The William E. Stafford, Archives Series 1, Sub-Series 4: Prose Drafts, 1937-2000

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Stafford, William, 1914-1993
Title
The William E. Stafford, Archives Series 1, Sub-Series 4: Prose Drafts
Dates
1937-2000 (inclusive)
Quantity
7 cubic feet, (11 boxes)
Collection Number
OLPb104STA
Summary
William Stafford (1914-1993) was one of the most prolific and important American poets of the last half of the twentieth century. This subseries includes handwritten and typed drafts of Stafford's prose. The Index to the entire Stafford Archives can be found at: http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/80444/xv83782
Repository
Lewis & Clark College, Special Collections and Archives

Aubrey R. Watzek Library
615 S. Palatine Hill Rd.
Portland, OR
97219
Telephone: 5037687758
Fax: 5037687282
archives@lclark.edu
Access Restrictions

This collection has no restrictions and is open for research.

Languages
English

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

William Stafford (1914-1993) was one of the most prolific and important American poets of the last half of the twentieth century. Among his many credentials, Stafford served as consultant in poetry at the Library of Congress, and received the National Book Award for his poetry collection Traveling through the Dark (1963). During his lifetime, Stafford wrote over sixty books of poetry that still resonate with both scholars and general readers. Stafford’s perspectives on peace, the environment, and education serve as some of the most articulate and engaging dialogues by a modern American writer about three of the most important issues of the second half of the twentieth century with lasting impacts on future generations. Howard Zinn, one America’s most iconic modern historians, was keenly aware of Stafford’s insight into modern American culture. Zinn claimed, “William Stafford’s prose and poetry, wise and eloquent, speak directly to the violence of our time, and to our hope for a different world” (from cover of Every War Has Two Losers).

The William Stafford Archives, donated to Lewis & Clark College by the Stafford family in 2008, contain the private papers, publications, photographs, recordings, and teaching materials of the poet William Stafford. The Lewis & Clark College Special Collections actively add to this collection by acquiring unique Stafford related materials.

Stafford wrote every day of his life from 1950 to 1993. These 20,000 pages of daily writings form a complete record of the poet’s mostly early morning meditations, including poem drafts, dream records, aphorisms, and other visits to the unconscious, recorded on separate sheets of yellow or white paper or when traveling, often in spiral-bound reporters’ steno pads. The archive also includes typescripts of poems submitted for publication and for use in readings. Stafford listed where he submitted each poem, and whether it was accepted for publication on the typescript. Each of his published collections, large and small, is represented by its gathering of documentary copies (typescripts), called by Stafford a “put-together.” Unpublished poems, poems published in journals, and reading copies of published poems were also gathered, in a virtually complete record from 1937 to 1993, totaling about 7,000 items. The collection also includes copies of all known Stafford books and translations. Stafford saved correspondence received, with an indication of the date of reply, and sometimes a copy of the reply, from the early 1960s to August 1993. Estimated at 100,000 sheets, the collected correspondence contains some full exchanges of correspondence initiated by WS. One such exchange is the correspondence with Marvin Bell on their sequence Segues. In addition to many photographs of and relating to William Stafford, the archive includes an estimated 20,000 photographs and negatives taken and developed by Stafford of fellow poets, family, friends, and Lewis & Clark College faculty. The archive provides documentation of Stafford's teaching career, including more than one thousand index cards, some dating from research at Iowa, others from later. These were much used in preparing for classes, workshops, and lectures. The files also contain scattered notes for workshops and lectures. The archive also includes course syllabi, and faculty documents relating to Stafford's teaching years at Lewis & Clark College.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

Includes handwritten and typed drafts of: interviews and questionnaires; book reviews; stories; public presentations; and essays.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

Permission to publish, exhibit, broadcast, or quote from materials in the Watzek Library Archives & Special Collections requires written permission of the Head of Archives & Special Collections.

Preferred Citation

The William Stafford Archives, Lewis & Clark College Aubrey Watzek Library Archives & Special Collections, Portland, Oregon.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Arrangement

Arranged in boxes by prose type (interviews and questionnaires; book reviews; stories; public presentations; and essays), and chronologically within type.

