C. R. (Claude Russell) Moss

Claude Russell Moss, born in 1876, is known today for two major works on the Ibaloi (then often written as Nabaloi) people of Benguet in the northern Philippines: Nabaloi Law and Ritual (1920) and Nabaloi Tales (1924). Library and catalog records consistently identify him as "C. R. (Claude Russell) Moss, 1876-" and connect his books with the University of California Press.

In the preface material recorded in library catalogs for Nabaloi Tales, Moss says the myths in the book were gathered during his thirteen years of residence among the Nabaloi Igorot of the Philippine Islands, especially in the Benguet area around Kabayan. That long stay gave his writing a close, on-the-ground quality, and his work helped preserve stories, beliefs, and social practices that might otherwise have been lost to print history.

Although biographical details about his personal life are hard to confirm from readily available sources, his published work remains important for readers interested in Philippine folklore, anthropology, and Indigenous traditions. For modern audiences, Moss is remembered less as a public literary figure than as a recorder of oral tradition whose books still offer a window into Ibaloi culture in the early 1900s.