James B. Wright Collection of Southwestern Native American and Hispanic Music, Interviews and Literary Programs
Collection
Identifier: MSS-829-BC
Scope and Content
James B. Wright collected a variety of sound recordings reflecting the vocal and instrumental music, literature, folklore and culture of New Mexico and the Southwest in the 1970s and 1980s. He recorded events in Albuquerque, Corrales, Mescalero, Truth or Consequences, La Joya, Tortugas and Tsaile. He captured Native American pow wow drummers and dancers, Native poets, singers, Indian activists and elders who were interviewed during these times. The collection contains discussions of Native American local history, customs, prayers and creation beliefs. The recordings also document views of Native Americans about Christianity, child raising, culture and language preservation, the Custer battle, Wounded Knee, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the American Indian Movement (AIM), the Navajo Long Walk, the Hopi Navajo Land Dispute, conditions for Native Americans in Gallup, the importance of the Navajo Community College and the Institute of American Indian Art (Santa Fe), the student movement, Native views of the 1976 Bicentennial, the Vietnam War, the U.S. military, tips on surviving in the White world and other issues affecting them. Performers gave their rendition of popular music of the time and writers discussed Southwestern literary pieces, the poet’s place in the region and nation, and problems of writing and publishing. Navajo Indians as well as the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, the Pueblos Indians, and Zuni Pueblo in particular, the Hopi and the Kiowa of Oklahoma are represented in the collection. Performers include Harold Littlebird, Leonard Bird, Philip Casadore, Joy Harjo, Milford Nahohai, Carol Merril, Simon J. Oritz, Floyd Westerman and Carl Gorman.
The collection also contains recordings of work by Southwest Hispanic, Mexican American and Chicano singers, poets, and writers, in Spanish and English, from the Sol y Sangre series held at the University of New Mexico and at the Los Griegos Community Center. Views and comments by professors and students pertain to the meaning of being Hispano, Chicano, and New Mexican, on Aztlán, women writers, life in the barrio, La Llorona, political poetry, the Chicano Movement, LULAC, the Vietnam War, the Bicentennial, the United Farm Workers Union and the influence of American society on Hispanic and Chicano culture, life and literature. Literary figures include José Armas, Angela de Hoyos, Naphtali de Leon, Francisco A. Lomeli, Jose Montoya, Orlando Romero, Leroy Quintana, E. A. Mares, Sergio Elizondo and Jaime Chavez. Some of the Native Americans also performed at the Sol y Sangre events.
The collection also includes a demonstration on singing and playing Southwest folk music; recordings of traditional Spanish folk songs; interviews with New Mexico Hispanic women about their lives in the early half of the 20th century and at the San Felipe de Neri Church parish; the Christmas plays of Las Posadas and Los Pastores, and Matachines dances and music from the Hispanic Tortuga Indians of southern New Mexico. There is also a performance by the UNM Early Music Ensemble of Medieval Spanish music from the 1300s – 1600s and songs from the various regions of Spain; a Catholic Church Spanish mass and fiesta music from La Joya, New Mexico, and songs from the San Ignacio Fiesta in Albuquerque. Other highlights are a recorded lecture by John Donald Robb explaining how he used his collection of New Mexico folk music in his own compositions; a musical drama about the history of Corrales, New Mexico; old time country fiddle, cowboy and ragtime songs and background stories by Steve Cormier; and Southeast Asian music from Laos performed by members of the Laotian community of Albuquerque.
Programs, flyers and notes from a few of these performances are in Box 3.
The collection also contains recordings of work by Southwest Hispanic, Mexican American and Chicano singers, poets, and writers, in Spanish and English, from the Sol y Sangre series held at the University of New Mexico and at the Los Griegos Community Center. Views and comments by professors and students pertain to the meaning of being Hispano, Chicano, and New Mexican, on Aztlán, women writers, life in the barrio, La Llorona, political poetry, the Chicano Movement, LULAC, the Vietnam War, the Bicentennial, the United Farm Workers Union and the influence of American society on Hispanic and Chicano culture, life and literature. Literary figures include José Armas, Angela de Hoyos, Naphtali de Leon, Francisco A. Lomeli, Jose Montoya, Orlando Romero, Leroy Quintana, E. A. Mares, Sergio Elizondo and Jaime Chavez. Some of the Native Americans also performed at the Sol y Sangre events.
The collection also includes a demonstration on singing and playing Southwest folk music; recordings of traditional Spanish folk songs; interviews with New Mexico Hispanic women about their lives in the early half of the 20th century and at the San Felipe de Neri Church parish; the Christmas plays of Las Posadas and Los Pastores, and Matachines dances and music from the Hispanic Tortuga Indians of southern New Mexico. There is also a performance by the UNM Early Music Ensemble of Medieval Spanish music from the 1300s – 1600s and songs from the various regions of Spain; a Catholic Church Spanish mass and fiesta music from La Joya, New Mexico, and songs from the San Ignacio Fiesta in Albuquerque. Other highlights are a recorded lecture by John Donald Robb explaining how he used his collection of New Mexico folk music in his own compositions; a musical drama about the history of Corrales, New Mexico; old time country fiddle, cowboy and ragtime songs and background stories by Steve Cormier; and Southeast Asian music from Laos performed by members of the Laotian community of Albuquerque.
Programs, flyers and notes from a few of these performances are in Box 3.
