Biography In the later years of his life, Ellison Orr was active in promoting the idea of protecting the cultural and natural resources of northeast Iowa. He played a key role in the eventual creation of Effigy Mounds National Monument, and, after its creation in 1949, he donated most of his writings and much of his American Indian artifact collection to the national monument. His mound survey and mapping projects, not to mention the excavations and reports he completed on land that would become Effigy Mounds National Monument, represent the core scholarship upon which future researchers built and continue to build our knowledge of the deep and complex history of this region. Without the efforts of Ellison Orr, it is not an exaggeration to speculate that there would be no Effigy Mounds National Monument in Northeast Iowa. The Reminiscences of a Pioneer Boy |
Last updated: January 14, 2016