Research materials related to the Baja California studies of geographer Peveril Meigs,III. Meigs conducted field research in northern Baja California, Mexico, between 1925 and1936 observing geology, climate, indigenous populations, mission sites, and local culturein preparation for his 1932 doctoral dissertation entitled "The Dominican Missions ofLower California" and his ethnographic monograph entitled THE KILIWA INDIANS OF LOWERCALIFORNIA (1939). The collection contains journals with daily observations of people,the natural environment and historical sites; photograph albums with black-and-whiteimages described in his journals; and hand drawn maps, particularly of the area aroundArroyo Leon. Also included are notes and typescripts on his fieldwork and publishedsources on Baja California and Dominican mission history; published maps; annotatedpublications; and correspondence with his dissertation advisor, Dr. Carl Sauer, and othernotable scholars including ethnographer A.L. Kroeber, geographer Homer Aschmann, andhistorian Peter Gerhard. Of interest is Meigs's translation, from Spanish into English,of Dominican padre Luis de Sales's "Noticias de la Provincia de Californias en TresCartas." Also included are notes and data compiled in the 1950s on Baja California'sclimate history and several papers by Meigs on peninsular Indian culture written in the1970s. The collection does not contain material related to Meigs's research on other ariddeserts or tide mills. The research materials are arranged in eight series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) WRITINGS BYMEIGS, 3) WRITINGS BY OTHERS, 4) JOURNALS, 5) PHOTOGRAPHS, 6) MAPS, 7) MISCELLANEOUSMATERIALS, and 8) ORIGINALS OF PRESERVATION PHOTOCOPIES.
