Bill Gillis donated this collection to the Washington State University Libraries in 2010 (MS.2010.27).
This is an unprocessed collection. Any arrangement reflects either a pre-existing order from the records' creators or previous custodians, or preliminary sorting performed by staff.
This collection is open and available for research use.
This collection consists of records of the Gillis family farm near Washtucna, WA, and other family business enterprises. For the farm, the collection includes record books (1931-1994) and loose receipts (circa 1980-2003). The collection also includes other Gillis family material (A.M. Gillis papers, Gillis Bros. papers, circa 1882-1930; also a few printed items related to Masonic lodges in Oregon, and miscellaneous items).
Preliminary inventory:
Box 1. Farm: "Loose receipts" (some foldered).
Box 2. Farm: "Loose receipts" (some foldered), and envelope: "Building of house, 1930."
Box 3. Contents of small metal box: assorted documents, including notes (loans), bank records, barn information, correspondence with C.T. Mudge Co.
Box 4. Mixed contents. Includes printed material: "Masonic Literature"; also loose items from unlabeled wooden box (receipts and bills, 1940s), and "Loose receipts" (some foldered), mortgages, deeds, leases, Adams Co. tax receipts; unlabeled bundle (Tum-A-Lum, T.C. Milnes).
Box 5. Mixed contents. Farm: "Loose receipts"; A.M. Gillis accounts, 1900; account book (John Gillis?), 1882-1889, and an 1889 letter; canvas receipt file, A.M. Gillis, circa 1900-1918; Lloyd Gillis tax and banking records, circa 1936-1940.
Boxes 6-7. File boxes (receipts). [Note: case labels are incorrect.]
Box 8. Binder: receipts and invoices, Gillis Bros., circa 1889-1904.
Boxes 9-10. Mixed contents. Invoices and account books, A.M. Gillis business, Athena, OR, 1900-1903; A.M. Gillis personal time books and expense books, 1880-1900; unlabeled expense book, 1882-1889 (begins at Charlottetown, PEI); book: "Complete Ready Reckoner" (tables of units and prices for calculating totals); pocket notebook with "List of Combine Extras" 1917, brief list of addresses.
Boxes 11-13. Farm record books, 1931-1994.
Box 14. Aerial photograph of farm; receipt file, 1950-1951.
Box 15. Farm record books, 1994-2004.
Angus M. Gillis (d. 1931) immigrated to the United States from Prince Edward Island, Canada, in the 1880s. With his brothers, Dan and John Gillis, he formed Gillis Brothers Contractor and Builders, a business in Athena, OR. He married Ida Campbell, and in 1907 they purchased a half-section of farm land northwest of Washtucna, WA, to take up dry land wheat farming. Subsequent generations of the family, including their son Lloyd Gillis (d. 1942) and grandson Robert Lloyd "Bob" Gillis (1924-2011), continued to operate the family farm for decades, into the early 21st century.