Location of Collection

Special Collections

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Interviews, 1962-1988Return to Top

Container(s): Box 1a

1 box
Container(s) Description Dates
Folder
1.1
Some Topics for Discussion: Being a Poet Nowadays
Questionnaire from Paul ?Fillinger
1962
1.2
The Farm On the Great Plains, Poet's Choice
Correspondence with Paul Engle
1962
1.3
Traveling Through the Dark, Reading Modern Poetry
Correspondence with Warren Carrier
1964
1.4
Comments on Some Poems, Critical Quarterly for Tony Dyson,
Portions reproduced for Answers are Inside the Mountains
1964
1.5
A Writer's Views on Writing
Stafford to Daphne Horine for KATE bulletin
1966
1.6
Question-and-answer sheet
To Dale Pfleiger
1966
1.7
William Stafford television interview questions
undated
1.8
Remarks by Stafford for KOAP TV program
1967
1.9
Writer: Northwest, KOAP
1967
1.10
For "Writer's World" program, KOAP,
Further remarks by Stafford to Clark Santee for KOAP TV
1967
1.11
An Interview with William Stafford, Crazy Horse
1971
1.12
Discussions During the Spring Poetry Festival, Tennessee Poetry Journal
1971
1.13
A Conversation with William Stafford, Contributor's Copy
Interview with Dick Case
1971
1.13.1
William Stafford Interview
Interview with Cynthia Loftness
1972
1.13.2
Interview with William Stafford, Tamasha Magazine (Iran)
Interview with William Stafford by Adnan Gharifi for Tamasha Magazine (Iran) during W.S. USIS 1972 tour. Translated by Andranik Mirzabegi.
1972
1.14
The Third Time the World Happens, NW Review
Interview with Richard Hugo
1973
1.15
He Renders to God, 101 Coast Magazine of the Arts
Interview with Mike Archbold
1974
1.16
Comment, I Almost Keep Seeing a Black Star
Interview with Karen Sollid
1974
1.17
Tales From the Inkwell: William Stafford on Writing, Encore
Interview with Anita Helle
1976
1.17b
"Of Earthen Beasts and Other Muses," Alchemy
Interview with Cathy Lenox
1976
1.18
William Stafford on War and Peace, Spectrum
Interview with Stephen Sander
1978
1.18b
Where Poems Begin, Christian Science Monitor
Interview with Henrietta Buckmaster
1978
1.19
Diving For Dreams, Writing #2
Interview with Charles Brashers and Sam Turner
1979
1.20
Oregon's Poet Laureate, Willamette Week
Interview with Amy Godine
1979
1.21
William Stafford: An Interview by Nancy Bunge, with revised text Jan/Feb 2004
for The American Poetry Review (1981) and Kansas Quarterly (1994)
1981
1.22
When Writers Get Together: Some Issues, Reminders, Questions, Literature and Belief
Forum address by Stafford for Brigham Young University and the Rocky Mountain Writers’ Conference
1982
1.23
Question and Answer Session with William Stafford, Literature and Belief
Transcript of question and answer session between audience and Stafford following forum address
undated
1.24
William Stafford Interview, Pacific Review
Interview with Gregg Lambert
1982
1.25
Roving Across Fields
Conversation between Thom Tammaro and other poets
1983
1.26
An Interview with William Stafford: Monmouth, Oregon
Interview recorded at Grey Elliot’s poetry class
1983
1.27
Interview with William Stafford
Interview with Kevin Lollar
1984
1.28
An Interview with William Stafford, The Cottonwood Review
Interview with Steven Hind
1984
1.29
Performing and Poetry, Literature and Performance
Interview with Gail Miller
1984
1.30
William Stafford on Urdu and Spanish, Poet News
Interview with Mary Zappa
1984
1.31
He Seeks Presence of "Hovering Greatness," Wittenburg Today
Interview with Imogene Bolls
1984
1.31.1
William Stafford: Ambitions to Wake Up
Interview with Gene Von Troyer
1984
1.32
Vision and Revision
Prototype of Jane Shore’s poem revisions for Vision and Revision, sent to Stafford by Richard LeMon
1985
1.33
Willingly Local: A Conversation about Regionalism and Northwest Poetry, Studia Neophilogica
Interview with Lars Nordstrom
1985
1.33.1
Cimarron Review: Oklahoma State University
Interview with Michael J. Bugeja
1985
1.34
Letters on voice, Poet News
Questions from Mary Zeppa
1987
1.35
Making Things Happen: Marvin Bell and William Stafford, Oregon English Journal (1987, pub. 1999)
1987-1999
1.36
Craft interview
Interview with William Packard
1987
1.37
William Stafford in At the Field’s End
Interview with Nicholas O’Connor
1987
1.38
Account of a dream, to Diane Hill and Karen Kenyon at Sunshower
1988
1.39
An Interview with William Stafford, Maryland Poetry Review
Interview with Anthony McGurrin and Michael Fallon
1988

