Mary Lois Kissell

Working in the field of anthropology, Mary Lois Kissell is associated with research on Indigenous arts and material culture, especially basketry from the American Southwest. She is best known as the author of Basketry of the Papago and Pima, a study published in the Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History.

The available records connected with her work point to a scholarly, museum-based career focused on close description and documentation. Because easily accessible biographical details about her personal life are limited, it is safer to highlight her published research than to overstate details that are not well confirmed.

Her writing remains of interest to readers who care about anthropology, craft history, and the preservation of Native American artistic traditions.