Isabel Maltsberger Gaddis was an avid collector of the works of the well-known folklorist, humorist and scholar J. Frank Dobie. Gaddis met Dobie when he was her professor at the University of Texas, where she graduated with a major in journalism. She later completed graduate work at Columbia University and then returned to Texas to teach in the Cotulla public schools. She eventually enrolled at Our Lady of the Lake College in San Antonio, becoming a school librarian. Her son is the well-known US historian, John Lewis Gaddis.

Dobie and Gaddis became friends and Dobie visited the Gaddis family frequently. The various letters and photos in this collection give evidence to the warm friendship and intellectual camaraderie between the two. Dobie often sent Mrs. Gaddis copies of his books with personal inscriptions and he sought her advice and editorial skills. They co-edited a collection of Dobie’s short stories, I’ll Tell You a Tale.

Both J. Frank Dobie and his wife Bertha Mckee Dobie (whose papers Southwestern holds) were 1911 graduates of Southwestern University. Southwestern University campus recognized Gaddis with a “Dobie-Gaddis Day” celebration on the day of her formal donations of her collection, on October 27, 1970. In addition to the Gaddis Collection, the university also has another significant Dobie collection, The Clara Harmon Lewis Collection of Dobie Material, as well as several other smaller collections.