James Delano Iversen was born to Alfred and Asta Marie (Jorgensen) Iversen on April 1, 1933, in Omaha, Nebraska. He attended Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, for two years (1951-1953). He then enrolled at Iowa State College (University) where he received his B.S. (1956), M.S. (1958), and Ph.D. (1964) in aerospace engineering and electrical engineering.

During his professional career Iversen spent time working for both public and private enterprises. He was an Assistant Drawing Instructor (1952-1953) at Dana College, a Highway Inspector (1953) for the Iowa State Highway Commission, and an Engineering Assistant (1954, 1955) for both the Allison Transmission Corporation in Indianapolis and for Convair in Fort Worth, Texas. He worked as an Aerodynamicist for the Sandia Corp (1956) of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the Douglas Aircraft Company (1958) before being hired by Iowa State as Assistant Professor (1959-1960) of aerospace engineering. At Iowa State he was promoted to Associate Professor (1960-1969), Professor (1969-1996), and also served as Chair (1987-1990) of the department. In the midst of his teaching duties he was also briefly employed as an Aerodynamicist at the NASA Ames Research Center (1973, 1974) and also for the Boeing Company (1978). Iversen retired from teaching and was named Professor Emeritus in 1996.

Iversen's main research areas include wind tunnels, Aeolian processes, aerodynamics, and geophysical fluid dynamics. Many of his published writings deal with Aeolian processes, or wind generated geologic processes, such as the drifting of snow and sand, sand storms, and wind-generated erosion. Of particular interest were his studies of the Aeolian processes taking place on the surface of the planet Mars. He is coauthor, with Ronald Greeley, of the book Wind as a Geological Process (on Earth, Mars, Venus and Titan) (call no. QE597 .G7 1985). For his years of dedicated work Iversen was honored with the Faculty Citation (1982) from Iowa State and the Distinguished Alumnus Award (1987) from Dana College.

Iversen was involved in a number of local and professional organizations. At Iowa State he was a member of Tau Beta Pi (engineering honorary), Sigma Gamma Tau (aerospace engineering honorary), Sigma Xi (research honorary), and the Osborne Research Club. Professional associations he belonged to included the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Society of Engineering Education, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Iversen was also a member of the Ames Rotary Club and served on the Board of Directors of the Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn, Iowa.

Iversen married Marge Peters of Wheaton, Illinois. They have two sons David and Philip.

The collection (1956-[ongoing]) includes biographical information, correspondence, writings, and a few miscellaneous reports related to Iversen's tenure with the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Iowa State. These miscellaneous reports include faculty improvement leave reports and a script created for the 50th Anniversary of the Department of Aerospace Engineering.

The writings document Iversen's research with wind tunnels and environmental wind flows. Of note, he studied wind-blown dust patterns on the surface of Mars, research for which he received several grants and a common topic in his writings. The collection includes several lists of his published works. Correspondence and materials related to the book he coauthored, Wind as a Geological Process, can be found in the collection.

The bulk of the collection contains Iversen's professional correspondence. The files offer a thorough overview of his working career and include letters documenting many of his professional activities, both within the University and externally. A majority of the letters in this collection are those that were received by Iversen, but many letters composed by him can also be found. The correspondence was indexed and organized by Iversen.

Additionally, a number of artifacts used during Iversen's research are housed in the University Artifact Collection. These items are listed in the appendix.

Other collections related to the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Iowa State can be found under Record Group 11/3 in the University Archives.

The collection is listed alphabetically with correspondence and writings organized chronologically.