Interviews, 1988-2001Return to Top

Container(s): Box 1b

1 box
Container(s) Description Dates
Folder
1b.40
Lucky Talk, to Paul Janeczko
Poem commentary by Stafford for Paul Janeczko’s anthology, This Delicious Day
1988
1b.41
From "A Conversation with William Stafford"
Interview with Jeff Gundy for Modern American Poetry
1988
1b.42
Shelter From the Permanent Gale, The Literary Center Quarterly
Interview with George Myers, Jr.
1989
1b.43
William Stafford: A Conversation, Tampa Review
Conversation with Stafford, Richard Mathews, Dorothy Stafford and Kathryn Van Spanckeren
1989
1b.44
Comments on "Traveling Through the Dark," Oregon English Journal
Interview with Vincent Wixon and Michael Markee
1989
1b.45
William Stafford: An Interview by Claire Cooperstein, Poets and Writers Magazine
Interview by Claire Cooperstein
1990
1b.46
Round Three, Poets and Writers Magazine
Stafford’s response to Stephen Minot’s criticism
1991
1b.47
Poetry Happens Whenever the Language Gets Lucky
Interview with Thomas Kennedy
1991
1b.48
Comment on "One Time", The Place My Words Are Looking For
1991
1b.49
A Priest of the Imagination, Friends Journal
Interview with David Elliot
1991
1b.49b
untitled, Writer's Digest
Questionnarie sent to Bruce Woods
1992
1b.50
William Stafford, What! Contemporary Writing and Ideas
Interview with Kevin Connolly
1993
1b.51
PN Magazine
Interview with June Owens
1993
1b.52
William Stafford: An Interview by Thomas E. Kennedy
for The American Poetry Review
1993
1b.53
William Stafford: The Art of Poetry LXVII, The Paris Review
Interview with William Young
1993
1b.54
BABEL questionnaire
1993
1b.55
Letters, and An Interview with William Stafford, Bakunin
Interview with Mitchell Smith
1993
1b.56
Remembering William Stafford, Kansas Quarterly
1994
1b.57
Fishing Your Life, Bonuses, and the Helicopter Arts, Connections
Interview with Gala Muench
2001
1b.58
Listings of Stafford interviews compiled by Paul Merchant and Vince Wixon
ca. 2000

Book Reviews, 1948-1963Return to Top

Container(s): Box 2

1 box
Container(s) Description Dates
Folder
2.1
Review of "The Landscape Has Voices," Scott Greer in The Bridge
October 12, 1948
2.2
Fellowship: "Pacifist Hero": review of Spring Is Not Gentle, Ronald Kirkbridge
February 1950
2.3
Fellowship: Mennonite CPS Story: review of Service for Peace, Melvin Gingerich
May 1950
2.4
Fellowship: "A Sure Faith": review of Winter Solstice and Other Poems, Winifred Rawlins
September 1953
2.5
Fellowship: A Hateful Thing: review of Who Speaks for Man?, Norman Cousins
October 1953
2.6
Poetry:"Several Tongues": reviews of Union Street by Charles Causely; Of the Festivity by William Dickey; First and Second Love by Eleanor Farjeon; The Collected Poems of E.J. Pratt; The Stone and the Shell by Sara Henderson Hay; The World's One Clock by Louise Townsend Nicholl; Zen Telegrams by Paul Reps.
January 1960
2.7
Poetry: "Breath in Cold Air": reviews of Back to Life, ed. Robert Conquest; Anerca, ed. Edmund Carpenter; Facing North, Terence Heywood and Edward Lowbury
December 1960
2.8
Poetry: "Confrontations": reviews of Beasts in Clothes, Harold Witt; The Linen Bands, Raymond Roseliep; The Outdoor Labyrinth, Myron H. Broomell; Companions to Your Doom, Richard Emil Braun; Changes, Michael Benedikt
March 1962
2.9
Poetry: "Two Good Hands": review of In Praise of Adam by Reuel Denney
December 1962
2.10
Poetry: "Touching Sacred Objects": reviews of Collected Poems, Winifred Townley Scott; Collected Verse Plays, Richard Eberhart; 16 Once Published, Louis Zukofsky
May 1963
2.11
Poetry: "The Service of Friendliness": review of The Norfolk Poems of Hayden Carruth
August 1963
2.12
Poetry: "In the Sandburg Tradition": review of Honey and Salt, Carl Sandburg
September 1963
2.13
Writers' Digest: "A Scholar with Savvy": review of The Poet and the Poem by Judson Jerome
1963

