Although she was a resident of Washington State, Ruth Kirk received a B.C. Book Prize for Wisdom of the Elders (Douglas & McIntyre, 1988). Co-published by the Royal BC Museum, it was also titled Tradition and Change on the Northwest Coast. Information on Aboriginals was mostly limited to the Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw) and Nootka (Nuu-chah-nulth) Indians. With Richard D. Daugherty, Kirk also wrote Hunters of the Whale: An Adventure in Northwest Coast Archaeology (New York: Morrow, 1974) and Exploring Washington Archaeology (University of Washington Press, 1978). In 2015 Kirk's book Ozette: Excavating a Makah Whaling Village (University of Washington Press, 2015) was published.

[BCBW 2004] "First Nations"

Review of the author's work by BC Studies:
Wisdom of the Elders: Native Traditions of the Northwest Coast