Clifton Kroeber

It is thanks to a researcher, Clifton Kroeber, that I located C. E. Kelsey’s descendants and obtained these family photos.

Clif wrote to the National Archives at San Bruno in 2000, inquiring about Kelsey’s records as part of his research on Ishi. Even though I wrote back and told him that the archives did not have what he sought, Clif stayed in touch, writing to me occasionally using his typewriter and US mail. At some point he kindly shared with me copies of several letters written in the early 1960s by Kelsey’s wife and daughter to Theodora Kroeber, which he found among the Theodora Kroeber Papers at the Bancroft Library. Clif recognized that the address on the letters might be a lead to the whereabouts of C. E. Kelsey’s papers. However, what caught my eye was daughter Mary’s mention of her son–Kelsey’s grandson–attending grad school at Stanford University.

Knowing how well my alumni association keeps up with my movements, I figured the Stanford Alumni Association would be equally sharp tracking Mary’s son. So I wrote a letter to this son, added a stamped, unaddressed envelope, and sent them with a cover letter to the Stanford Alumni Association. I asked the association to read my letter to Mary’s son, and if they were comfortable with it, forward it to him in the stamped envelope.

It worked. About two weeks later, I received a reply to my letter. It came from Kelsey’s granddaughter rather than his grandson, but that was just fine by me. It was from them that I learned that Kelsey’s papers had not survived. All that remained were some photographs and notebooks.