Book Reviews, 1964-1967Return to Top

Container(s): Box 3

1 box
Container(s) Description Dates
Folder
3.1
Unpublished review of The Psalm of Christ by Chad Walsh
1964
3.2
Chicago Tribune: "Poetic Homage to a Welsh Bard," review of A Garland for Dylan Thomas
February 2, 1964
3.3
Chicago Tribune: review of E.E. Cummings The Magic Maker
March 15, 1964
3.4
Chicago Tribune: Review of Robert Frost in Russia
April 12, 1964
3.5
Poetry: "Terminations, Revelations": reviews of At the End of the Open Road, Louis Simpson; Between Matter and Principle, Alan Stephens; My Bones Being Wiser, Vassar Miller; The African Boy, E.N. Sargent; Interpreter's House, William Dickey
May 1964
3.6
Chicago Tribune: Review of Selected Letters of Robert Frost, ed. Lawrance Thompson
September 6, 1964
3.7
Chicago Tribune: Review of The Acts of Creation, Arthur Koestler
October 8, 1964
3.8
Chicago Tribune: reviews of The Dialogues of Archibald MacLeish and Mark Van Doren, ed. Warren V. Bush; and Selected Poems, Stephen Spender
November 1, 1964
3.9
Chicago Tribune: review of For the Union Dead, Robert Lowell
November 15, 1964
3.10
Chicago Tribune: review of Dylan Thomas's Choice, an Anthology of Poetry
December 20, 1964
3.11
Poetry: "Indirections of Reason": review of The Journal of John Cardan, Together with The Quest of the Opal and The Problem of Form, J.V. Cunningham; To What Strangers, What Welcome, J.V. Cunningham (1964, pub. 1965)
January 1965
3.12
Chicago Tribune: "Fathoming Five Poets," reviews of Theodore Roethke: Essays on the Poetry, ed. Arnold Stein; The Poetry and Prose of E.E. Cummings, Robert E. Wegner; The Poetic Themes of Robert Lowell, Jerome Mazzaro; A Colder Fire: The Poetry of Robert Penn Warren, Victor H. Strandberg; To Criticize the Critic and Other Writings, T.S. Eliot
January 9, 1965
3.13
Chicago Tribune: review of Man Does, Woman Is, Robert Graves
January 10, 1965
3.14
Chicago Tribune: review of The Lost World, Randall Jarrell
February 14, 1965
3.15
Chicago Tribune: review of Dylan Thomas, His Life and Work, John Ackerman; Dylan Thomas and Poetic Disassociation, David Holbrook; The Days of Dylan Thomas, a Pictorial Biography, Bill Read
February 28, 1965
3.16
Chicago Tribune: review of The Orgy, by Muriel Rukeyser
March 7, 1965
3.17
Poetry: "Losses, Engagements, Privacie"s: reviews of The Whitsun Weddings, Philip Larkin; Selected Poems, Stephen Spender; Man Does, Woman Is, Robert Graves
July 1965
3.18
Poetry: "The Inner Legislation": review of Markings, Dag Hammarskjold
August 1965
3.19
Chicago Tribune: review of Robert Frost: Life and Talks-Walking, Louis Martins
August 15, 1965
3.20
Poetry: "Weighed and Found Wanted": reviews eight anthologies including Roofs of Gold, ed. Padraic Colum; Poems of Doubt and Belief, ed. Tom F. Driver and Robert Pack; American Lyric Poems, ed. Elder Olson; Poets of Today, ed. Walter Lowenfels; American Poems, ed. Jascha Kessler; New Negro Poets: USA, ed. Langston Hughes; Dylan Thomas's Choice, ed. Ralph Maud and Aneirin Talfan Davies; A New Directions Reader, ed. Hayden Carruth and J. Laughlin.
