Michael Vickery was born in 1931 in Billings, Montana, USA. His parents were both Americans from the western part of the US. From the age of 2 until the age of 10 he and his parents lived on a small town in Maine, USA, where he received primary and secondary schooling. In 1948 after finishing high school he went to the University of Washington in Seattle, state of Washington, where his major study was Russian language and history. In 1950, in the middle of his second university year at the University of Washington, he went to Sweden for 4-5 months with a folk dance group from the University of Washington. For the academic year (autumn and winter of 1950-51) Michael lived in Paris, France, studying French and continuing the study of Russian which he had begun at the University of Washington. Then he returned to finish his B.A. studies at the University of Washington, from which he graduated in 1952, with the rank magna sum laude.
In 1953, Michael received a Fulbright Fellowship to study for one year in Helsinki, Finland. Altogether two years was spent in Finland with the summer holiday in between in Skoplje, Macedonia, as well as Yugoslavia, where his position was exchange student from Finland working in an import-export office in Skoplje.
At that time there was compulsory military service in the US army and in late 1956 he had to return to the US to join the army for two years. He was pleased that the army sent him back to Germany, working in an office, until he finished his military service in late 1958. Then after traveling for a while in Europe he went to Turkey because he was interested in the country and taught English in high schools for two years, also learning to speak quite good Turkish.
In spite of spending so much time in Europe, he had always wished to see Asia, and at the end of 1958 he was hired by the US government to go to Cambodia as an English language teacher. After that Southeast Asia became his home and residence for many years, 1960-1964 in Cambodia, and 1964-1967 in Laos, with much time in Thailand. Then three years in the US preparing for Ph.D. studies (Ph.D. received 1977), return to Cambodia in 1970 until 1972, when he considered the political situation was becoming too dangerous. So beginning in 1973 he did not try again to live in Southeast Asia until after the Communist time in Cambodia ending in 1979. During those years his teaching work (teaching Southeast Asian history) has been in Malaysia and Australia, which has given him time for travel and study also in Cambodia, and Thailand, and several interesting trips to Vietnam during the years 2000-2012 to study the ancient monuments of Champa. Since 1979 has have also been able to visit Cambodia frequently.
The filedwork materials of Dr. Michael Vickery which include slides, printed photographs and negatives were taken from 1960-2002. Those photographs were including a photo from Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam etc. Many pictures were taken for his curiosity and pleasure, research as well as for his Ph.D. dessertation. The pictures were including ceremonies, daily events, festivals, cultural performances, archeological sites, temples, architectures, museums, and ethnic groups etc. However, many of curiousity pictures were taken when he had a vacation from school in Kompong Thom province, Cambodia, for example, pictures from Laos, Myanmar, and Indonesia.
