Papers, 1947-1983, of Tucson, Arizona, Spanish teacher and
folklorist, Vicente Sanchez Acosta (1918-1983). Contains professional
correspondence, manuscripts and essays, research materials, and audio tapes
documenting Acosta's interests in the Spanish language, folk songs and folklore and
Southwestern United States and Mexican culture. This collection is part of the
Southwest Folklore Center collection. The Southwest Folklore Center was founded in
1979 after the dissolution of the University of Arizona Folklore Committee and
collected information about folk communities, arts, music, and other
humanities-related materials. This collection was previously SWF 006. The materials
were transferred to Special Collections in 2017.
Collection Number:
MS 612
Language:
Materials are in English and Spanish.
Repository:
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections
University of Arizona
PO Box 210055
Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
Phone: 520-621-6423
Fax: 520-621-9733
URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/
E-Mail: LBRY-askspcoll@email.arizona.edu
Biographical Note
Vicente S. Acosta was born in 1918. He taught Spanish and served as chair of the
Spanish department at Santa Rita High School in Tucson, Arizona. He developed an
interest in numerous elements of Southwestern folklore, such as folksongs, herbal
remedies, and the way the people of the region used the Spanish language in their
everyday speech and communication. Acosta received a B.A. degree from the University
of Arizona. He served as a member of the University's Folklore Committee in the1940s
and 1950s, and earned an M.A. degree from the University in 1951. Acosta continued
collecting folklore materials and conducting research throughout his career as a
teacher, focusing most of his collecting activities and investigations on folksongs
and corridos. Acosta died in 1983.
Scope and Content Note
The collection includes professional correspondence between Acosta and his colleagues
and informants on topics related to his interests in Spanish-language songs and song
forms, Spanish personal names and nicknames, and herbal remedies. Also included are
copies of Acosta's essays and presentations, as well as several drafts of his M.A.
thesis, one of which includes manuscript corrections. The collection also includes
audiotapes made by Acosta as he conducted his research. Some tapes include song
performances discussed in his master's thesis; others contain recordings of spoken
Spanish which he used in his research on the Spanish language and its spoken
characteristics. The final accepted version of Acosta's University of Arizona M.A.
thesis is located in the Main and Special Collections libraries, at call number E
9791 1951 1. This collection is part of the Southwest Folklore Center collection.
The Southwest Folklore Center was founded in 1979 after the dissolution of the
University of Arizona Folklore Committee and collected information about folk
communities, arts, music, and other humanities-related materials. This collection
was previously SWF 006. The materials were transferred to Special Collections in
2017.
Organization
This collection is arranged in the following four series: Chronological.
Chronological. Topical. Topical. Arranged in order of their appearance in the
book.
Requests for permission to publish from the collection should be discussed with the
coordinator of the University of Arizona Southwest Folklore Center or the University
of Arizona Manuscripts Librarian. It is the researcher's responsibility to obtain
the necessary publication rights and copyright clearances for any planned
publication.
Access Terms
Subject(s)
Corridos
Folk songs, Spanish -- Southwest, New
Folklore -- Mexico
Folklore -- Southwest, New
Folklorists -- Arizona -- Tucson -- Archives
Herbs -- Folklore
Herbs -- Therapeutic use
Names, Personal -- Arizona -- Tucson
Names, Spanish -- Arizona -- Tucson
Spanish language -- Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.
Professional
correspondence between Acosta and his colleagues and informants on topics
related to his interests in Spanish-language songs and song forms, Spanish
surnames, and herbal remedies.
Published and unpublished
papers, essays and talks given by Acosta on Spanish-language songs, ballads
and corridos, Spanish slang and word play, and herbal remedies and folklore.
Includes Spanish-English glossaries for medical and educational
vocabularies, early drafts of his works on Spanish surnames,
Ibero-American Roots of Tucson, Arizonaand Raices
Ibero-Americanas de Tucson, Arizona. Includes two drafts, one with
manuscript corrections, and a transcript of the field recordings of his
University of Arizona M.A. thesis, Some Surviving Aspects of Spanish
Folklore in Arizona. The transcript of tape recordings is dated
1962.
