Archives West Finding Aid

Elaine Frank Davison was born in Walla Walla, Washington on August 23, 1929 to Johann Conrad and Maria Catherine Frank, Germans from Russia who immigrated to the United States in 1905. She was the youngest of eight children. Her interest in the stories of the Volga Germans was piqued by her father's stories of his homeland. Upon his death in 1959, she took up genealogical research. Ultimately, she became responsible for recovering and preserving the history of her family's home village of Kautz / Werschinka. Davison spent her childhood in Walla Walla. After graduating from high school, she worked for the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph company. In 1949, she married George Hite Davison, and the couple moved to Spokane, Washington. They had four children: James Hite, Loralee, Julie Ann, and Karla Elaine. Elaine returned to work in 1960 at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane. The family returned to Walla Walla in 1963, where Elaine began working as a medical transcriptionist.

A self-taught researcher and writer, Davison self-published books about the village, entitled "Unsere Leute von Kautz" (Our People from Kautz). Her "Kautz Project" required numerous oral history interviews, as many of the relevant genealogical records remain in Germany and Russia. In 1990, Davison and her work were featured in "Making a Difference: A Centennial Celebration of Washington Women, Volume II," a curriculum handbook created by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Elaine Frank Davison died on March 17, 2001.