James B. Wright, May 5, 2004
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.
From the guide to the James B. Wright Collection of Southwestern Native American and Hispanic Music, Interviews and Literary Programs, 1973-1986, (University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research)
