Holmes A. Semken
Featuring over 1,000 individual items collected over a span of 60 years. Holmes A. Semken (1935-2024) was a true renaissance man Professor Emeritus, and noted vertebrate paleontologist, at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.
Though born in Knoxville, Tennessee he spent much of his childhood living in Maryville, Tennessee, Hot Springs, Arkansas, and Rockdale, Texas. After graduating from Rockdale High School, he participated in a summer archaeological field trip sparking a lifelong interest in vertebrate osteology and paleontology.
Semken completed BS and MS degrees in geology at the University of Texas-Austin, in 1960. From 1961 to 1962, Semken worked for The Smithsonian. He graduated with a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and was immediately hired as an Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa, becoming Associate Professor in 1969, and Professor in 1973. He served as chair of the University of Iowa Department of Geology from 1986-1992 and retired to Professor Emeritus in 1999.
While Holmes’ vocation was academia and paleontology, his avocation was military history and artifacts. In this field his interests were wide and varying including British arms, edged weapons insignia and gear, as well as early Soviet period military regalia. The U. S Civil War and Indian wars were also an area well covered in his collection which consists of over 1,000 individual pieces each systematically recorded in his collection notebook.
From vintage firearms, edged weapons, helmets, uniforms, gear, accoutrements, insignia and medals, Semken’s collection is a treasure trove for the advanced collector and Jackson’s International is honored to bring this collection to market.
