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Southwest Folklore Center Pre-1980 Sound Disc Collection, 1931-1964

MS 613

Historical Note

Members of the University of Arizona Folklore Committee began collecting sound recordings in the 1940s which documented folklore traditions in the Southwestern United States and Mexico. Committee members most active in recording were Vicente S. Acosta (1918-1983), Frances Gillmor (1903-1993), and Byrd Howell Granger (1912-1991).

Vicente S. Acosta was a longtime member of the University's Folklore Committee and contributor to the committee’s archive of Southwest folklore materials. His 1951 master's thesis, Some Surviving Elements of Spanish Folklore in Arizona, is considered a definitive work on the subject. A Spanish teacher at Rincon High School in Tucson, Arizona, Acosta continued to collect folklore materials throughout his career.

Frances Gillmor, an English professor at the University of Arizona, spent much of her research time collecting traditional dance dramas of Mexico. Dr. Gillmor established the Folklore Center in 1942, and served as Chairman of the Southwest Folklore Committee from 1942-1972.

Byrd Howell Granger, a professor at the University of Arizona and Chair of the Folklore Committee, 1972-1978, is best known for her revision of Will C. Barnes' Arizona Place Names, published in 1960, and Arizona's Names: X Marks the Place published in 1983. Dr. Granger was also involved in systematically collecting documentation of Arizona folk customs and beliefs.

During the 1940s and 1950s, Acosta, Granger and Gillmor, assisted by Doris Seibold, a teacher from Patagonia, Arizona, interviewed local people and recorded various types of music and oral histories using the KUAT studios at the University of Arizona. These recordings were made on 78 rpm sound discs which were used in the teaching of folklore classes at the University. Examples of international and American folk music were collected through purchase and donation. Many of the commercial recordings in this series were produced by the Library of Congress Division of Music Recording Laboratory and Folkways Records and Service Corporation of New York City. Prison songs, labor union songs, sea songs, and Mormon pioneer songs are examples of American folk music included in this series. Noted performers include Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Leadbelly. The pre-1980 sound discs were later duplicated onto tape reels. The original sound discs and the tape reels are located in the University of Arizona Library Special Collections.

Scope and Content Note

All items in this collection were acquired by the University of Arizona Folklore Committee and its successor body, the University of Arizona Southwest Folklore Center before 1980. Sound discs in this collection contain commercial and non-commercial recordings of oral history interviews and examples of local, national, and international folk music. The majority of these sound discs contain interviews and music collected in Southern Arizona by Vicente S. Acosta, Byrd Howell Granger, Frances

Gillmor, and Doris Seibold. These recordings include regional music including Mormon hymns, cowboy songs, Mexican music and corridos, Native American music, fiddle and banjo tunes. The recorded interviews concern family life and traditions, home remedies, Native American languages and Tucson slang, as well as oral histories of the participants. Sound discs acquired by the Southwest Folklore Center after 1980 are available in collection MS 614.

72 commercial recordings were obtained through the Library of Congress Division of Music Laboratory, recorded by John and Alan Lomax. Prison songs, labor union songs, sea songs, and American folk songs from the 1930s and 1940s are included in these recordings.

63 sound discs containing international and national folk songs and music were collected commercially from the Folkway Record and Service Corporation of New York City. Published primarily in the 1950s, some recordings contain music performed by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Cisco Houston, and Leadbelly.

A listing of individual items in this collection is available at the end of this document.

Arrangement

Restrictions

Restrictions

Researchers must use cassette tape copies of all sound discs or tape reels when they are available. An item level listing of all sound discs in the collection is available in the University of Arizona Library Special Collections. Tape reel duplicates of the sound discs are numbered to correspond to the call numbers of the sound discs themselves.

Copyright

It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the University of Arizona, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.

Access Terms

Administrative Information

Credit Line

Southwest Folklore Center Pre-1980 Sound Disc Collection, 1931-1964 (MS 613). Special Collections, University of Arizona Libraries.

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