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Eva Emery Dye Papers, 1776-1997

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Dye, Eva Emery, 1855-1947
Title
Eva Emery Dye Papers
Dates
1776-1997 (inclusive)
1890-1940 (bulk)
Quantity
11.5 linear ft. (15 document cases,1 oversize flat box, 1 Oversize B-1 (16x20) folder, 1 Oversize A (11x14) folder, 1 reel of microfilm
Collection Number
Mss 1089
Summary
The papers of one of Oregon's most prominent literary figures, who popularized Oregon Country history and Sacajawea as a heroine of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Papers (1776-1997) consist of correspondence, ephemera, manuscripts, literary journal, research notes, and scrapbooks. The collection also includes family papers of Charles and Eva Emery Dye and their children.
Repository
Oregon Historical Society Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
97205
Telephone: 503-306-5240
Fax: 503-219-2040
libreference@ohs.org
Access Restrictions

The collection is open to the public.

Languages
English.
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Historical Note

Eva Lucinda Emery Dye (1855-1947) popularized Oregon Country history for children and adults, and in the process, she made Sacajawea a heroine of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the eyes of the public. She was born in Prophetstown, Illinois, to Cyrus Emery and Caroline Trafton Emery. Her teachers were so impressed with her stories, poems, and songs that they encouraged her to send them to area newspapers. She started her career as a published writer as a teenager under the pen name, Jennie Juniper, with poems, stories, and essays in these newspapers.

Eva began teaching at the age of 15 to earn money to attend Oberlin College and worked as a teacher off-and-on throughout her college years. At Oberlin, she was elected literary editor of the Oberlin Review, studied the Classics, and won honors in oratorical contests. She graduated as class valedictorian with a bachelor of arts degree, and a week after graduation, on July 13, 1882, she married an Oberlin classmate, Charles Henry Dye (1856-1929).

The couple both taught school at Sidney, Iowa, and then moved to Franklin, Nebraska, where Charles was headmaster of the Franklin Academy. During this time, both continued their academic careers at Oberlin, where Eva received a master of arts degree in 1887. Charles completed his master's degree in 1888 and entered the University of Iowa Law School, where he completed his degree in 1889. Charles opened a law office in Madison, South Dakota, and Eva taught at the State Normal School there.

In July 1890, Charles and Eva Dye moved to Oregon City, Oregon, where he practiced law and Eva obtained a teaching position. Charles was appointed Deputy District Attorney for Oregon City, and he won a seat in the Oregon State House of Representatives. They built a home at 902 Jefferson Street, where they spent the rest of their lives.

Eva Emery Dye began researching and writing Oregon history soon after she arrived in Oregon City. One of her earliest published pieces on the subject was a bulletin in the University of Oregon's Historical Series, "The Hudson's Bay Company regime in the Oregon country" (1898). She produced a book for children and three historical novels set in the Oregon Country which went into multiple printings and remained popular for decades. During her lifetime she published: Stories of Oregon, 1900; McLoughlin and Old Oregon, 1900; The Conquest: The True Story of Lewis and Clark, 1902; McDonald of Oregon: A Tale of Two Shores, 1906; and The Soul of America: An Oregon Iliad, 1934. She wrote McDonald of Oregon at the request of its central figure, Ranald Macdonald (his spelling of his name). In addition, she wrote a book on Hawaiian history, A Royal Romance, which remained unpublished at the time of her death. Although she wrote her books in novel form, Dye took pride in making them as authentic as her historical research could achieve.

Eva Emery Dye also contributed her literary talents to at least two other prominent publications: the chapter, "Historical Sketch of Oregon City" in Portland, Oregon: Its History and Builders by Joseph Gaston, 1911, and the text for photographer Benjamin Gifford's photogravure portfolio, Art Work of Portland, Mt. Hood and the Columbia River, 1912.

In addition to writing books, numerous articles, and other shorter pieces, Dye was in demand as a speaker by local, regional, and national organizations. With her husband, Charles, she was active in church, community, and political affairs in Oregon City and Clackamas County. They jointly founded the Willamette Valley Chautauqua at Gladstone Park, actively supported the First Congregational Church at Oregon City, and were members of the Republican Party. Eva, with her husband's full support, took an active role in the woman's suffrage movement, the Sacajawea Statue Association (to erect a statue at the Lewis and Clark Exposition, 1905), and the effort to preserve the John McLoughlin House at Oregon City through the McLoughlin Memorial Association. The Sacajawea Statue became a permanent fixture in Washington Park at Portland, Oregon, and the McLoughlin House a popular attraction in Oregon City.

