Blair, Alma Roberts

BLAIR

Posted By: Mary H. Cochrane, Volunteer
Date: 6/27/2019 at 19:42:46

Biography ~ Alma Roberts Blair
Professor Emeritus of History, Graceland University, Lamoni Iowa

Alma Roberts Blair was born in Creston, Iowa, on January 27, 1929. He attended Graceland College (present-day Graceland University) in 1947 and graduated in 1949 and completed his B.A. in history at the University of Iowa in 1951. After serving two years in Korea during the Korean War in the U.S. Army, he returned to the University of Iowa where he obtained his M.A. in American Intellectual History in 1955. He joined the Graceland faculty that fall to teach history and sociology, then became involved with the committee that established the college's four-year religion major. He and Roy Cheville were the entire religion faculty for those first students when the program was established in 1956.

Over thirty-nine years [1955-1994], Professor Blair became a mainstay for such Graceland courses as History of Latter Day Saintism, Western Civilization, World Civilization, and Greek and Roman History. He also helped establish the college's house system and appeared in more than 20 Graceland plays. He has instructed student guides at the Joseph Smith Historic Center in Nauvoo [Illinois] for twenty-eight years.

Upon his retirement from Graceland University in 1994 as professor emeritus, Alma Blair has had responsible roles in the restoration in the mid-1970's of the Mansion House and Liberty Hall (the Joseph Smith III home in Lamoni). He served as director of Liberty Hall for eight years and volunteered at Liberty Hall since that time. He has served in various capacities as a member and officer in the Mormon History Association and the John Whitmer Historical Association. Professor Blair has contributed a number of historical articles to professional journals. He filmed and produced the documentary Nauvoo: Perspective of a Past, served as co-editor and a contributor for the book The Restoration Movement: Essays in Mormon History, and was president and secretary for the John Whitmer Historical Association.

Married to Kathryn Tabor Blair for 60 years, the Blairs have four children, 11 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren. He likes golfing, fishing, reading, singing, acting, and people.

SOURCES:
Edwards, Paul M. "The Hilltop Where. . . An Informal History of Graceland College." p. 102. Venture Foundation. Lamoni IA. 1972.
Goehner, David. “The Graceland College Book of Knowledge: From A To Z.” Pp. 392-93. Herald House. Independence MO. 1997.
zoominfo.com/p/Alma-Blair/7306229
libhall.net/lhstaff.html

Transcriptions by Sharon R. Becker, December of 2015