Southwest Folklore Archive folk drama collection

Frances Gillmor (1903-1993) was the first Chair of the University of Arizona Folklore Committee, serving from 1945 to her retirement in 1972. During this time, Gillmor founded the Southwset Folklore Archives. A novelist and a professor of English at the University of Arizona, Gillmor also held an M.A. in English from the University of Arizona (1931). Her studies in Mexican folklore and cultural anthropology subsequently led her to complete a Doctora en Letras at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (1957).

Gillmor's diverse interests and research led her around the world. One particular area of Gillmor's interest was the traditional dance dramas of Mexico, a subject upon which she published several studies. In 1959, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship to study folk drama at village fiestas in Spain, for comparison with those of Mexico. Many of the transcripts that she collected have been included in this collection.

Juan B. Rael was a fellow scholar and colleague of Frances Gillmor, who shared her interest in Mexican folk drama. Rael collected material for his book, The Sources and Diffusion of the Mexican Shepherds' Plays, published in 1965. These materials are unpublished texts or versions, in manuscript or typescript form, collected on field trips to Mexico and the southwestern United States. The original manuscripts are now housed in the Stanford University Library. These copies were sent unsolicited to Dr. Gillmor in 1967, when they were added to the collection.