Elizabeth Conrad Hickox (1872/5–July 19, 1947) was a Wiyot master basket weaver and was considered one of the finest basket-weavers of her time.^[1] Her baskets differ from other Lower Klamath baskets through her own unique use of shape, technique, color scheme and design.^[2][3]

Elizbeth Conrad Hickox's birth year has been given as 1872^[2] and 1875.^[1] Hickox's mother was Wiyot and her father, European-American.^[4] It was reported that Hickox's mother, Polly, had been abducted by her later husband, Charles Conrad.^[5] When Elizabeth was in her teens, she married Frank Merrill (Karuk), and they had two children together, Jessie and Bruce.^[6] She later married Luther Hickox in 1895.^[6] Luther Hickox owned a gold mine, was a part owner of a sawmill and later became a justice of the peace.^[4] The couple enjoyed a high social status among the Karuk people, as well as financial security.^[6]

Hickox lived along the Salmon River in Northern California.^[1]

Hickox used various materials to weave her baskets including grape root twining, white bear grass (Xerophyllum tenax), dyed Woodwardia fern, black maidenhair fern and dyed porcupine quills.^[7] She tended to use the fern Adiantum aleuticum, a dark material in contrast to the porcupine quills dyed yellow with Letharia vulpina.^[8] The choice to mostly use dark materials contrasted with the yellow was her own choice, and not subject to marketplace demands.^[9] Between 1911 and 1934, she made about five baskets a year.^[8]

Hickox and her daughter, Louise, weaved and sold their baskets to Grace Nicholson, who continued to buy their work even during the Great Depression.^[10] Though Hickox was Wiyot, Nicholson marketed her baskets as "Karuk" because they lived in the Karuk area.^[4] Before Hickox met Nicholson, she had already chosen to create fine-art baskets.^[11] After Nicholson stopped purchasing baskets in 1934, Hickox continued to weave "for pleasure, utility and gift-giving."^[12]

In 2020, the art of Hickox was exhibited in the exhibition Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.^[13]

Hickox died on July 19, 1947.^[14]

Elizabeth Hickox's baskets can be found in numerous public collections, including the following:

• Autry Museum of the American West (Southwest Museum of Los Angeles)^[15]
• Denver Art Museum
• Field Museum of Natural History
• National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution^[8] the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art,^[16]
• Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.^[17]
• Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University^[18]
• University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology