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By Chloe Attrell
Collection Overview
Title: Muriel "Miki" Crespi Papers, 1929-2004
ID: 26/20/280
Primary Creator: Muriel "Miki" Crespi (1929-2003)
Extent: 14.4 cubic feet
Arrangement:
Series 1: Academic Course Work, 1955-1968 (Volume: 0.4 cubic foot)
Series 2: Ecuador Fieldwork and Research, 1911-1979 (Volume: 5.6 cubic feet). Divided into 6 sub-series.
Series 2 Subseries 1: Correspondence, 1963-1976 (Volume: 0.2 cubic foot)
Series 2 Subseries 2: Dissertation Materials, 1962-1969 (Volume: 0.4 cubic foot)
Series 2 Subseries 3: Field Notes and Fieldwork Materials, 1962-1979 (Volume: 3.3 cubic feet)
Series 2 Subseries 4: Newspapers and News Clippings, 1962-1979 (Volume: 0.4 cubic foot)
Series 2 Subseries 5: Primary Sources, 1911-1978 (Volume: 0.8 cubic foot)
Series 2 Subseries 6: Research Notes and Wrting Drafts, 1962-1977 (Volume: 0.5 cubic foot)
Series 3: Postdoctoral Career, 1969-2004 (Volume: 1.3 cubic feet). Divided into 6 sub-series.
Series 3 Sub-Series 1: Correspondence, 1972-1983 (Volume: 0.1 cubic foot)
Series 3 Sub-Series 2: Postdoctoral Projects and Research: Ecuador, 1969-1989 (Volume: 0.3 cubic foot)
Series 3 Sub-Series 3: Postdoctoral Projects and Research: Portuguese-Speaking Immigrant Communities and Bilingual Education in New England, 1975-1982 (Volume: 0.4 cubic foot)
Series 3 Sub-Series 4: Publications and Presented Papers, 1971-2001 (Volume: 0.2 cubic foot)
Series 3 Sub-Series 5: Teaching, 1969-1977 (0.2 cubic foot)
Series 3 Sub-Series 6: The National Parks Service, 1982-1983; 2003-2004 (Volume: 0.1 cubic foot)
Series 4: Photographs and Slides, 1962-1979 (Volume: 0.7 cubic foot)
Series 5: Anthropology Book Collection, 1932-1990 (Volume: 4 cubic feet)
Series 6: Audiovisual Materials (Volume: 1.4 cubic feet)
Series 7: Maps (Volume: 1 cubic foot)
Date Acquired: 04/25/2025
Subjects: Alumni, American Anthropological Association, Anthropology, Dissertations, Ecuador, Ecuador - Agriculture and Natural Resources, Ecuador - Education, Ecuador - Religion and Sociology, Ethnography, Indigenous Peoples, Latin American Agriculture
Languages: English, Quechua, Spanish;Castilian
Scope and Contents of the Materials
Papers of Muriel 'Miki" Crespi (née Kaminsky; 1929-2003). Contains: correspondence; ethnographic fieldwork materials (including: field notes; audiovisual recordings; photographs, proofs, and transparencies; data tables; and collected primary source materials); grant applications and funding reports; maps; published and unpublished academic papers; notebooks and academic papers from her undergraduate and graduate studies; and reports and evaluations for academic institutes and government agencies.
Crespi received her Ph.D in Anthropology from the University of Illinois -- Urbana-Champaign in 1968. For her dissertation, she researched traditional hacienda systems in Ecuador. She continued to conduct postdoctoral research in Ecuador with funding from the City College of New York (1969), the National Institute of Mental Health (1970), and a Fulbright-Hays Lectureship Award (1977). Her fieldwork materials created for her research in Ecuador document: agrarian data; conversations with Ecuadorian laborers and landowners; cultural and religious festivities; the impact of and reactions to agrarian reforms in Ecuador beginning in 1964, and the role of women in politics and agriculture in this period; genealogical data; and Ecuadorian's conceptions of race and ethnicity. Contents related to her work in Ecuador additionally include: her dissertation (including earlier drafts); audiovisual recordings; photographic materials; Ecuadorian newspapers and publications; and research proposals. The collection additionally contains select books from Crespi's personal library related to anthropology and the history of Latin America and Indigenous Peoples.
