Archives West Finding Aid

Christmas card with photo of baby Brett.

From Iowa. Cover letter for the four-page typed response to the Hoxie Fairchild booklet (corrected text), sent to Odell and to Hazen Foundation July 27, 1950. See following two items.

From Iowa (newly settled there). See previous and following item. Sent to KJ as an attachment to previous item.

Related to, and same date as, two previous items [see also related item in typescript folders from this date, 7/27/50]

With a hand-written note signed by “Bro Bill, Ph. D-less”. Both writers in good form.

Headed in red pencil by WS: “!Dangerous communication—to be read secretly and burned at once. Keep away from all responsible and respectable people!” In part describes the Grosses’ marital troubles.

Envelope that contained a one-page letter from Iowa September 11, 1950, and one-page letter from Iowa October 26, 1951 (now item 27).

From Iowa. With envelope mailed two days later in Iowa City, annotated “Bills poem on the Gross Housewarming,” though that poem was sent later, on November 21, 1950.

Letter from Iowa accompanying and explaining typescript draft of “At the Grosses’ Housewarming,” written earlier. Three pencil marks circled by WS, with the ironic comment “the sacred doodlings of P. Engle.” See item 112.

Contained the following items: a) One-page tls from Iowa December 19, 1950, originally enclosing poem about the “shady side” of KJ from its use at the Iowa workshop. This was apparently “Farewell to a Certain Student,” for which WS noted later there was no documentary copy. b) Typescript (used in the Iowa Workshop) of “Farewell to a Certain Student,” written 12/19/50. Valuable manuscript notes by WS.

From Iowa

From Iowa, containing the following item.

From Iowa

Includes envelope post marked in Iowa City the following day

From Iowa City, Note is three sided on pink paper with matching envelope

From Iowa

From Iowa, shortly before traveling west in 1951, with a year still to go at Iowa. With envelope post marked Iowa April 23, 1951.

From Glendale

From Glendale

Copy of WS letter to Dr. Wolle in Boulder, asking for a copy of the loyalty oath he’d need to sign for a job at U of Colorado. See following two items.

Three items in one communication: carbon copies of two letters to Francis Wolle of the Dept. of English and Speech at U of Colorado in response to the third item, a copy of the Colorado Oath of Allegiance (see previous and following items).

From Glendale, discussing problems with signing Colorado loyalty oath.

From Glendale, with handwritten marginal note by WS

Letter giving new Quonset address, and headed “Dear Sybarites.” With envelope mailed the next day in Iowa City. Perhaps enclosed with this letter was the WS photo of quonsets at Iowa. WS note on back: “Note the Stafford home—with 2 bicycles (middle quonset) Palaces of the gentry visible across the river, on the heights . . .”

Card written from Iowa by Dorothy at start of school year 1951 (Kim had poison ivy.)

Also a two-page WS tls of October 3, 1951 at Iowa City, sharing envelope with Dorothy’s letter

From Iowa (see item 7), on cheap (browned) paper.

Letter on self-confessedly cheap (now browned) paper, Iowa, in envelope mailed the next day.

From Iowa

From Iowa

from Iowa with envelope postmarked the following day.

from Iowa about plans for return to Lewis & Clark College, with envelope postmarked the following day.

Envelope mailed in Iowa City enclosing handwritten note from Dorothy Stafford.

Envelope addressed from Iowa City by DS. Contained undated tls (two sides) from DS, three weeks before end of time in Iowa. WS studying for comps.

On the road from Iowa in Junction City, Kansas. Envelope mailed there on June 23, 1952.

(signed by WS “Caesar”) from Portland to KJ in Hospital in Seattle.

from Lewis & Clark College to University of Washington; describes birth of Kit. Contains typescript of “Literature I” (“Lit Instructor”) written 11/15/52, headed by handwritten WS comment.

mailed in Portland, containing cyclostyled note (presumably from Morgan Odell) on the role of the college “in loco parentis”—with marginal comment by WS.

from Manchester College, enclosing check from The New Republic in payment for poem “A Visit Home” written 10/11/53.

