Olive Jackman Thomas was born in Chicago in 1891. She received a B.S. degree from the University of Chicago in 1913 and a M.S. degree in geography from the University of Wisconsin in 1924. In 1913 Miss Thomas began teaching in the Hillside Home School at Spring Green, Wisconsin. She also held teaching positions at the Milwaukee-Downer Seminary from 1915 to 1918, the Milwaukee-Downer college from 1918 to 1928, the University of Rochester from 1928 to 1931, the Whitewater State Teachers College from 1934 to 1943, and finally at the Milwaukee State Teachers College from 1943 until her death in 1958. Miss Thomas was co-author with Ray Hughes Whitbeck of the book, The Geographic Factor: Its Role in Life and Civilization, published in 1932.
