Postmistress-mora, Wash. 1914-1915: Journal Entries and Photographs of Fannie Taylor

The diaries of Fannie Taylor were written from 1914 to 1922 during her time at Mora, a community on the western edge of the Olympic Peninsula, now inside the boundaries of Olympic National Park. These entries have been transcribed from the original writings archived in the collections of Olympic National Park. Featured here are her diary entries of 1914 and 1915, -with few omissions. Fannie operated the store and overnight accommodations and served some meals, while also serving as postmaster at Mora. In her diaries Fannie describes the day to day activities of community life at Mora, and gives vivid descriptions of her homestead at Taylor Point, or the ranche as she called it. She kept a commentary of interactions with road builders, miners, Quileute and non-Indian neighbors, the stage and mail drivers, and the occasional tourist. A few details from her 1914 diary are supplemented with entries from her daughter Tealies journal of that same time. To provide a visual perspective to Fannies words, many of her photographs are included and identified whenever possible. Fannie was an aspiring photographer and her photographs presented along with her journal entries provide a unique portrait of life on the Washington coast in the early 1900s.

Jacilee Wray has served as the park anthropologist at Olympic National Park, Port Angeles, Washington for nearly 17 years where she works with the tribes and local communities to document the park¿s heritage and cultural resources. Jacilee is the editor of the intertribal book Native Peoples of the Olympic Peninsula: Who We Are, published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Doreen Taylor arrived in Seattle in August of 1946 as the British war bride of Kenneth Taylor, Fannie’s grandson. The diaries of Fannie Taylor had been preserved by the family and were donated to Olympic National Park by Doreen.