Collection is open for research.
Barbara Elliott Davies, nee Barbara Coit Elliott, was born in Walla Walla, Washington, in 1902. She attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and the University of Washington in Seattle. In 1924, she earned a bachelor's degree from Whitman College. That same year, she moved to Portland. In 1930, she and David Lloyd Davies were married; they later had two children. She worked as a secretary for the Oregon Historical Society, served as president of the Portland Town Club, and served on the boards of the Fruit and Flower Day Nursery, the Visiting Nurses Association, and the Portland Garden Club. She died in 1981.
Sources: Vital records on Ancestry.com; information provided by Davies in her interview; obituary published in The Oregonian on March 2, 1981.
Oral history interview with Barbara Elliott Davies, by Charles Digregorio, SR 9372, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
A collection of Davies family photographs and papers, Coll 525, and Thomas Coit Elliott's papers, Mss 231, are also held at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
The Protestant Ladder discussed by Davies in this interview is part of the Henry Harmon Spalding family papers, Mss 1201, and is viewable online at
This oral history interview with Barbara Elliott Davies was conducted by Charles Digregorio at Davies' home in Portland, Oregon, on July 18, 1976, as part of the oral history program at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
In this interview, Davies discusses the life of her father, Thompson Coit Elliott (1862-1943), a former executive director of the Oregon Historical Society. She also talks about her grandfather, John Euclid Elliott (1829-1888), and his role in the development of Walla Walla, Washington. She discusses her work for Oregon Historical Quarterly, the journal of the Oregon Historical Society; and talks about working with her father to acquire collections for the historical society, particularly the Protestant Ladder.
Joint copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society and the estate of Barbara Elliott Davies. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted,