Wilson M. Laird Papers, 1921-1997
Collection Overview
Title: Wilson M. Laird Papers, 1921-1997
ID: OGLMC307
Primary Creator: Laird, Wilson M. (1915-1997)
Extent: 15.0 Linear Feet
Date Acquired: 08/11/1975. More info below under Accruals.
Subjects: Energy - Oil, University of North Dakota - Faculty
Languages: English
Abstract
Scope and Contents of the Materials
The Wilson Laird Papers have been divided into seven series as follows:
Series 1: Biographical Materials
Series 2: Publications
Series 3: Speeches
Series 4: Employment
Series 5: University of North Dakota
Series 6: Photographs
Series 7: Oversize Materials
Collection Historical Note
Wilson Morrow Laird was born on March 4, 1915, in Erie, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Charles W. and Elizabeth Laird. Wilson Laird graduated from Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geology in 1936. He obtained a Master of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina in 1938, and a Ph. D. from the University of Cincinnati in 1942. His doctoral dissertation was entitled “The Stratigraphy of the Upper Devonian and Lower Mississippian of Southwestern Pennsylvania.”
Laird joined the University of North Dakota as an Assistant Professor of Geology in 1940. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1942 and Professor in 1946. He became Head of the Geology Department in 1942. The department underwent tremendous growth during Laird’s tenure, expanding from a faculty of two to a doctorate granting department. Laird was a prodigious scholar who published on subjects as diverse as paleontology, stratigraphy, geomorphology, limnology, sedimentology, and mineral deposits. He also wrote about regional, glacial, groundwater and petroleum geology, and co-authored several geology laboratory manuals.
Laird was named North Dakota State Geologist in 1941. Under his guidance, the North Dakota Geological Survey received national acclaim for its organization and preservation of well files, logs, samples, and cores. Laird’s interest in conservation led to North Dakota’s enactment of oil conservation laws many years before oil was actually discovered in the state. When he took over administration of the Geological Survey, Laird was its only employee; in 1964, Leonard Hall was built to house both the Geological Survey and the Department of Geology. In 1989, the Survey had grown to such an extent that it was moved to Bismarck.
Laird took leave from UND in 1969 to accept a position as Director of the Office of Oil and Gas in the U.S. Department of the Interior. In 1971, he resigned from this post, in addition to formally retiring from UND. He became the first director of the Committee on Exploration of the American Petroleum Institute. He promoted offshore drilling along the east coast of the U.S., in addition to unexplored areas in the Gulf of Mexico. He retired from the position in 1979.
Laird was a fifty year fellow of the Geological Society of America, and received its Public Service Award in 1981. He served as Vice-President (1948) and President (1950) of the Association of American State Geologists, and President of the North Dakota Academy of Science in 1952. He served as President of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, and was honored by this group in 1947 with the President’s Award for his research on Devonian stratigraphy in Montana. On the local level, he was active in the Boy Scouts of America, as well as the Masons, Elks, and the Presbyterian Church.
He received honorary doctor of science degrees from Muskingum College in 1964 and UND in 1984. The North Dakota Geological Survey's Wilson M. Laird Core and Sample Library, located on the UND campus, was dedicated in 1980. In 1992, Laird was awarded the first Arthur Gray Leonard medal, established by the UND Department of Geology and Geological Engineering to recognize outstanding alumni achievement.
He married Reba Allene Latimer on August 8, 1938, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. The couple had four children: Douglas, David, Donald, and Dorothy. After Reba Laird died on July 21, 1989, he married Margaret L. Ray of Oklahoma City. She died on November 11, 1996. Wilson Laird died in Kerrville, Texas, on May 14, 1997. He is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Grand Forks.
Source:
“Memorial to Wilson M. Laird, 1915-1977.” Geological Society of America Memorials: vol. 29, December 1998
Subject/Index Terms
Administrative Information
Repository: Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections
Accruals: Additional material was donated by: Wilson Laird, Kerrville, Texas, on August 12, 1983 (Acc.83-1171); Bruce Gjovig, Grand Forks, North Dakota on August 29, 1999 (Acc.99-2372); Ellen Erickson, UND College of Arts and Sciences, on July 5, 2000 (Acc.2001-2540); and Richard LeFever, UND Geology Department, on July 20, 2001 (Acc.2002-2554).
Access Restrictions: Open for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections.
Acquisition Source: Wilson Laird, Washington, D.C.
Acquisition Method: Donation
Preferred Citation: (Description of Item). Wilson M. Laird Papers. OGLMC 307, Box #, Folder #. Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections, Chester Fritz Library, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.
Finding Aid Revision History: Finding aid migrated to Archon in October 2015.
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Series:
[Series 1: Biographical Materials],
[Series 2: Publications],
[Series 3: Speeches],
[Series 4: Employment],
[Series 5: University of North Dakota],
[Series 6: Photographs],
[Series 7: Oversize Materials],
[All]
- Series 6: Photographs
- Separated and placed in the Photograph File Cabinets.
