It was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory on 23 September 1916.
[2] Olivia is a non-family asteroid of the main belt's background population when applying the hierarchical clustering method to its proper orbital elements.
They were discovered between 1876 and the 1930s, predominantly by astronomers Auguste Charlois, Johann Palisa, Max Wolf and Karl Reinmuth.
[11] In the SDSS-based taxonomy, Olivia is a common, carbonaceous C-type asteroid, with a notably low albedo (see below).
[3][5][9][12] According to the surveys carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, and the Japanese Akari satellite, Olivia measures (30.418±0.082), (35.65±2.3) and (36.05±0.91) kilometers in diameter and its surface has a notably low albedo of (0.033±0.006), (0.0242±0.004) and (0.025±0.001), respectively.