[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 122 (Tuesday, September 26, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1837-E1838]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             J.S. HOLLIDAY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 26, 2006

  Mr. STARK. 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.

[[Page E1838]]

       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.

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