September 1965
3.21
Chicago Tribune: reviews of Sound and Form in Modern Poetry, Harvey Gross; A Prosody Handbook, Karl Shapiro and Robert Beum; The Gist of Poetics, Clyde E. Henson
September 12, 1965
3.22
Chicago Tribune: "Past and Present in a Mediterranean Paradise," review of Majorca Observed, Robert Graves and Paul Hogarth
September 26, 1965
3.23
Chicago Tribune: "The Poet's Art in Clear Focus," review of American Poetry Since 1945, Stephen Stepanchev (1965)
October 3, 1965
3.24
Chicago Tribune: "Wholesale Dismissal": Review of The Partial Critics, Lee T. Lemon
October 10, 1965
3.25
Capital Times: review of Country Places, August Derleth
November 15, 1965
3.26
Chicago Tribune: "An Apocalyptic View of History," review of The Old Glory, Robert Lowell
November 21, 1965
3.27
Chicago Tribune: "Dispelling Some of the Clouds," review of Ezra Pound: Perspectives, ed. Noel Stock
January 2, 1966
3.28
Chicago Tribune: "The Artistry of the Actual," review of Selected Poems, Andrey Voznesensky
April 24, 1966
3.29
Poetry: "There Yet Remains What Fashion Cannot Kill:" review of Selected Poems of Edwin Arlington Robinson, ed. Morton Dauwen Zabel (1966)
June 1966
3.30
Chicago Tribune: review of Selected Poems: New and Old 1923-1966, Robert Penn Warren
October 9, 1966
3.31
Chicago Tribune: "An American Literary Phenomenon," review of Robert Frost: The Early Years, 1847-1915, Lawrance Thompson
November 6, 1966
3.32
Chicago Tribune: "Reminisence and Appreciation of Eliot": review of T.S. Eliot: The Man and His Work, ed. Allen Tate
November 13, 1966
3.33
Chicago Tribune: "A World of the Imgination," review of The Letters of Wallace Stevens, ed. Holly Stevens; Wallace Stevens: The Art of Uncertainty, Herbert J. Stern
November 27, 1966
3.34
Poetry: "Sidesaddle on the Ocean:" review of Looking Up at Leaves, Barbara Howes
January 1967
3.35
Chicago Tribune: review of Near the Ocean, Robert Lowell, Chicago Tribune
February 5, 1967
3.36
West Coast Review: review of Toward Montebello, Warren Carrier
Spring 1967
3.37
Chicago Tribune: "Aiming with the Head": review of Poems 1957-1967, James Dickey and Berryman's Sonnets, John Berryman
May 14, 1967
3.38
Chicago Tribune: review of Of Flesh and Bone, John Frederick Nims
June 11, 1967
3.39
Chicago Tribune: "Toward the End of the World," review of Herakles, A Play in Verse, Archibald MacLeish
June 25, 1967
3.40
Chicago Tribune: "Promising Was Too Strong a Word," review of Poems Written in Early Youth, T.S. Eliot
August 13, 1967
3.41
Poetry: "A Five-Book Shelf": review of Half Sun Half Sleep, Mary Swenson; Excusions: New and Selected Poems, Katherine Hoskins; Buckshee, Ford Madox Ford; This Strangest Everything, John Ciardi; The Collected Shorter Poems, Kenneth Rexroth.
December 1967
3.42
The American Scholar: review of The Wind Southerly, Heather Ross Miller
Winter 1967-1968

