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The Cordry Collection is an extensive
one of Mexican Indian costumes collected by Donald and Dorothy
Cordry from the mid-1930s to mid-1960s. The collection
consists of man's and woman's costumes from over 60 villages
representing more than 15 ethnic groups among whom tradition
attires continue to be worn in their daily life and especially
during festivals. Strongest among the Collection are Nahua,
Zapatec, and Mixtec clothing as sets of man's and woman's garments
were collected from several villages. The Cordrys are well
known ethnographers who, for nearly half a century, collected
a wide range of materials representative of Mexico's indigenous
peoples' material culture. Today their collections are
housed in over 30 US and Mexican museums, and the Museum's Cordry
Collection is one of the four largest Cordry costume collections
in the US. Additionally, the Museum houses the Cordrys'
hotodocumentation collection consisting of over 1500 black-and-white
negatives and 150-plus color transparencies.
In 1934, Dr. W. Curry Holden, director of the then West Texas
Museum, mounted a scientific expedition to the Sonora Desert
of Mexico to conduct historical, bio-anthropological, archaeological,
ethnological, ethnobotanical, herpetological, ornithological,
and medical investigations. They made their way to the
RioYaqui and initiated contact with the Yaquis in the village
of Torin (also known as Torim). Thus began the long and
fruitful association of the Museum and the Torin Yaquis.
The Yaqui Collection was generated in
two main periods: in 1934 and in the early 1950s. The materials
were collected during a period after the Yaqui's defeat and dispersal
by the Mexican government when they were resettling in the present
area. Their attempt to revive their traditions was cut
short by their assimilation into the broader Mexican culture.
The major thrust of the collection is ceremonial regalia associated
with the Fiesta de Gloria (Easter Ceremonies). The
Fiesta de Gloria was a ritual revival incorporating pre-Christian
elements with early missionary Catholicism. Included in
the collection are masks, musical instruments, and other ceremonial
paraphernalia used in deer and pascola dances. A
smaller component of the collection includes everyday utilitarian
objects such as household furnishings and horticultural implements.
Although a field report was published in 1936, many of the field
notes, black-and-white negatives, and two 16mm films taken in
December 1953 and the Fiesta de Gloria in Torin in 1955,
remain untapped resources on Yaqui culture.
The Qashqa'i Collection was generated
in 1975 in the Fars Province of southern Iran as part of a research
project. Consisting primarily of a black summer tent, all
of its furnishings, and some clothing, the materials were all
purchased directly from the occupants of the tent. The
collection is supplemented by contemporary household objects
procured at the Shiraz bazaar where the nomadic Qashqa'i purchased
their household goods and furnishings. Documentation includes
brief field notes, photographs and slides of the tent and its
inhabitants taken during the field project, and an unpublished
dissertation on the particular group of Qashqa'i. The collection
represents one of only a few black tents and contents housed
in US institutions and it remains a rich resource on the lifestyle,
ethnic customs, and technology of nomadic pastoral groups in
that part of the world.
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