Before she started working for the National Parks Service in 1981, Crespi taught and researched for Hunter College (CUNY), the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Brown University. During this time, she conducted ethnographic research about immigrants from the Azores in the New England region, and taught them citizenship courses. She additionally assessed and wrote curricula for bilingual education programs for colleges in Rhode Island and New Jersey. Contents related to these activities include: instruction materials and course syllabi; institutional reports and evaluations; grant applications and funding reports; and published and presented papers, as well as unpublished papers.
Collection Historical Note
Muriel “Miki” Crespi (née Kaminsky, 1929-2003) was an anthropologist (B.A., CUNY, 1959; M.A. Columbia University, 1962; Ph.D University of Illinois, 1968) who was born in New York, and renowned for her contributions to the National Parks Service as the first Chief Ethnographer of the NPS Ethnography Program from 1981-2003 (now known as the NPS Cultural Anthropology Program). From the National Parks Service web page about Crespi: “The NPS Cultural Anthropology program, originally known as the Ethnography program, was established in 1981 by Muriel "Miki" Crespi (1929-2003). Dr. Crespi completed her undergraduate studies at Columbia and received a Ph.D. in anthropology from Illinois University. In 1981, after spending time in academia at Hunter College, Wisconsin, and Brown, she was hired by the NPS to complete a Native American relationships policy and to design and initiate an applied anthropology program. Dr. Crespi's consistent focus was on contemporary peoples and traditional communities associated with NPS' cultural and natural resources…Dr. Crespi was instrumental in finalizing the first NPS Native American relations policy in 1987. With assistance from NPS leaders and professional academic associations, Dr. Crespi was fundamental to the process of acquiring funding in 1991 to hire cultural anthropologists in regional offices.” (The National Parks Service. “Muriel ‘Miki' Crespi & the NPS Ethnography Program,” March 30, 2016.
Biographical Note
Muriel “Miki” Crespi (née Kaminsky, 1929-2003) was an anthropologist (B.A., CUNY, 1959; M.A. Columbia University, 1962; Ph.D University of Illinois, 1968) who was born in New York, and renowned for her contributions to the National Parks Service as the first Chief Ethnographer of the NPS Ethnography Program from 1981-2003 (now known as the NPS Cultural Anthropology Program). From the National Parks Service web page about Crespi: “The NPS Cultural Anthropology program, originally known as the Ethnography program, was established in 1981 by Muriel "Miki" Crespi (1929-2003). Dr. Crespi completed her undergraduate studies at Columbia and received a Ph.D. in anthropology from Illinois University. In 1981, after spending time in academia at Hunter College, Wisconsin, and Brown, she was hired by the NPS to complete a Native American relationships policy and to design and initiate an applied anthropology program. Dr. Crespi's consistent focus was on contemporary peoples and traditional communities associated with NPS' cultural and natural resources…Dr. Crespi was instrumental in finalizing the first NPS Native American relations policy in 1987. With assistance from NPS leaders and professional academic associations, Dr. Crespi was fundamental to the process of acquiring funding in 1991 to hire cultural anthropologists in regional offices.” (The National Parks Service. “Muriel ‘Miki Crespi & the NPS Ethnography Program,” March 30, 2016. https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1209/crespi.htm)
Subject/Index Terms
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Academic Course Work, 1955-1968],
[
Series 2: Ecuador Fieldwork and Research, 1911-1979],
[
Series 3: Postdoctoral Career, 1969-2004],
[Series 4: Photographs and Slides, 1962-1979],
[
Series 5],
[
Series 6: Audiovisual Materials],
[
Series 7: Oversize: Maps and Poster],
[
All]
- Series 4: Photographs and Slides, 1962-1979
- This series contains photographs, photo proofs, negatives, and color slides Crespi created and collected while travelling. Many of these photographic materials were captured in Ecuador during her dissertation and postdoctoral research, as well as other Latin American and Hispanic regions Crespi visited for research, personal reasons, or while in transit to other places. Locations depicted include multiple regions in Ecuador; Spain; Portugal; Aruba; Colombia; Venezuela; Peru; and Mexico. Arranged alphabetically.