Envelope mailed from Saratoga Springs, with one-page tls of previous day written on yellow paper from Yaddo. (WS says he has currently eighty-two items out for consideration. Expects a net acceptance of around four.)

Carbon made for the Johnsons of a letter of April 4, 1957 from San Jose to John and Cleo Gross. Mention of Jim Harmon, “strenuously San Francisco bohemian.”

from George [Jensen?] to WS requesting a recommendation. On verso a handwritten request for a copy to go elsewhere. See next item.

Letter from San Jose that enclosed George’s letter, previous item.

from San Jose

from Iowa in envelope mailed May 11, 1951.

Carbon made for the Johnsons of a letter of June 4, 1957 from San Jose to John and Cleo Gross, with envelope postmarked June 6.

Copy of one-page unsigned typed letter, evidently from Kenny Johnson, to President Odell.

To KJ from Lewis & Clark College colleague “Lona” on college letterhead, criticizing WS for an aversion to suffering and consequent lack of profundity. A strange outpouring. With undated envelope to “Kenneth Johnson,” annotated “Lona on Bills Poetry.” No mention of National Book Award, so presumably before 1963.

Typescript of WS poem “A Final Examination: American Renaissance,” Hand-addressed by WS on verso to “Prof Kenneth Johnson.”

Typed letter from Sunningdale

Dorothy to Johnsons from London with news from June 25th onwards.

L & C College to Johnsons in Japan

L & C College to Johnsons in Japan

WS to Johnsons in Japan , giving news of Arthur Throckmorton’s death.

From San Blas, Mexico, on sheets from a lined steno notebook (tj3)

From Portland to Johnsons in Italy, enclosed in the following item.

From Sunningdale to Johnsons in Rome, originally containing the previous and following items.

Copy of “An Informal Will,” Portland. Enclosed in previous item.

Tear-sheet (back cover) from Satire Newsletter, poem by WS, “A Defense of My Uncle,” written 5/31/63. Note by KJ on last stanza: “Hovers on the edge of nonsense but manages to keep from going over.”

One-page typescript (yellow paper, red type) of two poems, annotated “1962 Bill Stafford”. Poems “Seeing the Students Off for Japan’ (written 9/29/66) and “For a Stone at Balmers’ Ranch” (Written 9/22/66). Date of annotation must be wrong. Sent with following item.

Red type on yellow paper. Just finished article on Roethke [“Roethke’s Way,” housed at 5E.74 and published in Crossing Unmarked Snow, 50 ff.].

From Portland, originally enclosing photos (no longer present) of KJ and of Jack Radow and of Mrs. Netboy.

on Alaska Methodist letterhead

On Alaska Methodist letterhead. With matching envelope postmarked two days later.

On verso of Wooster college map, posted Cincinnati October 24 (date on letter must be an error for 23 or 24) originally enclosing Bouwsma quote on Wittgenstein [this quote housed in archives L1].

From London addressed to Jean J, containing a) WS thankyou note for a money transfer, and b) WS note of May 25, 1969 to both Johnsons from Bergen, Norway.

Christmas card with photo of family on station platform in Britain (Scotland, perhaps Waverly Station, Edinburgh).

Handwritten poem by Kenny Johnson

From Sunningdale, mentioning and enclosing a “Secular Prayer,” (“The Saint of Thought, a Secular Prayer,”. Response to discussion of WS’s character.

By WS of KJ’s long letter. Typed so KJ “might be able to read your writing, as I can—Bill”. Further deep discussion of character. Annotated “K.E.J. to Bill Stafford.”

From Virginia.

Mailed with (apparently misdated) letter of September 20, 1970, and poem on the death of John Gross, also dated 9/20/70. Johnson note on envelope: “Make copy for cynical Sam.” See following two items.

On John Gross’s death. Poem written 9/20/70. In Portland Teachers Credit Union envelope. See previous and following item.

Poem “To Kenny & Jean Johnson on Hearing of John Gross’s Death,”. See previous two items.

With envelope postmarked the following day, McLean, Virginia.

from Virginia.

With photo of Barb holding Nicholas and Lief.

