Oral history interview with Richard D. Daugherty

Richard Deo Daugherty was born in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1922. During World War II, he served as blimp pilot in the U.S. Navy. He earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Washington in 1946, followed by a doctorate in ethnology in 1964. From 1953 to 1982, he taught archaeology at Washington State University in Pullman, where he became an assistant professor after completing his doctorate. As an archaeologist, he worked in cooperation with Native tribes in Washington to preserve culturally significant sites and artifacts. He also worked closely with Washington's U.S. senators on the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which required governments to conduct an archaeological investigation before beginning construction on government projects. Daugherty is best known for his work with the Makah people at the Ozette village site on Washington's Olympic Peninsula in the 1970s. He died in 2014.

Sources: Vital records on Ancestry.com; information provided by Daugherty in his interview; “Dr. Richard Daugherty dies; he unearthed Makah Tribe artifacts,” by Emily Heffter, Seattle Times, February 28, 2014 (accessed February 2026), https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/dr-richard-daugherty-dies-he-unearthed-makah-tribe-artifacts/; “Richard Daugherty dies at 91; archaeologist studied Makah tribe site,” by Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times, March 4, 2014 (accessed February 2026), https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-richard-daugherty-20140303-1-story.html

In 1990, the Washington State Historical Society, Portland State University, and Washington State University Vancouver formed the Center for Columbia River History (CCRH) to promote research, education, and public programs about the Columbia River Basin. The center operated for more than 20 years. Among its work was the Columbia River Basin Project (CRBP), an umbrella project supported by a 1997 grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The CRBP included online exhibits, oral histories, and high school curricula about the history of the region's land, wildlife, and people.

As part of the project, CCRH partnered with the Oregon Historical Society Research Library’s oral history program, headed by Jim Strassmaier, to gather interviews. Oral Historian Michael O’Rourke spearheaded the Northwest Power Planning Council Oral History Series, while Oral Historian Clark Hansen oversaw the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series, with aid from two Portland State University research assistants, Dannette Rowe and Tania Hyatt. In addition, CCRH conducted oral history interviews for a third project, Columbia Communities, and later donated the interview recordings and transcripts to the OHS Research Library, where they are designated SRC 1.

The Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series culminated in 59 interviews (approximately 184 recorded hours) conducted between 1998 and 2001. Interviewees included Native people, activists, farmers, conservationists, fishers, and others who contributed to the shaping of policies that have had, and continue to have, significant impacts on the Columbia River Basin in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia. The interviewees opposed policies by agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and advocated for alternative visions of management and use of the Columbia River.

Sources: “Voices of the Columbia,” by Bryan White, PSU Magazine, Fall 1998, Page 17; Center for Columbia River History brochure, undated (circa 2000); Center for Columbia River History website (accessed July 10, 2025, partially archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250215175329/https://columbiariverhistory.org/; email correspondence with Donna Sinclair, 2025; email correspondence with Tania Hyatt, 2025; Oregon Historical Society Research Library internal documentation.