Frances Toor (1890–1956) was an American author, publisher,

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

and

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

who wrote mainly about

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and Mexican indigenous cultures. She earned a B.A. and an M.A. in anthropology from

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

. She moved to

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

in 1922, influenced by her husband, dentist Joseph L. Weinberger, who also served as director of the

B'nai B'rith B'nai B'rith International ( ; from ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit Jewish service organization and was formerly a cultural association for German Jewish immigrants to the United States. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the se ...

office in Mexico City. In 1925, she founded the journal ''Mexican Folkways'' (published until 1937). She would eventually be referred to as "the gringa folklorista."

References

External links

* Finding Aid for Frances Toor at th
Online Archive of California

Francis Toor / Por Diego Rivera
International Center for the Arts of the Americas Houston, Digital Archive. 1890 births 1956 deaths American publishers (people) American ethnographers People from Mexico City 20th-century American anthropologists 20th-century American non-fiction writers University of California, Berkeley alumni American expatriates in Mexico {{US-anthropologist-stub