MSS 1 (part)

Center, Ellen, d. 1959

• Tillamook Indians / Ellen Center correspondence file, 1930-1955
• ca. 50 items
• Tillamook Indian, of Garibaldi, Oregon.

21 letters from Ellen Center to historian J. Neilson Barry, several of which (1930-1933) recount Tillamook traditions of 18th and 19th century shipwrecks and discuss the ancestry and descendants of Center's grandfather, Chief Kilchis, and  speculation about his possible descent from a non-Indian ancestor.  Later correspondence between Barry and Center relates to Barry's attempts to secure settlement of Tillamook claims against the federal government.  The file also includes Barry's correspondence with federal and local officials on Center's behalf, and his letters (1933) to Franz Boas about the Tillamooks.

Forms part of the repository's J. Neilson Barry collection (MSS 1)

Fuller biographical and family information about Ellen Center (with a photo) is found in The Nehalem Tillamook: An Ethnography, by Elizabeth D. Jacobs (Oregon State University Press, 2003)

Gift of Mr. Barry, as part of the J. Neilson Barry collection, 1957.

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