From Virginia, originally enclosing Wang Hui-Ming’s James Agee woodcut (copies of woodcut in broadsides drawers). With envelope postmarked the following day.

From Dorothy in Virginia, undated, but written February 3, 1971, describing Vonnegut’s aborted reading of Monday February 1st at the Library of Congress.

From Virginia, with unpostmarked envelope.

Envelope postmarked the following day, in Washington DC.

From Virginia, typed on verso of folded 1971 Williams College poster.

“My Friends My Enemies My Lonely Hours,” no record of publication. Text differs from that in D1 (personal reference to Sam Yorks and Ken Johnson).

On goldenrod paper of poem “Kenny’s Office,” with annotations by KJ.

On poverty by Cabeza de Vaca, 1538, sent as a Christmas greeting to WS (as noted by WS on verso) from Virgil Baldwin Day.

Pages from American Poetry Review, Vern Rutsala’s essay “Poetry in the Classroom,” and his poem “The Journey Begins.”

Accompanying typescript of “Paragraphs to Tack on the Wall,” written 8/14/74. This is the same poem (with different lineation and order of stanzas) as “Notes on the Refrigerator Door,” a Bellevue Press broadside 1976. It differs also (slightly) from the poem used as the prospectus for the WS class “Notes for the Refrigerator Door.”

Copy (signed “Greetings, fellow wage slaves—Bill, on the road Nov ‘74”) of poem “Dreams of Retirement.” Added note from Bob Dusenbery: “Ken—could I get this back—Bob D.” See following item.

Copy of previous item

From New York to KJ. No obvious enclosure present in this collection. Johnson note on envelope “Letter from Bill S to Jean.”

Signed typescript of poem “On the Poetry Circuit,” writtenas “Surviving a Poetry Circuit,” with accompanying brief comment by WS.

From Literary Half-Yearly with WS poem “Little Sermon.” With KJ notation “Bill this is my perennial sermon to you—you took the words right out of my mouth.”

WS concrete poem in shape of spectacles, “Dark Glasses.”

Two WS poems typed on National Endowment for the Humanities half-sheet letterhead: “An Invitation to Explore,” written 5/23/76, and “A Myth to Live By,” written 6/26/76.

WS poem “For Everybody Ambitious, on Retirement of the Undersigned.” Extensive annotations by KJ.

Goldenrod sheet with typed poem “Retirement Speech.”

Single sheet of lined lemon-yellow pad paper, with introspective notes by KJ headed “The Sacred.”

Envelope addressed to KJ from Sunningdale, with one-page tls of same date, including WS poem “Places with Meaning,” about the Johnson Fourth of July, written that same morning.

WS’s last day of teaching before spring break and apparently retirement.

(Jean’s date of 1980 is incorrect) enclosing Tony Piccione’s letter of August 24, 1979,

(Apparently typed by Jean Johnson) on green paper, KJ to WS and DS. Followed by KJ’s draft of the same letter on yellow lined paper, with clarifications (by JJ?) in red ink.

Mentions Dorothy’s gallstone operation, and encloses items from Tony Piccione. See following item.

From Tony Piccione with covering one-page reply to Piccione from WS November 27, 1979 promising to send his letter to KJ. See previous item.

From Service-berry Press, poem “Atoms” by Anthony Piccione, sent by him on 11/22/79 to Ken, originally in envelope from Portland August 1,1981 (repostmarked Eagle Creek 8/3/81) with annotation “Piccione,” but containing WS poem “With Neighbors One Afternoon,” small undated broadside from hit & run press. Poem written 12/7/78, first published Poetry January 1980. See item 110

From Tony Piccione, accompanying his six-page response to a question from the editor of Manassas Review.

“Starting the Day,” written on that date. Included also typed poem “It’s All Right,” written the same day.

Undated octavo broadside from hit & run press of “With Neighbors One Afternoon,” written 12/7/78 and published in Poetry, January 1980, this publication noted on broadside. See item 106.

Enclosing typescript of “At the Chairman’s Housewarming.” Poem written on or before 11/21/50. See item 9: Also mentioned and included: essay on Samuel Johnson from Sewanee Review, annotated by KJ.

