Collections by Name | Collections by Region

Phyllis Ellison Waterfowling Collection

This collection includes documentation of the waterfowling traditions of the “downriver” and St. Clair Flats area of Michigan. In the 1960s and 1970s, Phyllis Ellison, of Farmington, Michigan, was an avid collector of waterfowl decoys and materials pertaining to decoy carving and carvers, especially those of the Great Lakes region. The materials decorated her home and served as sources of inspiration for her work in the advertising business in Detroit. She not only knew well the decoy carvers, visiting them in their homes and hunting places, but also she was great friends with the growing number of decoy collectors in the region. Her collection, donated by Ellison to the MSU Museum, contains clothing, magazines, newspaper clippings, photographs, calendars, and other ephemera. Of special interest are programs from early decoy shows in Detroit and Southeast Michigan, as well as some national exhibitions.

Donors and Fieldworkers

Phyllis Ellison

Publications

C. Kurt Dewhurst and Marsha MacDowell. Michigan Folk Art: Its Beginnings to 1941. East Lansing, Michigan, Michigan State University Museum, 1976.

C. Kurt Dewhurst and Marsha MacDowell. Rainbows in the Sky: Twentieth Century Michigan Folk Art. East Lansing, Michigan, Michigan State University Museum, 1977.

Goldeneye hen decoy, Hank Moran, c. 1955

Phyllis Ellison Waterfowling Collection