EUGENE–Alvin M. Josephy Jr., well-known historian and western author, will give a free reading from his just-published memoir, "A Walk Toward Oregon," on Tuesday, April 4, at the University of Oregon.

"A Conversation with Alvin Josephy and Kim Stafford" is set for 7:30 p.m. in the Browsing Room at the Knight Library, 1501 Kincaid St. Josephy, who has written more than a dozen award-winning books on Indians and the American West, will share the podium with his friend and fellow writer Kim Stafford, a Lewis and Clark College professor.

Born in 1915 to a well-to-do New York family, Josephy attended Harvard until the Depression left him without sufficient tuition money. Determined as a young man to be a writer, he tried his hand, with mixed success, at journalism, screenwriting and short fiction.

It did not hurt that his uncle was the noted publisher Alfred Knopf, that family friends included H.L. Mencken and Willa Cather, or that he had many relatives who worked in Hollywood. Even so, Josephy strove to advance on his own merits, refusing a medical deferment to enlist as a Marine Corps combat correspondent during World War II and serving with the 3rd Division at Guam, where he received the Bronze Star, and Iwo Jima.

A correspondent for Chicago’s Herald Tribune in Mexico, where he interviewed the exiled Leon Trotsky, Josephy also served as an associate editor of Time and eventually became vice president and editor-in-chief of American Heritage. Editing and writing articles for American Heritage encouraged his long-standing interest in the history of the American West and gave him many opportunities to explore a boyhood passion, Native American history.

Josephy gained prominence as a supporter of Indian tribes in their struggles during the past half century for self-determination, treaty rights and sovereignty. He authored such well-received books as "The Patriot Chiefs," "The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest," "The Civil War in the American West," "500 Nations" and "The Indian Heritage of America" which was nominated for a National Book Award in 1968.

In addition to his many publications, Josephy has served on the national advisory boards of the National Congress of American Indians, the National Indian Youth Council, the Native American Rights Fund, the Association on American Indian Affairs, and the Indian Arts and Crafts Board.

He has been a periodic consultant on Indian affairs to the White House, the Secretary of the Interior and Congressional committees. Josephy was founding chairman of the board of trustees of the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of the American Indian, which will open on the Mall in Washington, D.C., in 2002.

The winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Wallace Stegner and other awards, Josephy was president of the Western History Association in 1993—94.

He and his wife are 48-year residents of Greenwich, Conn., but they have owned a ranch for almost the same time in Joseph, Ore.

Josephy’s personal papers are among the holdings in the UO Division of Special Collections and University Archives in the Knight Library. Selected items will be on display during the April 4 reading.

Josephy’s UO visit is part of a national tour organized by the publisher of his memoir, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Other stops are scheduled April 3 in Seattle and April 5—6 in Portland.

For more information about Josephy’s visit, call Linda Long, UO manuscripts librarian,
(541) 346-1906.

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