Arrangement
Chronological.
box
folder
1
2
Some Surviving Elements of Spanish Folklore in
Arizona, M.A. thesis draft with manuscript
corrections, 1950
1
3
Some Surviving Elements of Spanish Folklore in
Arizona, M.A. thesis draft; no title page;
incomplete, 1951
1
4
Some Surviving Elements of Spanish Folklore in
Arizona, transcript of recordings used in M.A. thesis
[?], 1962
1
5
The Spanish Ballad in Arizona History
, 1963
1
6
Hipocorísticos y sobrenombres
, ca. 1967
1
7-8
Some Remedies Collected from Oral Tradition and
Some Remedies Collected Through Herb Stores , 1967
1
9-10
Homenaje al Sr. Guadalupe Armenta
, 1972
1
11
A Dental Glossary: English-Spanish
, 1976
1
12
A Spanish-English Glossary of Educational
Terminology Used in Mexican Schools , 1978
1
13
Ibero-American roots of Tucson, Arizona
, 1978
1
14
Raices Ibero-Americanas de Tucson,
Arizona , ca. 1978
1
15
Origin and meaning of Ibero-American surnames in
Tucson, Arizona , 1983
1
16
Untitled essay on corridos, undated
1
17
Léxico fronterizo de Arizona
, undated
1
18
El romance español y el corrido mexicano
, undated
Research notes and
materials used by Acosta for his study of the Spanish language, Spanish
language and slang, and folklore, including herbal remedies.
Arrangement
Topical.
box
folder
1
19
"Vocabulario de la poesia Gauchesca ...",
1
20
Spanish word play,
1
21
Mexican proverbs; "refranes y dichos mexicanos",
1
22
"Algunos horrores de paulabrous spawniolas [sic]", 1978
1
23
Glossaries: baseball, "fraces y palabras parlamentarias,"
legal, 1980
1
24
Herbal remedies, 1966-1974
1
25-26
Dance directions, 1953-1956
1
27
Bibliographies,
1
28
Estudio paremiológico,
1
29
Miscellaneous folklore notes, 1950-1951
1
30
Notes for Ibero-American roots of Tucson,
Arizona , 1978
1
31
Notes for Hipocorísticos y
sobrenombres ,
1
32-34
Notes for Origin and meaning of
Ibero-American surnames in Tucson, Arizona ,
1
35
"Spanish folklore collection of Vincente [sic] Acosta, Tucson,
Arizona.",
1
36
La Llorona; la sirena,
1
37
Oversized illustration for Raices
Ibero-Americanas de Tucson, Arizona ,
box
folder
2
1
Romances,
2
2
"Revolution songs," and folksongs from my thesis; Paco Río,
etc.,
2
3
Lyrics for corridos, etc., 1977
2
4
Survival of Spanish folklore in Arizona; notes and transcripts of
corridos, 1947-1948
2
5
"Yo no me caso, compadre;" other folksongs,
2
6
Spanish-language song books, 1950s
2
7
Corridos por el Señor Torres, June 1978
2
8
Notecards with notes on the origins of Spanish
surnames,
Audio tape recordings of
interviews, field recordings, and recordings of Spanish songs used by Acosta
in his research on songs and the Spanish language. This series includes
Acosta's tape recordings used in the creation of his University of Arizona
M.A. thesis. Two sets of eleven tape reels are labeled as thesis tapes, both
with roman numeral designations. For purposes of arrangement, the folders
for the second series are identified with the roman numeral found on the
tape containers, followed by the letter "B" to designate them as the second
series.
Arrangement
Topical.
box
folder
3
1
"The Spanish Ballad in Arizona History: Songs of José Lisorio and
El Merino" (Paper submitted to the Arizona Historical
Association),
