Collaboration, Women’s Work, and the Unfinished Story of a Sonoran Tale Collection

From 1976–1978, UCLA PhD student Ronald B. Melton travelled to the state of Sonora in Mexico with his wife, Lily Villanueva Melton, to record legends and folktales for his dissertation research, though he died before he was able to complete the project. Historian Miriam Melton-Villanueva (their daughter) and folklorist Sheila Bock discuss key considerations framing their attempts to present the unfinished story of this tale collection, attending specifically to the role of “women’s work” and the dynamics of presence and absence shaping their participation in an ongoing, collaborative research process.