Gillmor, Frances (1903–1993)

views updated

Gillmor, Frances (1903–1993)

American folklorist, scholar, and novelist. Born May 21, 1903, in Buffalo, NY; died Oct 28, 1993; dau. of Abner Churchill Gillmor (businessman) and Annie McVicar Gillmor; University of Chicago; University of Arizona, BA and MA, 1928–1931; Universidad Nacionál Autónoma de México, PhD, 1957.

Had 1st field experience while living with explorers John and Louisa Wade Wetherill on Navajo reservation in Arizona; collaborated with Louisa Wetherill on the classic, Traders to the Navajos (1934); taught at University of New Mexico and in English department of University of Arizona; studied in Mexico at Escuela Nacional de Antropologia e Historia and Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico; published Flute of the Smoking Mirror about 15th-century Aztec ruler Nezahualcoyotl (1949); published other acclaimed works, including The King Danced in the Marketplace (1964); collected folklore of the Southwest; novels include Thumbcap Weir (1929), Windsinger (1930), and Fruit Out of Rock (1940).