Sent from Sunningdale, perhaps originally containing carbon copy (yellow) of WS (misdated?) letter to Piccione April 9, 1981. Later also contained the items in 117.

KJ to WS and DS.

KJ to WS and DS.

From Portland with annotation “Arrivaderci” (sic).

Letter from Portland referring to and enclosing the double-sided first page of the tribute booklet for John Howard May 22, 1981, containing WS poem “The Weather Beyond the Weather,” written 12/21/74. Handwritten WS note indicating total length of booklet and describing argument with Howard and wife.. Also responds to KJ’s “May 26 indictment.”

Carbon copy for Johnsons of Piccione letter with short typed signed note by WS.

Carbon copy for Johnsons of WS letter to Piccione.

Incomplete letter by KJ to WS.

From Sunningdale containing “Why I Am Happy,” written the same day, in the body of the letter. On verso of flier for “Death & Suicide” anthology. In envelope from Portland postmarked July 22, 1981.

Letter from Portland, originally enclosing letter of Tony Piccione to WS from Kendall, NY, studying Chinese, July 23, 1981. Folded with yellow carbon of WS letter to Piccione April 29, 1981.

“Seeing an Old Snapshot,” written 11/28/81 and published in “Yankee” and The Long Sigh the Wind Makes.

Poem of 2/16/82, “A Letter None of My Children Has Got Round to Writing,” bearing a handwritten note by WS

To WS from Tony Piccione sent from Beijing, written on verso of the BOA advertisement (“Answerers”) for Things That Happen When There Aren’t Any People.

KJ to WS and DS.

Addressed by Dorothy to K & J from Portland, containing WS poem “Childish Things,” written 12/26/82.

Envelope containing “Bill’s poem on [Kenny’s] pain,” a one-page typed WS poem, “Having Pains,” written 6/1/83 and later titled “Pain.” Annotation on verso “June 3, 1983 Bill S”.

From Southern Humanities Review of poem “1940” (“It is August. Your father is walking you”) annotated by KJ: “The certainties are specific sense experiences. All the rest you don’t know.”

“Fame”

From WS on his photo-card of the John Haines homestead, and signed “Goldpen” in the month of his seventieth birthday.

From Stafford letters out of Iowa in 1951 and 1952, gathered for “Bill Stafford’s 70th.”

Caricatures of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer tagged (by an unknown hand) “B. in his 50’s” and “B. in his 80’s” respectively, with note “We named a cat after you, he’s solidly black and he’s called Willy or Uncle Willy.” On verso, note by KJ: “Bills only remark—I guess it says I need a haircut.”

Penciled note on lined paper torn from notebook, DS and WS having dropped by to see K and J.

Enclosing WS typed poem “Deserters,” written 4/23/84.

From Portland, enclosing a two-page copy of the translation from Yoshihara, “From the Afterworld,” made in Japan 8/29/84 (tj8.5v).

With unpublished poem “Traction Devices Required.”

(Governor Vic Atiyeh stationery) mailed to Johnsons. Johnson annotation “Bill S Jan 85”. Contained letter of January 3, 1985 typed on back of Columbia Basin College flier.

From Portland , accompanying typescript of poem “That Day,” completed 6/4/85.

Poem “Saint Matthew and All,” written 10/16/83.

Postcard (of a giant jackrabbit being saddled up by a cowboy) sent by Dorothy from Rock Springs, WY, on the cross-country drive to Florida for the Verbal Events workshop (see following item).

From Dorothy from Florida (Verbal Events workshop). With manuscript postscript from WS.

Envelope with excerpts from Bernanos, Diary of a Country Priest, and a letter of the same date with quotes from Wittgenstein.

Originally enclosing a quote from Goethe’s Dichtung und Warheit, no longer present.

Copy of program for “The Animal That Drank Up Sound,” presented at the Capitol, Salem, Oregon.

Large (double-size) sheet with WS tls and WS typed poem of the same day, “In Any Country.”

With typed poem “Conviction,” written 6/12/87.

