]2016 ebook
The Enterprising Scot: Investors in the American West after 1873. Edinburgh University Publications: History, Philosophy and Economics, no. 22. Edinburgh University Press. 1968.[11]
as editor
Eno, Henry (1965). Twenty years on the Pacific Slope; letters of Henry Eno from California and Nevada, 1848-1871. Edited and with an introd. by W. Turrentine Jackson. New Haven: Yale University Press.[12][13]
Windeler, Adolphus (1969). California Gold Rush diary of a German sailor. Illustrated with pencil sketches by his inseparable partner Carl (Charley) Friderich Christendorff. Edited and with an introd. by W. Turrentine Jackson. Berkeley, California: Howell-North Books.[14]
^Jackson, W. Turrentine; Russell, David E. (1998). "Practicing Public History: A Conversation with W. Turrentine Jackson". The Public Historian. 20 (1): 21–48. doi:10.2307/3378866. ISSN0272-3433. JSTOR3378866.
^Hafen, LeRoy R. (1953). "Review of Wagon Roads West; A Study of Federal Road Surveys and Construction in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1846-1869 by W. Turrentine Jackson". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 40: 138. doi:10.2307/1897567. hdl:2027/uc1.$b97819. JSTOR1897567.
^Frantz, Joe B. (1957). "Review of When Grass Was King: Contributions to the Western Range Cattle Industry Study by Maurice Frink, W. Turrentine Jackson, and Agnes Wright Spring". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 44: 158. doi:10.2307/1898704. JSTOR1898704.
^Smith, Dwight L. (1965). "Review of Treasure Hill: Portrait of a Silver Mining Camp by W. Turrentine Jackson". Pacific Historical Review. 34 (1): 96–98. doi:10.2307/3636751. ISSN0030-8684. JSTOR3636751.
^Hardeman, Nicholas P. (1966). "Review of Twenty Years on the Pacific Slope: Letters of Henry Eno from California and Nevada, 1848-1871, edited by W. Turrentine Jackson". The Journal of American History. 53 (1): 136. doi:10.2307/1893956. ISSN0021-8723. JSTOR1893956.