James C. Malin, was a Professor of History at the University of Kansas from 1921 to 1963. He was born in 1893 in Edgeley, North Dakota, graduating from Lewis High School in Lewis, Kansas in 1910. He attended Baker University in Baldwin, Kansas from 1910-1914, earning an A. B. degree in 1914. His A. M. degree was earned in 1916 from the University of Kansas (KU). A photograph of James C. Malin in the collection shows him wearing a World War One army uniform and a collar pin with a medical emblem. After his service, he continued his education at the University of Kansas, completing a Ph.D. in history in 1921.

While working on his Ph.D., Malin taught history at the Oklahoma City high school where he met his future wife, Pearl (Betty) Keene, a secretary in the office of the school. They married in 1920 and moved to Lawrence, Kansas. In 1926 his daughter Jane was born. He designed the home that they built in 1935 at 1541 University Drive.

Malin's career in KU's Department of History was influential with many scholarly contributions. His bibliography includes over 15 books, about 100 articles, and over 70 reviews. In addition to his Kansas history contributions, he produced many volumes on the nature of history and historiography and innovative studies in the Great Plains and grasslands. At the time of his death in 1979, a scholarship for history students was established at KU in his memory, called the James C. Malin Scholarship.