Verne F. Ray

Verne Frederick Ray, (1905 – September 28, 2003) was anthropology professor at the University of Washington, with a B.A. and M.A. in anthropology from Washington and a Ph.D. (in 1937) from Yale. Ray was one of the first anthropologists at UW,^[1] was head of the Department of Anthropology and associate dean of the graduate school.

He is known best for assisting Northwest tribes with tribal land-claim settlements and is viewed as pioneer in the field of ethnohistory.^[2] The Cowlitz tribe, which he helped gain federal recognition, made him an honorary member in 2000.^[3][4] Some of his papers are held at Gonzaga University.^[5]

He was married to fellow anthropologist and author Dorothy Jean Ray.^[6]

Bibliography

He is the author or editor of 52 books dealing with the anthropology of the American Indians of the Northwest.^[7] In particular, his work with the Interior Salish Tribes of Washington following the passage of the Indian Claims Commission Act in 1946^[1] led to the publication of a number of important articles on the tribes,^[3] including the following:

• Ray, Verne F. "The Columbia Confederacy: A League of Central Plateau Tribes." In Stanley Diamond, editor, Culture in History: Essays in Honor of Paul Radin. Columbia University Press: New York, 1960, pp. 771–789.
• Ray, Verne F. "Cultural Relations in the Plateau of Northwestern America." Publications of the Frederick Webb Hodge Anniversary Publication Fund, Vol. III. Los Angeles, 1939.
• Ray, Verne F. "Ethnohistorical Notes on the Columbia, Chelan, Entiat, and Wenatchee Tribes," Interior Salish and Eastern Washington Indians IV. Garland Publishing Inc.: New York, 1974.
• Ray, Verne F. "Native Village and Groupings of the Columbia Basin," Pacific Northwest Quarterly. Vol. 27 No. 2, April, 1936.
• Ray, Verne F., The Sanpoil and Nespelem: Salishan Peoples of Northeastern Washington (New Haven, Human Relations Area Files, 1954) [Originally published as Vol. V, University of Washington Publications in Anthropology, 1933].