Book Reviews, 1968-1978Return to Top

Container(s): Box 4

1 box
Container(s) Description Dates
Folder
4.1
Poetry: "Whole and Changing," review of Selected Writings by Charles Olson ed. Robert Creeley
March 1968
4.2
The American Scholar: "Nostalgia, Discovery, a New Kind of Being," review of The Savage Mind, Claude Levi Strauss; Ishi in Two Worlds, Theodora Kroeber
Summer 1968
4.3
Poetry: "Books That Look Out, Books That Look In": review of Openings, Wendell Berry; The Unblinding, Laurence Lieberman; Awaken, Bells Falling, Lewis Turco; In the Mecca, Gwendolyn Brooks; The Talking Girl, John Thompson; Selected Poems of Rosemary Thomas.
March 1969
4.4
The New Orleans Review: Reviews of Summer Love and Surf, Philip Appleman; Eight Poets of Germany & America, ed. Heiner Bastian and George Hitchcock; Once Again, Jean-Francois Bory; Watch Us Pass, Robert Canzoneri; Mr Menu, Louis Garcia; Selected Poems, Yvan Goll; Locations, Jim Harrison; Poems, 1933-67, H.R. Hays; The Unblinding, Laurence Lieberman; The Collected Longer Poems, Kenneth Rexroth; New Heiroglyphic Tales, Edouard Roditi; What the Grass Says, Charles Simic; Driving to Biloxi, Edgar Simmons; Inside the Blood Factory, Diane Wakoski.
Spring 1969
4.5
Hudson Review: "At Home on Earth": review essay on Since Silent Spring, Frank Graham; Terracide, Ron M. Linton; Challenge for Survival, ed. Pierre Dansereau; The End of the Twentieth Century, Desmond King-Helle; The Only Earth We Have, Lawrence Pringle; New Lives, New Lanscapes, Nan Fairbrother; Biology and the Future of Man, ed. Philip Handler; America's Changing Environment, ed. Roger Revella and Hans H. Landsberg; Reason Awake, Rene Dubos; The Environmental Revolution, Max Nicholson; The RSVP Cycles, Lawrence Halprin; Design with Nature, Ian L. McHarg
Autumn 1970
4.6
English Language Notes: "At Home on Earth": unpublished? review of John Greenleaf Whittier's Poetry: An Appraisal and a Selection, ed. by Robert Penn Warren
1971
4.7
The Sunday Star: Review of Other Things and the Aardvark, Eugene McCarthy
January 10, 1971
4.8
Ararat: "Finding Home": Review of Homage to Adana, David Kherdian
Summer 1971
4.9
PTA Magazine: Review of Earth, Air, Fire, & Water, Frances Manson McCullough
1972
4.10
Criticism: review of William Carlos Williams: The Later Poems, Jerome Mazzaro
Spring 1974
4.11
The New York Times Book Review: review of Local Lives, Millen Brand
May 18, 1975
4.12
American Literature: review of Poetry and the Common Life, M.L. Rosenthal
November 1976
4.13
Journal of Ethnic Studies: unpublished? review of Riding the Earthboy 40, James Welch
1976
4.14
The New York Times Book Review: review of Moon-Whales, and Other Moon Poems, Ted Hughes
January 9, 1977
4.15
The Saturday Review: review of The Names of the Lost, Philip Levine
September 3, 1977
4.16
American Literature: "Swimming Out of a Fish trap": review of Five Temperaments: Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lowell, James Merrill, Adrienne Rich, Joshn Ashbery, David Kalstone
May 1978
4.17
Inquiry: "A Poet with Something to Tell," review of Philip Levine
June 26, 1978

Book Reviews, 1979-1994Return to Top

Container(s): Box 4b

1 box
Container(s) Description Dates
Folder
4b.1
Inquiry: "The Glory and the Grief": review of The Penguin Book of Women Poets, ed. Carol Cosman, Joan Keefe, and Kathleen Weaver
March 1979
4b.2
New York Times Book Review: "The Self-Contained Traveler": review of News from the Glacier, John Haines
October 13, 1982
4b.3
Berkeley Poetry Review: Review of Collected Poems, Josephine Miles
1985-1986
4b.4
unpublished?: "A Strange Kind of Stealthy Torque: Self-Review of An Oregon Message, William Stafford
1987
4b.5
Hungry Mind Review: "Human Claims": review of The Freedom of History, Jim Moore
Fall 1988
4b.6
Hungry Mind Review: Review of Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness, ed. Carolyn Forche
Winter 1993-1994
4b.7
records for reviews without manuscripts or print copies
1970-1977