Eva Emery Dye received many honors during her lifetime, including an honorary doctor of literature degree from Oregon State College (Oregon State University), 1930, and an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Portland, 1939. Her 80th birthday was declared Eva Emery Dye Day in Oregon City.

Charles and Eva Emery Dye had four children: Emery Charles Dye (1884-?), Trafton Mickelwait Dye (1886-1974), Everett Willoughby Dye (1896-1988), and Charlotte Evangeline (Eva) Dye Hutchinson (1897-1972). Emery suffered a mental breakdown in young manhood and was confined to a state institution for much of his life. Trafton Dye became a successful attorney in Cleveland, Ohio, where he and his wife Mary raised their family. Everett Dye worked as an engineer for steel companies in Cleveland Ohio, where he and his wife, Harriet, raised their family. Evangeline (Eva) Dye married Richard Earl Hutchinson, and the family made their permanent home in California.

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Content Description

The Eva Emery Dye Papers (1776-1997) consist of correspondence, ephemera, a literary journal, manuscripts, research notes, and scrapbooks relating to Eva Emery Dye's career as an author and her interest in Oregon history topics, including pioneers, Lewis and Clark, John McLoughlin, Ranald MacDonald, and the Hudson's Bay Company. She also became interested in Hawaiian history through a family connection. The collection includes the family papers of Charles and Eva Emery Dye and their children, Emery Dye, Eva Dye Hutchinson, Everett W. Dye, and Trafton M. Dye, as well as the reminiscences of Eva's father, Cyrus Emery, and a genealogy of the Charles Dye and Eva Emery Dye family.

Series A includes incoming and outgoing correspondence (except family correspondence). The bulk of it relates to Eva Emery Dye's research for her books. In the 1890s, she created questionnaires and sent them to participants in Oregon country's early history and their descendants. This often elicited lengthy letters and reminiscences and some on-going correspondence. She also obtained handwritten or typescript transcriptions from various sources of early letters related to her research interests. The correspondence includes smaller quantities of letters from friends, acquaintances, those requesting information from her or her services as a speaker, and mail from readers of her books and articles. Most of the correspondence is incoming; copies of only a small part of her outgoing correspondence survives in the collection. Much of this correspondence is in typescript since she had use of a typewriter, first at her husband's law office and later at home, and some of her typing also was done by her husband's secretaries.

Also included in Series A is topical correspondence, reflecting Eva Emery Dye's many activities. These included the Willamette Valley Chautauqua at Gladstone Park, Oregon, which she founded and led for many years; her research on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which led her to visit manuscript repositories around the country and put her into contact with scholars of the expedition and descendants of the famous explorers; the Sacajawea Statue Association, which she founded and served as president to promote the creation of a statue for the 1905 centennial world's fair at Portland; and woman's suffrage, which she championed. The collection includes her first voter registration certificate, dated July 1913, and her correspondence with state and national figures involved in the movement.

Series B and Series C contain biographical sketches of Eva Emery Dye, written by her and others; manuscripts for books, articles, and speeches, as well as research notes and copies of materials written by others that she used in her writing; a literary journal; and scrapbooks of newspaper clippings, including one containing her poems and essays published in newspapers under her early pen name, Jennie Juniper.

The Charles H. Dye and Eva Emery Dye Family Papers in Series D contain extensive correspondence among the Dyes and their children. Beginning in 1920, when all the children were out on their own, Charles and Eva wrote group letters almost weekly, Eva carried on the practice after her husband's death even as her eyesight began to fail in old age. In addition, they wrote individual letters, most notably Charles to Everett and Eva Emery to Eva Dye Hutchinson. In addition to home and family news, the letters share news of Oregon City, the people that Charles and Eva met through their work, and commentary on politics, religion, social issues, and events of the wider world. The collection also includes Everett's correspondence with friends and relatives outside the immediate family.

