C. R. (Claude Russell) Moss

Born in 1876, C. R. Moss, or Claude Russell Moss, is credited in library and scholarly records as the author of several works on the Nabaloi and Kankanay peoples of Benguet in the Philippines. His best-known books include Nabaloi Law and Ritual, Nabaloi Tales, Nabaloi Songs, and Kankanay Ceremonies, many of them published by the University of California Press.

The surviving catalog descriptions suggest that his writing grew out of long firsthand experience. A National Library of Australia record for Nabaloi Tales notes that the stories in the book were recorded during his thirteen years of residence among the Nabaloi, which helps explain the depth of detail readers find in his work.

Today, Moss is mainly remembered as a documenter of oral tradition, social custom, and ceremonial life. Because readily accessible biographical sources are sparse, much of what can be confirmed about him comes through library catalogs and the books themselves rather than full modern biographical profiles.