- Box 8
- Folder 14: Photographs: Ecuador (40 black and white), 1962
- Folder 15: Photographs: Ecuador (28 black and white), ca. 1964-1977
- Folder 16: Photographs: Ecuador (16 black and white), ca. 1964-1977
- Folder 17: Photographs: Ecuador (24 black and white), ca. 1968-1969
- Folder 18: Photographs: Ecuador (45 black and white, 2 color), ca. 1971
- Folder 19: Photographs: Ecuador (11 color), ca. 1972
- Folder 20: Photographs: Ecuador - Agriculture, Landscapes, Weavers, and Workers (138 black and white), 1964-1965
- Folder 21: Photographs: Ecuador Maps and Aerial Shots, ca. 1977
- Folder 22: Photographs: San Andres (12 color, 7 black and white), 1961
- Folder 23: Photographs and Negatives: Ecuador (27 color, 31 black and white), ca. 1964-1977
- Folder 24: Photographs and Negatives: Ecuador Commerical Harvest and Threshing, Hacienda House, and Landscape (35 black and white), ca. 1964-1977
- Folder 25: Photograph Negatives and Proofs: Ecuador, ca. 1964-1977
- Folder 26: Photograph Negatives and Proofs: Ecuador, 1968
- Folder 27: Photograph Negatives and Proofs: Rhode Island in Winter, ca. 1978
- Folder 28: Photographs, Proofs, and Negatives: Ecuador (27 black and white), ca. 1964-1977
- Folder 29: Photographs, Proofs, and Negatives: Ecuador (15 black and white), ca. 1964-1977
- Folder 30: Photographs, Proofs, and Negatives: Pottery, 1969
- Folder 31: Slides: Aruba - Summer Research Session (31), 1969
- Crespi's note: "I ran the awful summer session of the Aruba Research [?]. Students 'shooting' up - pot heads - lazy - want to snorkle and party not do Anthro. Beaches - great."
- Folder 32: Slides: Colombia - Bogotá (13), 1968
- Crespi's note: "Stopped off en route from Ecuador to U.S."
- Folder 33: Slides: Ecuador, 1 of 3 (160), ca. 1964-1979
- Uncategorized
- Folder 34: Slides: Ecuador, 2 of 3 (140), ca. 1964-1979
- Uncategorized
- Folder 35: Slides: Ecuador, 3 of 3 (140), ca. 1964-1979
- Uncategorized
- Folder 36: Slides: Ecuador - Aerial Views of Chimborazo (12), 1979
- Folder 37: Slides: Ecuador - Architecture (14), 1977
- Folder 38: Slides: Ecuador - Cadena Family and Home (19), 1979
- Folder 39: Slides: Ecuador - Cayambe, Olmedo, Pesillo, and Pueblo (70), ca. 1964-1972
- Folder 40: Slides: Ecuador - Chimborazo and San Francisco (26), 1968
- Folder 41: Slides: Ecuador - Coast, Santo Domingo and Chota (19), 1964
- Folder 42: Slides: Ecuador - Cofanes, Shushufindi, and Lago Agrio (24), 1977
- Crespi's note: "Vistited IERAC coop. at Shushufindi, flying into Lago Agrio on oil company plane. Took canoe into Cofane territory. Missionary flew into village - returning 'home' from Quito."