Typescript of poem “Trying to Tell It,” written 12/29/87, enclosed in envelope postmarked 1/11/88, found inside Jean’s copy of An Oregon Message.

Christmas card of December 19, 1988, mourning Bret, who died November 7.

Christmas card December 19, 1989, with parody of a popular song.

Empty envelope from Portland March 5, 1990, with letter of the same day quoting WS poem “Kenny’s Office,” also sent on an earlier occasion (probably around the time of its composition on 10/24/73) as item 85. Both these typescripts have the same text, the first in two stanzas, the second in three, the later copy bearing WS’s marginal comment “(not perfect yet)”. Other annotations indicate other items once housed in this envelope: “Kenny’s Pain” (see item 128) and “An Informal Will” (see item 58).

One-page typescript of poem “My NEA Poem,” (7/28/90); Johnson annotation “8-10-90”

Envelope dated September 19, 1990 from WS at Sunningdale containing letter of previous date, with thanks for Johnson presence at dinner. Note by KJ on envelope recording its other enclosures: Vaclav Havel’s self-effacing speech on Kafka printed in NY Review of Books, and an Economist article on Portland as urban success.

Card (of Pump Room, Bath) from Dorothy in England, October 22 [1990].

Envelope to KJ & JJ from Sunningdale November 26, 1990, with Johnson notation “A Dream.” Enclosing one-page tls of November 25, 1990 with a dream about KJ.

Christmas card December 16, 1991, with parody photo of “American Gothic” and copy of poem “Starting with Little Things,” written 9/20/73.

from Sunningdale, originally containing ten items now distributed by date. Kenny Johnson inscription on envelope: “I must return to the family creek where I fished as a boy and lingered with myself under the shelter of and cover of sun & shade.” Items gathered in this envelope (and now distributed to their appropriate positions) were: a) Two-sided tls from Dorothy in Washington D.C., undated, but written February 3, 1971, describing Vonnegut’s aborted reading of Monday February 1st at the Library of Congress. Item 80. b) Poem-card from Service-berry Press, poem “Atoms” by Anthony Piccione, sent by him on 11/22/79 to Ken. Item 106. c) Tear-sheet (back cover) from [Spring 1965] Satire Newsletter, poem by WS, “A Defense of My Uncle,” written 5/31/63. Note by KJ on last stanza: “Hovers on the edge of nonsense but manages to keep from going over.” Item 59. d) One page tls (signed by WS “Caesar”) from Portland to KJ in Hospital in Seattle, Fall 1952. Item 36 e) Empty envelope from Portland July 22, 1981. Item 121. f) Empty envelope from Portland June 2, 1981 with annotation “Arrivaderci” (sic). Item 116. g) Envelope from Portland August 1,1981 (repostmarked Eagle Creek 8/3/81) with annotation “Piccione” but containing WS poem “With Neighbors One Afternoon,” small undated broadside from hit & run press. Poem written 12/7/78, first published Poetry January 1980. Item 110. h) Letter of Tony Piccione to WS from Kendall, NY, studying Chinese, July 23, 1981. Item 122. i) Letter from Portland June 4, 1981 referring to and enclosing the poem for President Howard and describing argument with Howard and wife.. Also responds to KJ’s “May 26 indictment.” Folded with letter, carbon copy (yellow) of WS letter to Piccione April 9, 1981. Items 117 and 113. j) Letter from Portland August 1, 1981, originally enclosing Piccione’s “Chinese” letter from New York, and folded with yellow carbon of WS letter to Piccione April 29, 1981. Items 122 and 113.

Envelope with Johnson notation “Epitaph Bill Stafford & Mark Twain,” containing four-line epitaph by Mark Twain in WS’s hand. No date.

three sides of KJ commentary, apparently on WS..

Small undated note to say that WS and DS had stopped by. Signed “Sister and Brother Hicks.”

Notations by KJ on Equitable Savings paper, beginning “All I want is a garden—Bill.”

Undated note by KJ on Portland Teachers Credit Union notepaper: “Bill has decided that he lives in an egocentric world & to accept it Vanity vs. egocentricity.”

