Donald Cordry Mexican Masks Collection
Scope and Contents Note
Manuscript, galley proofs, photographs, and slides relating to the publication of Cordry's book, Mexican Masks, and 67 masks from Cordry's personal collection, the result of his work to preserve and record Mexican masks and their significance. The original, edited manuscript comprises 455 typed pages and is accompanied by galley proofs. Photographic material, made up of 88 black and white photographs dating from 1931 to 1977, 201 color slides, and two negatives, depicts ceremonial Mexican folk masks, mask makers, and people wearing the masks. Most photographs are annotated. Assorted materials consist of a 1945 broadside promoting the Feria Regional de Corpus in Papantla, Veracruz, and a flat mask, “Tzotzil Zinacantan.”
Dates
- Creation: 1931-1978
Language of Materials
English.
Access Restrictions
Unrestricted.
Use Restrictions
Standard copyright restrictions apply. The Benson Latin American Collection controls the copyright of Mexican Masks
Biographical Sketch
Artist; self-taught Mesoamerican scholar and ethnographer of the arts and crafts of Indian Mexico. Born 1907 in Detroit, Michigan; died August 30, 1978 in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Cordry studied at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and later earned a reputation as an expert on puppets, which he both created and collected. He began collecting artifacts and information documenting Mexican Indian arts and crafts in 1931, on a trip to Mexico. He formed professional associations with the Heye Foundation (now the Museum of the American Indian), which sponsored further trips, and with the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, California. In 1941 Cordry traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, and in 1942 founded a crafts workshop there to finance his expeditions to collect and record ethnographic data. He later relocated to Mixcoac, in Mexico City, and Cuernavaca, but kept his home in Mexico and pursued the documentation of its arts and crafts until his death. Publications include: Mexican Indian Costumes (1968) and Mexican Masks (c1980).
Full Extent
3 boxes of manuscript and galley proofs; (88 photographic prints;; 201 slides;; 67 masks)
Abstract
Manuscript, galley proofs, photographs, and slides relating to the publication of Cordry's book, Mexican Masks. Also includes 67 masks from Cordry's personal collection.
Acquisitions Information
The Donald Cordry Collection Mexican Masks Collection was donated to the Institute of Latin American Studies and the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection in 1982 by Dorothy Mann Cordry.
Publications
- Cordry, Donald Bush. Mexican masks. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980.
Processing Information
The collection was described by the Benson's Mexican Archives Project in July 1994.
Prepared by the Mexican Archives Project, November 1994.
- Title
- Donald Cordry Mexican Masks Collection
- Status
- Edited Partial Draft
- Author
- Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection
- Date
- 2001
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Revision Statements
- August 2, 2002: Edited with XMetaL3 by Bob Stewart according to instructions in Editing TARO EAD XML Finding Aids with XMetaL.
- Tue Jul 22 14:57:50 CDT 2003: urn:taro:utexas.blac.00013 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02.xsl (20030505).
- 2020 March: Date normalization by Janette Nunez.
- 2021 April: Edited by Carla O. Alvarez to fix compliance check errors to prepare for the migration to new TARO website.
- 2021 November: Edited by Devon Murphy to update control access terms and formatting based on the TARO Control Access List.
- 2025 July: Revised by Ryan Sullivant to fix validation errors prior to ingestion into ArchivesSpace.
Repository Details
Part of the Benson Latin American Collection, The University of Texas at Austin Repository
2300 Red River Street
Austin Texas 78712 United States
(512) 495-4578
bensonspecialcollections@austin.utexas.edu