- Folder 43: Slides: Ecuador - Cuenca (16), 1964, 1968
- Folder 44: Slides: Ecuador - Cuenca Tye-dying and Weaving (19), 1977
- Folder 45: Slides: Ecuador - Guaslan (39), 1968
- Crespi's note: "2 Indians from each of the following: Pesillo, Otavalo, Salasaca, Saraguro, [?], San Francisco. J.B. Casagrande, Art Piper, Linda and Jim Belote, Kathy Klump, me. Studying inter-ethnic relations, ethnic identity, and economic base."
- Folder 46: Slides: Ecuador - Ibarra (20), Undated
- Folder 47: Slides: Ecuador - La Magdalena and Angochagua (30), 1977
- Folder 48: Slides: Ecuador - La Merced (11), 1977
- Folder 49: Slides: Ecuador - Marigold Production (16), 1977
- Crespi's note: "Procuding marigolds to make orange coloring for Perdue chickens in U.S. market. Mexico also produced the coloring from marigolds to satisfy Mr. Purdue. Market research shows U.S. consumers think orange chickens are healthier."
- Folder 50: Slides: Ecuador - Museo del Banco Central del Ecuador, Quito (20), 1972
- Folder 51: Slides: Ecuador - Olmedo (38), 1977
- Folder 52: Slides: Ecuador - Otavalo (13), 1977
- Folder 53: Slides: Ecuador - Otavalo and Ibarra (49), ca. 1964-1977
- Folder 54: Slides: Ecuador - Pesillo (46), 1972
- Folder 55: Slides: Ecuador - Pesillo (40), 1977
- Folder 56: Slides: Ecuador - Pesillo (9), 1979
- Folder 57: Slides: Ecuador - Quito (20), 1964-1968
- Folder 58: Slides: Ecuador - San Juan Fiesta at Pesillo and Olmedo (20), 1972
- Folder 59: Slides: Ecuador - Saraguro (16), 1979
- Folder 60: Slides: Ecuador - Zuleta (19), 1964-1966
- Folder 61: Slides: Ecuador - Zuleta San Juan (55), 1977
- Crespi's note: "Galo Plaza invited me and Ivon Cruz to spend San Juan at the hacienda. Ivon was in my course at Catolica and I said he could accompany me to Pesillo to foto the events."
- Folder 62: Slides: Mexico (58), 1985
- Folder 63: Slides: Mexico - Oscar Lewis Summer Field School (12), 1961
- Crespi's note: "Oscar Lewis ran a summer field school in and around Tepotzlan. Janet [?] and son, and Phil Young lived in lovely houses in Tepotzlan. Tom Tirado and I were down in San Andres - no roads, no water or elec. Good people and interesting summer - learned much!"
- Folder 64: Slides: Peru - Cusco, Machu Picchu (39), 1970
- Crespi's note: "Following the Lima meeting of the Americanists conference I went to the highlands, along with Hugo Burgos and others, then returned to Ecuador. Gave paper on peasant unions at haciendas!"
- Folder 65: Slides: Portugal - Lisbon (17), 1971
- Crespi's note: "Norris and I stopped in gloomy Portugal en route to U.S."
- Folder 66: Slides: "Social Race - Slides of Photos Used to Test Perceptions of Ethnic Group Membership" (26), 1968
- Folder 67: Slides: Spain - Barcelona, Madrid, and Toledo (45), 1971
- Crespi's note: "Summer trip with Norris Lang."
- Folder 68: Slides: Venezuela - Caracas (19), 1969
- Crespi's note: "Flew from Aruba for a few days with Fran Burton when I was running the Hunter College Aruba research facility and Fran was an instructor there."
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Academic Course Work, 1955-1968],
[
Series 2: Ecuador Fieldwork and Research, 1911-1979],
[
Series 3: Postdoctoral Career, 1969-2004],
[Series 4: Photographs and Slides, 1962-1979],
[
Series 5],
[
Series 6: Audiovisual Materials],
[
Series 7: Oversize: Maps and Poster],
[
All]
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