Pleasing keepsake on glossy white stock; business card with a laurel wreath alongside “WILLIAM STAFFORD Poet Laureate of Oregon,” with Sunningdale address, and imprint “Printed at The Elliott Press Pacific Lutheran University.” No date.

Mutilated copy of Folly Press single-sheet chapbook, “Prophets,” number 110.

Three-page typed poem by Earle A. Taylor

Newspaper cuttings and other Stafford memorabilia, collected under the title "Stafordiana" by the Johnsons, listed as follows, a-z. a. Article on Anthony Piccione (Brockport, NY) in December 4, 1979 Stylus. b. Kim’s “A Separate Hearth,” in Oregonian Northwest Magazine 2/17/85. c. Clamshell Press broadside “Ode to Garlic.” d. Kim’s poem “Rosemary at Four,” Winter Solstice 1986. Mailed 12/24/86. e. Kim’s poem “Night Work in June,” Winter Solstice 1984. Mailed 12/26/84. f. WS poem “The Arts at the Coast,” in Oregonian Northwest Magazine 1/20/80. g. Paul Pintarich on WS, with review of A Scripture of Leaves, in Oregonian 10/3/89. h. Paul Pintarich review of An Oregon Message in Oregonian Northwest Magazine 7/5/87. i. Publicity flier of “Answerers” for BOA Editons Things That Happen When There Aren’t Any People. j. Poster for WS reading at Columbia Basin College, November, no year. k. Paul Pintarich on NW Writing Institute and Having Everything Right, in Oregonian 10/27/86. l. Kim’s “Should We Pave Our Dead End Road?” in Rain. Jan/Feb 1985. m. WS poem “Many tomorrows ago . . .” from Oregonian Northwest Magazine 9/15/85. Reprinted in A Scripture of Leaves. n. Rick Rubin on WS in Oregonian Northwest 2/6/66. o. Paul Pintarich on Judson Jerome Contest (WS 1st) from Poets’ Market, in Oregonian11/9/86. p. “Father and Son,” by Ellen Emry Hetzel, Oregonian 6/19/83, Brent Wojahn photographer. q. Copy of “Notice to All Patrons” (“I have been obliged by the sheer weight of fatigue . . .”) r. Remodeling article in Oregonian Foodday 2/9/88. s. Flier for Wixon/Markee video “What the River Says.” t. Fout WS poems (“The Secret,” “Why the Sun Comes Up,” “From the Ink on This Page,” “Selina.”) in Oregonian Northwest Magazine 2/3/91. u. Paul Pintarich on WS turning over job of Oregon Poet Laureate, Oregonian 8/16/87. v. Judy McDermott on WS workshop at Reed, Oregonian 8/10/85. w. Paul Pintarich on Kim at New Orleans, Oregonian 6/1/86. x. Poem (rather unsuccessful) by Harry Davidov in memory of WS, using phrases from Passwords. In Sunday Oregonian 9/20/93. y. Profile of Craig Lesley and Bill Stafford, “So You Want to Be a Writer,” by Douglas Freeman, Oregonian 8/13/86. z. Newspaper clipping, John Gross letter to the editor on Korea.

first edition—archives have only second ed. title still with Kim

paper or cloth, title still with Kim

first or later printing, title still with Kim

title still with Kim

title still with Kim

title still with Kim

title still with Kim

title still with Kim

title still with Kim

paper or cloth, title still with Kim

cloth, Jean Johnson’s copy (Title shelved behind the books on the Prose shelf)

paper, Jean Johnson’s copy. (Two small sheets of notes by Kenny Jonson laid in, and a typescript of “Trying to Tell It,” in an envelope dated 1/11/88, this item merged with the correspondence.)(Title shelved behind the books on the Prose shelf)

Jean Johnson’s copy (Title shelved behind the books on the Prose shelf)

A single-page announcement sheet from Perishable Press from Labor Day 1973, containing an announcement of That Other Alone. (This item in broadside case, folder 1H)

Paper

Cloth

Paper, signed

Paper

Paper, signed

Paper

paper, twelfth printing

paper

Cloth

offprint of talk on a fragment of Descartes

paper

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal offprint

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal

Poetry Journal