Bookmark this page or copy and paste URL to Email message Ralph Michelsen Seri papers, 1939 – 2006MS 25 ; ASM Acc. 2000-259 and Acc. 2000-320 Biographical NoteRalph Copeland Michelsen (b.1913-d.1996) was an ethnologist whose work centered in Southern California and Baja. He began spending time with the local indigenous people of Baja California in the 1950s while he resided there for a mining job. This began a life-long connection with the area and its people. Dr. Michelsen was a general contractor until the age of 55 when he enrolled in the University of California at Irvine. Because of his extensive avocational fieldwork in the Southwest and Mexico, he began teaching classes at Irvine while working towards his PhD, which he received in 1991. He was widely traveled throughout the Southwest and Mexico and was fluent in Spanish. His wife and daughter characterize his field style as “very casual and non-confrontational”. He didn’t ask a series of questions; rather, he engaged in conversation and obliquely solicited information. His principle areas of fieldwork were in Desemboque among the Seri, in Santa Catarina among the Paipai, and among the Luiseno of San Diego County, California. Much of Michelsen’s published work is on the Paipai and Kiliwa cultures. Michelsen’s fieldwork among the Seri is just as extensive as that of the other populations he studied, but the work was never published. Scope and ContentThis collection consists of materials from Ralph Michelsen’s papers relating to the Seri Indians. It includes several manuscripts, research notes, publications, photographs and correspondence and collaborative notes with Edward Moser. Much of the material is documentation of Seri basket making, particularly in Desemboque. A small collection of photographs depicts ironwood carving. The archives collection contains photocopied reproductions of photographs now located in the Photo Collections of the Arizona State Museum. RestrictionsConditions Governing AccessPhotographs dealing with sensitive cultural subjects may not be copied or reproduced without approval of ASM staff. Access to specific information about the nature and location of archaeological resources may be restricted pursuant to the United States Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (ARPA) and Arizona Revised Statues, Title 39-125. ARPA includes a specific exemption from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requirements for information about the nature and location of archaeological resources (16 U.S. Code 470hh: Confidentiality of information concerning the nature and location of archaeological resources). Conditions Governing Use
Requests to reproduce photographs in this collection should be discussed with the ASM Photo Collections Curator. Controlled Access TermsPersonal Name(s) Michelsen, Ralph C. Moser, Edward W. Subject(s) Indian wood-carving--Mexico Paipai Indians Seri Indians Administrative InformationRelated MaterialsNon-Seri materials in the Michelsen papers as inventoried by Susan Lobo in 2004 were transferred to the Rupert Costo Library of the American Indian, Special Collections, in the Rivera Library of the University of California Riverside campus. These are described in a 49-page finding aid in folder number one of the ASM collection. Preferred Citation
MS 25: Ralph Michelsen Seri Papers, Arizona State Museum Library and Archives. Container List
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