Ray H. Mattison

Born near Belgrade, Nebraska, on September 15, 1903, Ray Harold Mattison grew up on a farm near Albion and built a career as a historian whose work stayed close to the landscapes and communities he knew best. Archival records in Nebraska describe him as a historian in the public history field, and Nebraska Authors lists his death on October 6, 1980, in Tucson, Arizona.

Mattison is especially associated with western and Plains history. His published work and archival records connect him with subjects such as the Upper Missouri fur trade, the Homestead Act and Homestead National Monument, frontier military posts, and Theodore Roosevelt’s ranching years in North Dakota. National Park Service material also identifies him as a historian in its Omaha regional office, showing how much of his writing grew out of research tied to historic sites and preservation work.

His papers include a reminiscence titled As I Saw It: The Recollections and Observations of a Nebraska Maverick, 1903-1978, which suggests the same plainspoken, experience-based perspective found in his historical writing. For listeners drawn to the American West, settlement history, and the making of public memory, his work offers the voice of a careful regional historian who spent decades documenting the stories of the northern Plains.