Dates
- 1973-1986
Language of Materials
English Spanish Navajo Laotian
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Copy Restrictions
Copyrights held by the performers, interviewees, poets and composers. Limited duplication of CSWR material is allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for compliance with all copyright, privacy, and libel laws. Permission is required for publication or distribution.
Biography / History
In the 1970s and 1980s James Wright was an influential figure in the continuation and organization of the Archive of Southwestern Music in the Fine Arts Library at UNM. The beginning and core of the Archive were the folk music recordings, compositions and papers that John Donald Robb had donated to the UNM Fine Arts Library upon his retirement in 1957. The Archive of Southwestern Music, by name, was actually established in 1964 by Donald L. Roberts to preserve Robb’s collection, gather additional material and thereby preserve the musical heritage of New Mexico and the Southwest. Roberts was the Head of the Fine Arts Library and the Southwest Archive’s first part - time unfunded director. In September 1971 James Wright joined UNM as the Assistant Fine Arts Librarian. Wright received his Bachelors of Music Education and Masters of Library Science from the University of Oregon. He had been a public school music teacher in Oregon.
Once at UNM, Wright recognized the importance of the Archive of Southwestern Music. He and another music librarian, Charlemaud Curtis, began collecting more field recordings in the early 1970s, using a Nagra recorder and later a R-DAT device as the technology advanced. Wright saw the need for a full time archivist for the UNM Archive of Southwestern Music and for funds to cover traveling, recording and processing. In 1981, at a ceremony held in Keller Hall, UNM celebrated the renaming of the Archive of Southwestern Music in honor of John Donald Robb. Wright was given the title of Director of the Robb Archive of Southwestern Music and Charlemaud Curtis became the Associate Director of the Robb Archive, but no funding was included. Wright and Curtis continued to make recordings. They were the last to do field work for the Archive. Wright taped the rich variety of local Southwestern cultural events portrayed in this collection. (See also Charlemaud Curtis Collection) Additionally, during his time at UNM, Wright taught courses on the Music of the Southwest.
The John Donald Robb Musical Trust was established in 1989 to disseminate Robb's own body of music. The Robb Archive collections were transferred from the Fine Arts Library to the Center for Southwest Research in the early 1990s.
Once at UNM, Wright recognized the importance of the Archive of Southwestern Music. He and another music librarian, Charlemaud Curtis, began collecting more field recordings in the early 1970s, using a Nagra recorder and later a R-DAT device as the technology advanced. Wright saw the need for a full time archivist for the UNM Archive of Southwestern Music and for funds to cover traveling, recording and processing. In 1981, at a ceremony held in Keller Hall, UNM celebrated the renaming of the Archive of Southwestern Music in honor of John Donald Robb. Wright was given the title of Director of the Robb Archive of Southwestern Music and Charlemaud Curtis became the Associate Director of the Robb Archive, but no funding was included. Wright and Curtis continued to make recordings. They were the last to do field work for the Archive. Wright taped the rich variety of local Southwestern cultural events portrayed in this collection. (See also Charlemaud Curtis Collection) Additionally, during his time at UNM, Wright taught courses on the Music of the Southwest.
The John Donald Robb Musical Trust was established in 1989 to disseminate Robb's own body of music. The Robb Archive collections were transferred from the Fine Arts Library to the Center for Southwest Research in the early 1990s.
Extent
3 boxes (.66 cu. ft)
Abstract
This broad collection contains traditional Southwestern Native American and Hispanic folk music, and popular music, dances, poetry readings and interviews collected in the 1970s and 1980s. Also included are Spanish medieval music, a Belen Los Pastores presentation, Matachines music from Tortugas, a Corrales history pageant, Anglo American country western songs and fiddle tunes, Laotian songs from Albuquerque, and a lecture by John Donald Robb.
Separated Material
Original reels and master CDs housed in B3.
Processing Information
There is no CD 3.
- American literature - Hispanic American authors
- American literature - Indian authors
- Christmas plays, Spanish -- New Mexico
- Church music -- Catholic Church
- Country music
- Cowboys - Songs and music
- Fiddle tunes
- Folk music - New Mexico
- Folklore – New Mexico
- Hispanic Americans - Southwest, New - Folklore
- Hispanic Americans - Southwest, New - Music
- Hispanic Americans - Southwest, New - Poetry
- Indian activists
- Indian dance - North America
- Indians of North America - Southwest, New - Folklore
- Indians of North America|zSouthwest, New|vMusic
- Indians of North America|zSouthwest, New|vPoetry
- Matachines (Music)
- Music - Laos
- Music – New Mexico
- Old-time music
- Oral histories
- Ortiz, Simon J., 1941-
- Pastores
- Powwows
- Ragtime music
- Robb, J. D. (John Donald), 1892-1989
- Songs, Spanish
- Westerman, Floyd Red Crow, 1936-2007
- Title
- Finding Aid of the James B. Wright Collection of Southwestern Native American and Hispanic Music, Interviews and Literary Programs, 1973-1986
- Status
- Edited Full Draft
- Author
- Nancy Brown-Martinez and Andrew Saletta
- Date
- © 2010
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is in English
- Sponsor
- Funding provided by: John Donald Robb Musical Trust
Revision Statements
- Monday, 20210524: Attribute normal is missing or blank.
Repository Details
Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository
Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu