The Richard I. Ford Papers document the professional and personal life of one of the country's most prominent paleoethnobotanists, curator and former director of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, and longtime University of Michigan professor of Anthropology and Botany. The records in this collection measure 27 linear feet, and date from 1968 to 2005, with the majority of the records from the period 1970 to 1990. The Ford papers are primarily comprised of correspondence, legal filings and consulting materials, lectures and conference presentations, publications, committee and service records, administrative materials, teaching files, and mixed media. The records are arranged into seven series: Correspondence, Legal Consultations, Professional Service and Activities, Teaching, University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, Audio-Visual Materials, and Research, Publications, and Projects.
Richard Irving Ford was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on June 27, 1941, and raised in Livingston, New Jersey. He earned his bachelor's degree with high honors in anthropology from Oberlin College in 1963. Ford then attended the University of Michigan for graduate work in anthropology (MA, 1965, PhD, 1968), where he worked with influential American anthropologist James B. Griffin, and studied ethnobotany under the guidance of distinguished ethnobotanist Volney H. Jones.
Ford began his academic career as an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati (1967-1968). Following his work there, Ford embarked upon a long and distinguished career at the University of Michigan in the anthropology and botany departments, where he worked from 1969 until his retirement in 2007. Ford began his career at Michigan as an assistant professor, was promoted to associate professor in 1972, and earned the rank of full professor in 1977. In addition to his dual teaching appointments, Ford served as a faculty associate at the Institute for the Humanities and the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Over the course of his career, Ford also served as a visiting professor at numerous other institutions, including Utah State University (1981); University of Washington (1986); Kunming Institute of Botany in Xishunghanna, China (1987), Southern Methodist University (1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1999); and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City, Mexico (1994).
At the University of Michigan, Ford worked outside the classroom as the curator of ethnology (1969-1978), assistant director (1972-1975) and director (1975-1983 and 2002-2005) of Michigan's Museum of Anthropology, chair of the Department of Anthropology (1989-1996), and associate dean for research and computing in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts (1987-1989). He also served on the executive committees of the university's Institute for Social Research (1991-1998), the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies (1992-1993), and the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project (2002-2006).
Ford was a member and office holder in numerous professional societies including the American Anthropological Association; the American Association of the Advancement of Science; the Society for American Archaeology, the Council on Michigan Archaeology; the Council for Museum Anthropology; the Society for Economic Botany, the Society of Ethnobiology; the International Society for Ethnobiology; and the Baca Institute of Ethnobotany. He also engaged in national service as a member of the National Science Foundation's Systematic Research Collections Panel; board member of the Archaeological Conservancy, Inc.; committee member on the National Anthropological Conservation Curriculum Committee for the National Institute for Conservation; advisory board member for the Herb Research Foundation and the American Association of Museum; and grant reviewer for the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Ford's research interests include ethnobotany from an ethnoecological perspective, paleoethnobotany, subsistence patterns, plant management techniques, origins of domesticated plants, prehistoric agricultural systems in Mexico and the Southwest United States, archaeology of the Archaic, and rock art. He engages in applied ethnobotany through work with various Indian Pueblo nations in the Southwest. As one of the preeminent ethnobotanists working today, Ford has contributed significantly to understandings of how native peoples in North American managed and utilized medicines, plants, foods, and cultural symbols.
Ford utilized his research in his work as an expert witness and consultant. He has assisted the Hopi Tribe in its water rights case (1987), served as an expert witness to the Zuni Pueblo in its land dispute (1983-1985), acted as a water rights consultant for the Taos Tribe (1997), and participated in the development of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). In addition, Ford as served on numerous committees and advisory panels including the Education Advisory Committee for the Pueblo; National Science Foundation Advisory Panel, and the Pew Higher Education Roundtable.
In addition to being known as an extraordinary researcher, teacher, and mentor, Ford's many honors include membership in the Sigma Xi Society (1972), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1996), and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society (1998). He was named a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1969) and in the American Anthropological Association (1969). Ford is the recipient of numerous awards including a Weatherhead Scholar from the School of American Research (1978); the Fryxell Award for Interdisciplinary Research from the Society for American Archaeology (1987), and the Janaki Ammal Medal from the Society of Ethnobiologists in India (1994). Ford's excellence in service, research, and teaching at the University of Michigan is demonstrated in his many university awards including the Distinguished Service Award (1971); Excellence in Education Award (1991, 1992, 1999); Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship for undergraduate teaching (1993-1996); Borman Faculty Award (2000); and as the speaker for the College of Literature, Science and the Arts' Distinguished Senior Faculty Lecture (2004-2005).
Following his retirement from the University of Michigan in 2007, Ford continued his work as a professional anthropologist, teaching ethnobotany and rock art in northern New Mexico, working on behalf of the Pueblos, and enjoying a research associate appointment at the Museum of New Mexico.