Stories, 1937-2012Return to Top

Container(s): Box 5

1 box
Container(s) Description Dates
Folder
5.1
"Answer, Echoes"
Written in Kansas. Two drafts and published text.
1937-1941
5.2
"The City Behind the Eyes"
Written in Kansas. One typed draft.
1937-1941
5.3
"Miss Howard and Beyond Las Vegas"
Written at El Dorado, Kansas. One typed draft.
1937-1941
5.4
"Interview with a Town" later titled "Three Stories that almost Happened"
Written in Kansas. Two drafts.
1937-1941
5.5
"Moonstone"
Written in Kansas. One typed draft.
1937-1941
5.6
"Near is the City of David"
Written in Kansas. Three drafts.
1937-1949
5.7
"Mr. Right"
Written in Kansas. One typed draft.
1937-1941
5.8
"The Osage Orange Tree"
Written in Kansas. Two drafts and photocopy of published text.
1937-1959
5.9
"Pills Pender"
Written in Kansas. One typed draft.
1937-1941
5.10
"A Pint in the Back Booth"
Written in El Dorado, Kansas. One typed draft.
1941
5.11
"The Shoes"
Written in Kansas. One typed draft.
November 19, 1937
5.12
"Two Men"
Written in Kansas. One typed draft.
1937-1941
5.13
"The Unknown Region"
Written in Kansas. Two typed drafts.
1937-1948
5.14
"A Visit to the Delmonico"
Written in Lawrence, Kansas. One typed draft.
1937-1941
5.15
"What Happened at the Lazy Phil's"
Written in Kansas. One typed draft.
1937-1941
5.16
"When I Was a Mule"
Written in Kansas. Three drafts.
1937-1952
5.17
"Wind in the Rigging"
Written in Kansas. Three drafts.
1937-1949
5.18
"An Evening on Earth"
Written in Los Prietos. One draft.
October 17, 1943
5.19
"So Long, Chimes"
Written in Los Prietos. One draft.
1943-1944
5.20
"To Remember: Afternoon, 1943"
Written in Los Prietos. One draft.
1943-1944
5.21
"Jabo and the Root"
Written in Berkley. One draft.
October 13, 1947
5.22
"The Man Who Turned to Salt"
Written in Berkley. One draft.
1947-1948
5.23
"The Name of the Time is Herod." Earlier versions titled "Our Neighbor, Herod."
Written in Lake Grove, Oregon. One draft.
1948
5.24
"The Littlest Chicken"
Written at Lake Grove, Oregon. One draft.
1948-1949
5.25
"Fried Rabbit"
Written at University of Iowa. One draft.
1950-1952
5.26
"Held Level" later changed to "The Lost Catfish in the Sandy River"
Written at University of Iowa. Five drafts.
1951-1954
5.27
"Loyalty Check"
Written at University of Iowa. Two drafts.
1950
5.28
"Mr. Bomb"
Written at University of Iowa. One draft.
1950-1952
5.29
"The Second-Storey Window"
Written at University of Iowa. One draft.
1952
5.30
"A Way of Seeing"
Written at University of Iowa. Three drafts.
1950-1952
5.31
"Sounds Reasonable Enough (Dear Coach Musselman"
Written in Portland. Photocopy of published version from Harvard Yardage
October 8, 1955
5.32
"Recklessly a Friend"
Written at Yaddo. Two drafts.
1956-1957
5.33
"Robinson Jeffers' Groceryman" and "Joan"
Written in Portland. Published versions of both stories in Northwest Review.
1973
5.34
Research notes about Stafford stories.
Compiled by Paul Merchant
2012

