Last updated: October 30, 2024
Person
Ellen Hope (Lang) Hays
Courtesy of National Park Service, Sitka National Historical Park; SITK 15697.
Quick Facts
Significance:
The first Alaska Native to be appointed superintendent of a national park.
Place of Birth:
Sitka, Alaska
Date of Birth:
December 29, 1927
Place of Death:
Sitka, Alaska
Date of Death:
October 8, 2013
Born and raised in Sitka, Alaska, Ellen Hope Hays was the seventh of fourteen children to Andrew and Tillie Hope. Her ancestral and matrilineal family is the X’aaká Hít (Point House) of the Kiks.ádi Clan (Raven moiety) of the Lingít. Her given clan name was Kaakaltín.[1] Growing up in Sitka, she took care of her many siblings and cousins but still managed to attend the historic Sheldon Jackson School, (a Presbyterian boarding school for Alaskan Native Students). This even as she battled with multiple bouts of tuberculosis (TB). Tragically, she would lose some of her sisters and even her grandparents to TB. Hays was not allowed to speak Lingít growing up, instead being raised as a devout English-speaking Presbyterian Christian. It was not until many years later, at the start of her professional career, that Hays discovered and embraced what she called, the “Old Customs” of the Lingít People.[2] Through her career with the National Park Service and her participation in many Alaska Native organizations and initiatives throughout her life, she has left an enduring legacy of cultural learning and embracing Alaska Native heritage.
Ellen Hope Hays broke a multitude of seemingly insurmountable barriers when she, on July 9th, 1974, became the first Alaska Native woman to become a National Park Superintendent (Sitka National Historical Park). In all, she was the third woman ever to become the Superintendent of a National Park.[3] Once again she would break barriers, for after four years as Superintendent of Sitka National Historical Park, she became the first Native Alaskan Liason Officer in Anchorage, Alaska. This newly created position oversaw National Park relations with the many Alaskan Native Tribes, and it remains a vital role for the NPS in the Alaska. She also held the distinction of becoming the first woman admitted into the Alaska Native Brotherhood, Sitka Camp Number One on April 17th, 1967. Not content with stopping there, a few years later she would be appointed as the President of the same Camp Number One. Deservedly, in 1996, in recognition of her service and life’s work, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree by the University of Alaska.
Hays had a humble start with the National Park Service at Sitka National Monument. In 1967 she started on as a clerk and typist. After formal training from Grand Canyon National Park, Hays was promoted to park technician in 1970 and then park ranger in 1972. As a park ranger at the newly rebranded Sitka National Historical Park, Hays oversaw interpretive programs, visitor services, and instituted the Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center (SEAICC);[4] an addition to the Sitka National Historical Park Visitor Center. SEAICC was a living history museum where Alaska Native trade works with wood and metal were demonstrated. Hays also moderated an agreement between the NPS and the ANB to bring in Brotherhood members to work and teach at SEAICC. In her own words, “It is a place for teaching, learning, and demonstrating the cultural arts of the tribes of Southeast Alaska.”[5] (After her retirement, Hays became the Director of SEAICC in 1987). She was also instrumental in the creation of Lingít loan agreements that would bring, house posts, a totem pole, a totem frog, and many ceremonial objects and articles of clothing still to SNHP. These items remain on display to this day in the visitor center.[6] In a mere 7 years since her career began with the NPS she was appointed as the superintendent of Sitka National Historical Park in 1974.She would continue to oversee important changes to the park and it was during her tenure that she oversaw the early stages of the restoration of the newly acquired Russian Bishop’s House. Hay’s influence and shaping of SNHP cannot be understated, she shaped the identity and focus of the park, making it an active participant in the teaching and transmission of Alaska Native culture.
She would remain as the NPS Native Liaison Officer in Anchorage until her retirement from the National Park Service in 1983.Hays then moved to Bainbridge Island, Washington. She never stopped participating in Alaska Native affairs and would remain active up until her death on October 8th, 2013 at the age of 85 in Sitka, Alaska. Beyond the NPS, ANB, and the SEAICC, she had membership ties with The Alaska Native Sisterhood, the Alaska Federation of Natives, the Southeast Alaska Native Women’s Conference Planning Committee, the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, The Tlingit & Haida Community Council, Washington Chapter, the Institute of Alaska Native Art, the Alaska State Council on the Arts, the Alaska Humanities Forum, the Historic Sites Advisory Committee, the Alaska State Museum Planning Committee & Advisory Committee, the Sitka Village Planning Council, Sitka Historical Commission, the Sheldon Jackson Board of Trustees, the Council of Elders, Sitka Tribes of Alaska, and many other organizations and committees. Her dedication to the native culture and people of Alaska is inspiring, and the number of lives and groups who were changed or touched by her is nearly uncountable.
“Throughout her life, Hays promoted the values of art and the humanities.”[7] She strove to reconnect herself and others with their heritage, relearning the “Old Customs”, and providing a foundation for future generations of Alaska Natives to learn about their cultural past and identity. Her work and passion continue to inspire SNHP and NPS staff today. In her own words,
“I was a real good listener; I think people like good listeners. Or for quite a while until I began to have something to say. …I wanted to share what I was learning also, and for them to consider what is was that was the “New Day” for us.”[8] -Ellen Hope Hays 1998
Listen to an interview with Ellen that she gave on December 7th, 1998 with Karen Brewster and Kristen Griffin at the Sitka Tribe of Alaska Office.
In this interview, Ellen discusses her childhood growing up in the Cottages Community that neighbored the park, using the park as her playground, and her role in the Alaska Native Brotherhood. She discusses how she got involved with National Park Service work, her Park Service jobs as Superintendent at Sitka and Native Liaison in Anchorage, her role as a founding member of the Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center at the Park, and the relationship between the Park and the community of Sitka. She also looks at some historic photographs during the interview and talks about them.
Ellen worked for the National Park Service from 1967-1983. She passed away on October 8, 2013.
[1] Olbrych, Daniel. Sentinel Staff. Ellen Hope Hays, sitkasentinel.com/7/2012-05-10-22-08-43/obituaries/6389-ellen-hope-hays.
[2] Brewster, Karen, and Kristin Griffin. “Ellen Hope Hays 1998 Interview Parts 1 and 2.” Http://Jukebox.uaf.edu/, 1998, https://jukebox.uaf.edu/interviews/3301 & https://jukebox.uaf.edu/interviews/3297
[3]Olbrych, Daniel. Sentinel Staff. Ellen Hope Hays, sitkasentinel.com/7/2012-05-10-22-08-43/obituaries/6389-ellen-hope-hays.
[4] Hays, Ellen Hays. Resume 1999.
[5] Hays, Dr. Ellen Hope. 2004 Biographical Information. Ellen Hope Hays Collection SNHP Archives.
[6] Sitka NHP: Administrative History (Chapter 5), npshistory.com/publications/sitk/adhi/chap5.htm
[7] Olbrych, Daniel. Sentinel Staff. Ellen Hope Hays, sitkasentinel.com/7/2012-05-10-22-08-43/obituaries/6389-ellen-hope-hays.
[8] Brewster, Karen, and Kristin Griffin. “Ellen Hope Hays 1998 Interview Part 23.” Http://Jukebox.uaf.edu/, 1998, https://jukebox.uaf.edu/interviews/3300.