Correspondence Between Dr. Frances Gillmore and Jerry Crouch, 1967-1968

Dr. Frances Gillmor in the English Department was better known as the specialist at the University of Arizona on Mexican art and culture but she was a good friend of the Publisher of the University of Kentucky Press, Jerry Crouch who had been her student. He begins by sending her a 2 ALS 32 line message on Christmas card hand printed in exquisite calligraphic hand of a forthcoming book on the California Gold Rush but how it caused him to recall of her appreciation of their book Green Mount and the Fleets. He also speaks of De Arriaga's work on Peru which they are publishing but they are waiting for a dust jacket blurb which he will be writing soon. On his 4ALS letter about the book he speaks of the editing, the marking, the stapling, and the pasted together at early stages of the printing. This is an eloquent description of an editor's work. Here he looks back at taking her course on English Composition which got him started. He speaks here of his work in photography and the sketches he had previously sent her speaks of the influence of major photographers, he also has to get back to editing a manuscript on microbiology, Dr. Gillmor responds to both this letter and the card with a typed letter (2TL) not signed but with 92 lines of her response to the card and letter which she calls "heartwarming" how it came to her in Tucson where she had to return every six months during her sabbatical to meet the requirements of the Mexican government. She details how much the Gold Rush diary has a unique human personal quality. She goes on to give several paragraphs of the parts of the book that caused her to appreciate the book. She also mentions that she had devoted more time to photography which she has found helpful in her work on Mexican fiestas and folk plays. She says this work is so appreciated by the village they have entrusted to her many other long-hand scripts. She speaks of the pressure with all the new manuscripts and her further travels to remote parts of Mexico. She thinks back to his efforts as a student and asks if he is still writing poetry. She invites him to visit Tucson again and see the changes in the campus. Her well known The King Danced in the Market Place is now being translated into Polish and in Mexico into Spanish for the first time by Editorial Diana of Mexico City where they showed the completed translation which she thought was remarkable. She was pleased that the translator caught the movement of her sentences and it will be at the Frankfort Book Fair. She understands he is being promoted to the top role at the Press but how far he will be removed from the day-to-day work which means so much to him.