- Photograph 1: Wilson Laird: undated
- Photograph 2: Wilson Laird: 1950
- Photograph 3: Wilson Laird: undated
- Photograph 4: Wilson Laird: undated
- Photograph 5: Wilson Laird: undated
- Photograph 6: Wilson Laird and William Mead, Continental Oil Company: State Petroleum Council, Boise, Idaho, 1972
- Photograph 7: Wilson Laird, Paul Burchell, and Denny Dunn: State Petroleum Council, Boise, Idaho, 1972
- Photograph 8: Paul Burchell, Gov. Rampton, and Wilson Laird: State Petroleum Council, Boise, Idaho, 1972
- Photograph 9: Wilson Laird, Paul Burchell, and Denny Dunn: State Petroleum Council, Boise, Idaho, 1972
- Photograph 10: Hanson (first name unknown - Rocky Mountain environmentalist), Laird, Denny Dunn, and two unknowns: State Petroleum Council, Boise, Idaho, 1972
- Photograph 11: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 12: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 13: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 14: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 15: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 16: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 17: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 18: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 19: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 20: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 21: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 22: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 23: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 24: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 25: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 26: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 27: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 28: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 29: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 30: Unidentified photograph, “Mission to Germany and Turkey, 1950"
- Photograph 31: Portrait of Laird
- Photograph 32: Portrait of Laird
- Photograph 33: Portrait of Laird
- Photograph 34: Portrait of Laird
- Photograph 35: Portrait of Laird
- Photograph 36: Portrait of Laird
- Photograph 37: Portrait of Laird
- Photograph 38: Portrait of Laird
- Photograph 39: Portrait of Laird
- Photograph 40: Portrait of Laird
- Photograph 41: Portrait of Laird
- Photograph 42: Portrait of Laird
- Photograph 43: Portrait of Laird
- Photograph 44: Portrait of Laird
- Photograph 45: Portrait of Laird
- Photograph 46: Laird giving Speech at Dedication of Wilson Laird Core and Sample Library.
- Photograph 47: Laird giving Speech at Dedication of Wilson Laird Core and Sample Library.
- Photograph 48: Laird receiving golf clubs at Dedication of Wilson Laird Core and Sample Library.
- Photograph 49: Governor Link and two speakers at the Dedication of the Wilson Laird Core and Sample Library.
- Photograph 50: Governor Link and unknown speaker at the Dedication of the Wilson Laird Core and Sample Library.
- Photograph 51: Governor Link and two speakers at the Dedication of the Wilson Laird Core and Sample Library.
- Photograph 52: Dedication of the Wilson Laird Core and Sample Library.
- Photograph 53: Laird speaking at the Dedication of the Wilson Laird Core and Sample Library.
- Photograph 54: Ned Noble, Governor Link, Laird, and unknown at the Dedication of the Wilson Laird Core and Sample Library.
- Photograph 55: Ned Noble, Laird, and unknown at the Dedication of the Wilson Laird Core and Sample Library.
- Photograph 56: Ned Noble, Governor Link, Laird, Palmer, and Girdent at the Dedication of the Wilson Laird Core and Sample Library.
- Photograph 57: Governor Link and Ned Noble at the Dedication of the Wilson Laird Core and Sample Library.
- Photograph 58: Laying of Cornerstone of Leonard Hall, U.N.D. by Masonic Grand Lodge Officers. May 8, 1964
- Photograph 59: Laying of Cornerstone of Leonard Hall, U.N.D. by Masonic Grand Lodge Officers. May 8, 1964
- Photograph 60: Laying of Cornerstone of Leonard Hall, U.N.D. by Masonic Grand Lodge Officers. May 8, 1964
- Photograph 61: Laying of Cornerstone of Leonard Hall, U.N.D. by Masonic Grand Lodge Officers. May 8, 1964
- Photograph 62: Laying of Cornerstone of Leonard Hall, U.N.D. by Masonic Grand Lodge Officers. May 8, 1964
- Photograph 63: Laying of Cornerstone of Leonard Hall, U.N.D. by Masonic Grand Lodge Officers. May 8, 1964
- Photograph 64: Laying of Cornerstone of Leonard Hall, U.N.D. by Masonic Grand Lodge Officers. May 8, 1964
- Photograph 65: Laying of Cornerstone of Leonard Hall, U.N.D. by Masonic Grand Lodge Officers. May 8, 1964
- Photograph 66: Laying of Cornerstone of Leonard Hall, U.N.D. by Masonic Grand Lodge Officers. May 8, 1964
- Photograph 67: Laying of Cornerstone of Leonard Hall, U.N.D. by Masonic Grand Lodge Officers. May 8, 1964
- Photograph 68: Laying of Cornerstone of Leonard Hall, U.N.D. by Masonic Grand Lodge Officers. May 8, 1964
- Photograph 69: Laying of Cornerstone of Leonard Hall, U.N.D. by Masonic Grand Lodge Officers. May 8, 1964
- Photograph 70: Laying of Cornerstone of Leonard Hall, U.N.D. by Masonic Grand Lodge Officers. May 8, 1964
- Photograph 71: Laying of Cornerstone of Leonard Hall, U.N.D. by Masonic Grand Lodge Officers. May 8, 1964
- Photograph 72: Laying of Cornerstone of Leonard Hall, U.N.D. by Masonic Grand Lodge Officers. May 8, 1964
- Photograph 73: Laying of Cornerstone of Leonard Hall, U.N.D. by Masonic Grand Lodge Officers. May 8, 1964
- Photograph 74: Washington D.C. Departure Celebration.
- Photograph 75: Washington D.C. Departure Celebration.
- Photograph 76: Washington D.C. Departure Celebration.
- Photograph 77: Washington D.C. Departure Celebration.
- Photograph 78: Washington D.C. Departure Celebration.
- Photograph 79: Washington D.C. Departure Celebration.
- Photograph 80: Washington D.C. Departure Celebration.
- Photograph 81: Washington D.C. Departure Celebration.
- Photograph 82: Canada, 1949
- Photograph 83: Canada, 1949
- Photograph 84: Alaska, 1964
- Photograph 1: Wilson Laird: undated
Browse by Series:
[Series 1: Biographical Materials],
[Series 2: Publications],
[Series 3: Speeches],
[Series 4: Employment],
[Series 5: University of North Dakota],
[Series 6: Photographs],
[Series 7: Oversize Materials],
[All]