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Use of the Collection

Alternative Forms Available

Most of the incoming correspondence related to Eva Emery Dye's research on Lewis and Clark (Series A, Subseries 2) is available on microfilm at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Preservation photocopies have been made of some fragile materials. Researchers will be asked to use these copies instead of the originals whenever possible.

Restrictions on Use

The Oregon Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library before any publication use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.

Preferred Citation

Eva Emery Dye Papers, Mss1089, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into the following series:

  • Series A: Eva Emery Dye's Correspondence, 1776-1967 (pages 8-17)
  • Series B: Eva Emery Dye's Manuscripts, 1840-1940 (pages 17-26)
  • Series C: Eva Emery Dye's Research Materials, 1839-1931 (pages 26-29)
  • Series D: Charles and Eva Emery Dye Family Papers, 1857-1997 (pages 29-33)

Custodial History

Eva Emery Dye donated her professional correspondence, manuscripts, and research materials, along with photographs, books, serials, and posters, to the Oregon Historical Society during her lifetime. A descendant, Charles R. Hutchinson, donated family correspondence and a genealogy in 1997.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Eva Emery Dye (Accession nos. 246, 293, 377, and 8297). Gift of Charles R. Hutchinson, 1997 (Accession no. 23609).

Processing Note

The collection was assembled piecemeal over time as it was donated. At one time, the family papers were designated Mss1089-1. They are now Series D of Mss1089. Initial processing resulted in preparation of an inventory. The final processing and guide was completed in 2005

Separated Materials

The Eva Emery Dye Photographs Collection (Organized Lot 1017), plus a large collection of books, serials, and World War I posters were separated from the Eva Emery Dye Papers and are in various collections at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Letters from Eva Emery Dye are contained in several other manuscript collections at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library and the University of Oregon Library Special Collections.

In 1939, Eva Emery Dye donated her handwritten manuscript for McLoughlin and Old Oregon to the University of Oregon Library, where it is located in the Manuscript Collections (F813 D986).

Bibliography

Browne, Sheri Bartlett. Eva Emery Dye: Romance with the West. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2004.

Related Materials

A correspondents' list, with numbers, dates, and topics of letters, is available in hard copy at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library for most of the correspondence in Series A.

The Mary Carr Moore Collection (Collection 38) at the University of California Los Angeles Music Library contains materials related to her opera, Narcissa, which was based on Eva Emery Dye's book, McLoughlin and Old Oregon.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Chautauquas.
  • Frontier and pioneer life--Oregon.
  • Geographical Names:
  • Oregon National Historical Trail.
  • Oregon--History.
  • Overland journeys to the Pacific.
  • Pioneers--Oregon.
  • Women authors, American--Oregon.
  • Women--Suffrage--Oregon.

Personal Names

  • Applegate, Jesse A. (Jesse Applegate), 1835-1919
  • Boone, Alphonse D., 1837-1915
  • Boone, George Luther, 1826-1910
  • Charman, Elbert.
  • Clark, Pete
  • Clark, William, 1770-1838
  • Duniway, Abigail Scott, 1834-1915
  • Dye, Charles Henry, 1856-1929
  • Dye, Emery C.
  • Dye, Eva Emery, 1855-1947
  • Dye, Trafton
  • Himes, George H., 1844-1940
  • Huggins, Anne.
  • Huggins, Edward, 1832-1907
  • Hutchinson, Eva Dye.
  • Lewis, Meriwether, 1774-1809
  • Lewis, Reuben.
  • MacDonald, Ranald, 1824-1894
  • McGillivray, Napoleon.
  • McLoughlin, David, 1821-1903
  • McLoughlin, John, 1784-1857
  • Miller, Elizabeth B.
  • Minto, John, 1822-1915
  • Scholl, William T.
  • Taylor, Mary Kennerly.
  • Thwaites, Reuben Gold.
  • Whiteley, Emery.

Corporate Names

  • Hudson's Bay Company
  • Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806)
  • Willamette Valley Chautauqua Association

Form or Genre Terms

  • Correspondence.
  • Diaries.
  • Ephemera.
  • Genealogies.
  • Letters.
  • Manuscripts.
  • Notes.
  • Poems.
  • Publications.
  • Reviews.
  • Speeches.
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