Elizabeth Chabot Forrest Papers

Collection

Identifier: PCL-MS-0170

Staff Only

Collection Overview

Abstract

The Elizabeth Chabot Forrest Collection consists of manuscript materials written by Forrest from the 1910s to the 1950s. It also includes research materials, photographs, and other printed materials from Forrest's personal collection.

Dates

Creation: circa 1910s-1956, undated

Extent

10.3 Cubic Feet (9 archives boxes)

Creator

Forrest, Elizabeth Chabot (Person)

Scope and Contents

This collection focuses on the career of Elizabeth Chabot Forrest as a working writer. It includes handwritten diaries and notebooks, manuscripts in various stages, correspondence, and published work. The notes and manuscripts for her lone book, Daylight Moon, are included here, as well as materials relating to her myriad articles for newspapers and magazines. Topics of Forrest's writing, both fiction and non-fiction include Inuit culture of Alaska, cooking and foodways, travel, and education among many others.

An oversized scrapbook collects many of Forrest's early writings for periodicals and newspapers, both nonfiction and fiction. Publications represented include The Christian Science Monitor, Children Magazine, Young People, The Goat World, West Coast Lumberman, Sunset Magazine and many more. Most of the articles from this time are on different topics that draw upon her experience in Alaska.

Researchers will find a great deal of information here about the daily life of a woman passionate about writing and the craft of writing in the early- to mid-20th century.

This collection is minimally processed, but it is available to researchers upon request.

Biographical / Historical

Elizabeth Chabot Forrest was an author and teacher. Born Elizabeth Chabot on August 4, 1892 in Pierce, Washington, she attended Hoquiam High School before briefly attending Mills College in Oakland, California. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, her father withdrew her from Mill and she returned to Washington to attend Washington State Normal School where she received an Elementary Education certificate in 1913. Chabot married Earle Memorial Forrest on January 1, 1913 and the couple took up residence on a homestead farm in Crook County, Oregon. Elizabeth taught in a local school, while Earle tried to make a living as a farmer.

In the book Daylight Moon, Elizabeth recounts that life on the farm was harsh and unforgiving, and soon the couple was looking for other opportunities. A letter from a friend led the Forrests to sign up for a year as teachers in the Inuit community of Wainwright, Alaska. They spent three years in Wainwright before moving on to Akaik. Daylight Moon is an account of the time the couple spent in Wainwright.

The couple divorced around 1928 and Elizabeth moved to Santa Monica, California, where she got work as a teacher. She wrote extensively, mainly articles about Inuit culture and traditions as well as foodways, for publications such as The Christian Science Monitor, The Family Circle, and American Cookery.

Elizabeth returned to school and received her Bachelors in Education from University of California Los Angeles in 1933.

Daylight Moon was published in 1937 and was a modest success. The book is still cited as an accurate depiction of life in Alaska in the first part of the 20th century. Forrest donated items from her time in Alaska to The Museum of Man in San Diego, California. The collection is known as The Elizabeth Chabot Forrest Collection of Inuit Scrimshaw and Traditional Tools.

Forrest continued to write articles for magazines and newspapers after the publication of Daylight Moon, but did not publish any more books.

Conditions Governing Access

No known access restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright and other restrictions may apply to the materials in this collection. Researchers using this collection assume full responsibility for conforming to the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright, and are responsible for securing permissions necessary for publication or reproduction.

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The materials in this collection were transferred to the Browne Popular Culture Library by the author's daughter, Elizabeth L. Freeman, in 1999.

Processing Information

This finding aid was prepared in February 2018 by Stephen Ammidown, Manuscripts and Outreach Archivist, with an inventory by Sylvio Lynch, III, Graduate Student Assistant. Revised and input into ArchivesSpace by Tyne Lowe, Manuscripts Archivist, January 2024.