Strachwitz Frontera Collection consists of three sections of music, divided by era.  The first section includes approximately 12,000 78-rpm disc recordings of Mexican vernacular music recorded between 1908 and 1958.  They document many types of popular lyric songs, including the first records of corridos (narrative ballads on topics of the day), canciones, boleros, rancheras, sones, as well as some types of instrumental music, including conjunto music.  These recordings are held in a private collection by Chris Strachwitz Foundation and to date is the largest repository of Mexican and Mexican-American vernacular music in existence.