Education, Travel, Teaching
The Life of Jim and Connie Thorson
James “Jim” Thorson (NU ’56 and ’61) passed away in 2023 after a life of teaching, collecting, and traveling the world with his wife, Connie (Capers) Thorson. Thorson attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln on a Navy ROTC scholarship, received his B.S. in 1956, and after graduating served in the Navy for two years. Upon discharge, he returned to Nebraska to get his M.A. in English and American literature and then taught for a year before attending Cornell University to work on his Ph.D. From 1965 to his retirement in 2002, he was a member of the English faculty at the University of New Mexico (UNM), where he focused his research on Restoration and 18th-century English literature and Native American literature.
“Jim had a wonderful experience at Nebraska and talked all the time about the wonderful professors he had,” enthused Connie Thorson, his wife of 53 years. Faculty like Robert Knoll, Paul Olson, and especially Orin Stepanek were prominent in his memories.
While Jim Thorson’s connection to the university he loved has dimmed, the connection for his wife Connie remains ever bright and strong.
“I am connected to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln by marriage,” said Connie Thorson. “Jim wanted that connection, I wanted that connection, and he would have done the same for me in supporting my alma mater, the University of Arkansas,” she explained.
A key part of the connection is with the UNL Archives & Special Collections, where Thorson’s collection of rare imprints from the 17th and 18th centuries has found a new home. The book collection features various printings of Hudibras, a long satirical poem by Samuel Butler (1613–1680).
“I was in support of the books being donated to the Archives because they need to be taken care of, and they need to be there for people to use in 100 to 200 years,” explained Thorson.
It was during her time working on her Ph.D. at UNM that Connie Capers met Jim Thorson and fell in love.
“I graduated one night, and we were married the next morning, and then we left for Europe for two years on Jim’s first Fulbright teaching award at the University of Cyril i Methodius in Skopje, Macedonia, Yugoslavia, for the 1971–72 academic year.”
That trip and Fulbright experience would not be their last. Throughout their careers and after Jim Thorson retired in 2002, they would go on to travel and teach at institutions in Germany, Belarus, England, and the Republic of Georgia.
When they returned to New Mexico after that first Fulbright experience, Connie Thorson worked in the library and decided to go back to school again to get her library degree. She had already earned her B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Arkansas. She received her MSLS (master of science in library science) from the University of Illinois.
Eventually she ended up becoming the humanities bibliographer and acquisitions librarian at UNM Libraries, where she was most proud of her collection development work. Other positions included being director of the Pelletier Library at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, where she served for five years before retiring from librarianship in 2000.
If someone wants to do something worthwhile, that’s going to be worthwhile into the far future, I think supporting the library is a wonderful way to do it
After many years of retirement, Connie Thorson still misses the opportunity to see all the new books arriving in the library and going through the process of being catalogued.
“I saw the books coming in for all the fields from arts to engineering, and I kept up with Book World (Washington Post), the New York Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement,” enthused Thorson. “I got paid for doing that. I wish everyone could have that good fortune.”
The Thorsons also had the good fortune to make wonderful friends and have amazing enriching experiences on their many travels.
“Jim taught at many locations, but we were very interested in Eastern Europe. The Republic of Georgia invited us to come, and Jim taught a two-week course, and it was a wonderful experience. We went back four more times,” she said.
Thorson loved to introduce his Eastern European students to the writings of Joy Harjo (the 23rd poet laureate of the United States during 2019–2022), Leslie Silko, and N. Scott Momaday.
Time on their travels would also be spent in libraries, such as the British Library and the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.
“Libraries are really special places, and there is absolutely something for everybody,” Connie Thorson said.
Connie Thorson recognizes that most universities are as generous in their support as they can be to libraries, but there is never enough money. Libraries and librarians are appreciative of the support that alumni provide.
“If someone wants to do something worthwhile, that’s going to be worthwhile into the far future, I think supporting the library is a wonderful way to do it,” she said.
Connie Thorson thinks the quote by Albert Einstein sums up her feelings about libraries: “The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.”
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