Ralph "Doc" Hubbard (June 22, 1886 – November 14, 1980) was involved in promoting and preserving

Native American Native Americans or Native American may refer to: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North and South America and their descendants * Native Americans in the United States * Indigenous peoples in Cana ...

culture. He wrote two children's novels with Native American settings, '' Queer Person'' (1930) and ''The Wolf Song'' (1935). Hubbard was born in

East Aurora East Aurora is a village in Erie County, New York, United States, southeast of Buffalo. It lies in the eastern half of the town of Aurora. The village population was 5,998 per the 2020 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metrop ...

, New York, a son of author and philosopher

Elbert Hubbard Elbert Green Hubbard (June 19, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher. Raised in Hudson, Illinois, he had early success as a traveling salesman for the Larkin Soap Company. Hubbard is known best as the ...

and his first wife Bertha (née Crawford) Hubbard. As a child he attended

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but he lived for several years in ...

, and as a teenager on a trip to the Western United States he visited the

Battle of the Little Big Horn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...

site on one of his summer trips to his uncle's ranch in Harlowton, Montana. Hubbard eventually moved to North Dakota and promoted tribal culture. In the 1920s, he organized Indian dance troupes that toured the U.S. and Europe, and in 1927, he wrote the "American Indian Craft" section of the ''Handbook for Boys'' (1927

Boy Scout Handbook ''Boy Scout Handbook'' is the official handbook of Scouts BSA. It is a descendant of Baden-Powell's original handbook, '' Scouting for Boys'', which has been the basis for Scout handbooks in many countries, with some variations to the text of ...

). Hubbard taught at the State Teachers College in Minot (now Minot State University). He built Indian museums at

Wounded Knee, South Dakota Wounded Knee ( lkt, Čaŋkpé Opí) is a census-designated place (CDP) on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 364 at the 2020 census. The town is named for the Wounded Knee ...

and at Medora.

Nellie Snyder Yost Nellie Irene Snyder Yost (June 20, 1905 – January 16, 1992) was a historian and writer. She was an active member of the Nebraska State Historical Society, serving for many years as its president, and wrote 13 books (primarily biographies) and ...

wrote a biography of Hubbard published in 1979, ''A Man as Big as the West'' (Boulder CO: Pruett), . Minot State University offers the Ralph Hubbard Scholarship. On May 14, 1983, astronomer

Norman G. Thomas Norman Gene Thomas (May 1, 1930 - May 19, 2020) was an American astronomer and discoverer of minor planets. He worked at Lowell Observatory using the blink comparator alongside Robert Burnham, Jr., author of the famous three-volume ''Celestia ...

discovered an asteroid and named it Hubbard in honor of Ralph Hubbard. On June 2, 2009, the Medora City Council changed the name of South Third Street to Doc Hubbard Drive.Curt Eriksmoen
"NY transplant promoted Native American culture"
''

The Bismarck Tribune ''The Bismarck Tribune'' is a daily newspaper with a weekly audience of 82,000 unique readers, printed daily in Bismarck, North Dakota. Owned by Lee Enterprises, it is the only daily newspaper for south-central and southwest North Dakota ...

'' (BismarckTribune.com), March 12, 2010.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hubbard, Ralph 1886 births 1980 deaths Native American activists Native American writers American children's writers Seneca people Writers from New York (state) People from North Dakota People from East Aurora, New York