Talks, 1957-1991Return to Top

Container(s): Box 6

1 box
Container(s) Description Dates
Folder
6.1
Introduce Hideo to Chapel
William Stafford provides an introduction to Hideo Hashimoto speech.
November 7, 1957
6.2
Introduction at Lewis and Clark College
January 30, 1958
6.3
Oregon Poetry Day Banquet
October 15, 1958
6.4
Scripture of Our Time - A Chapel Talk
March 1, 1962
6.5
Left Foot Hope, Right Foot Despair
For the commencement at Lewis and Clark College.
June 2, 1963
6.6
Stories the Blow Away
Speech for Pacific University.
September 11, 1963
6.7
To the National Honor Society
An introduction speech for the National Honor Society, Lake Oswego High School.
March 5, 1964
6.8
The Recognition of Discoveries
For the Convocation at Willamette University.
March 19, 1964
6.9
Three Poems
Three poems for the Lake Oswego teachers; Poems include, Hope is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson, Anecdote of the Jar by Wallace Stevenson, and As Kingfishers Catch Fire by Gerarel Mantley Hopkins.
September 3, 1964
6.10
The Recognition of Discoveries (II)
Given at the St. Louis CCCC Convention, and Scheduled for publication in the college Composition and Communications Journal.
April 1965
6.11
A Whole Wheat Valentine
For the Commencement at Rippon College.
June 1965
6.12
A History of Theory
Eastern Oregon College Commencement speech.
June 1966
6.13
Literature Now
A lecture for the Civilizations course at Lewis and Clark College.
June 2, 1966
6.14
Coming Toward Today
Commencement speech for Catlin Gabel School, Portland Oregon.
June 1966
6.15
It is in the Minds of Men that Peace is Won
Lake Grove Presbyterian Conference on Viet Nam.
October 5, 1966
6.16
Structure in Poetry
Lecture given at Marylhurst University July 1966, University of Nevada, July 1966, and Bozeman Montana, October 1967.
1996-1967
6.17
The Artist in all of Us
A statement on art for the Lincoln High School "Symposium" on the "Artist and Society".
February 1967
6.18
Critic, Fact, Fiction
For NCTE national convention, Honolulu Hawaii.
November 1967
6.19
A Better Art Inside a Lesson
For Asilomar seventeenth conference of teachers of English.
September 1967
6.20
Hawaii Council of Teachers of English Annual Conference
A reminder for speakers and presentations.
April 6, 1968
6.21
"Humanities and Un-Humanities"
Published with title: "Today's Poets and the Language of Everyday Life." See Stafford Bibliography #F84.
1969
6.22
Opening Statement - Conference on Poetry and the National Conscience
University of Maryland.
April 1970
6.23
For Chapel at Gustavus Adolphus
Handwritten draft.
April 28, 1970
6.24
Everytime We Graduate
Commencement speech for Linfield College.
May 17, 1970
6.25
Introduction for Kurt Vonnegut at Library of Congress
Typed draft with handwritten corrections.
February 1, 1971
6.26
Introduction for Eugene McCarthy at Library of Congress
2 Typed drafts.
May 11, 1971
6.27
What Happens When You Say or Write a Word?
Handwritten draft.
July 1971
6.28
Following the Golden String
Typed draft with handwritten corrections. Undated speech given while Poetry Consultant at Library of Congress.
ca. 1971
6.29
Poets Speak of the Earth: America the New Eden
TV script for program at "Man and the Land Conference," Oregon State University.
1972
6.30
The End of a Golden String
Typed draft with handwritten corrections. Talk given to NCTE, Dallas.
March 17, 1973
6.31
Leftovers: A Care Package
1 handwritten draft, 1 typed draft with handwritten corrections, and 1 clean typed copy. Published in a pamplet titled Two Lectures: A Care Package. See Stafford Bibliography #F220.
1973
6.32
Things to Take Along
Commencement for Evergreen State College.
1980
6.33
Opening the Lake Oswego Library
August 22, 1983
6.34
An Excursion of Thoughts on Reading Anne Sexton
At Reed College.
September 1985
6.35
Oregon House Session
April 13, 1987
6.36
Fishtrap 89'
Transcript of a talk by William Stafford given at the Fishtrap writers conference
1989
6.37
For our Esteemed Companions on the Way
Transcript of a talk by William Stafford given at the Western Writers' Conference.
June 26, 1989
6.38
Making Peace Among the Words
Keeney Peace Lectureship at Bluffton College.
March 1990
6.39
Walt Whitman Birthplace Association Speech
Includes revisions of "Our Kind", Serving with Gideon", West of Here, "The Gift", and "Advice".
June 1990
6.40
Accompanying Students toward Poetry
Speech delivered in Stuttgart, Germany.
September 26, 1991
6.41
Mt. Angel College
Announcement for poetry reading at Mt. Angel College by William Stafford and Ralph Salisbury.
Undated
6.42
Lecture Notes
Two undated lecture notes titled; "How Reading is Sustained", and "Why a Poem or Other Art Works Cannot be Built by Pattern or Rule".
Undated

Workshops and Pageants, 1958-1989Return to Top

Container(s): Box 6b

1 box
Container(s) Description Dates
Folder
6b.1
Literature and Language in Service Course
A workshop for the Portland Public Schools.
1958
6b.2
Poetry Making Considered
Workshop session for the Eugene Writers Conference.
June 26, 1960
6b.3
Montana Writers Workshop
Program (1964), publications, programs, Stafford notes, student works, and misc papers for the Missoula Montana writers workshop.
1964-1965
6b.4
University of Utah Writers Conference
Programs, schedules, notes, teaching materials, and misc papers for the 1966 University of Utah Writers Conference.
1966
6b.5
Port Townsend Summer School of the Arts
Workshop program, schedules, notes and misc papers.
1966
6b.6
Port Townsend Summer School of the Arts
Workshop program, schedules, notes and misc papers.
1967
6b.7
34th Writers Conference - University of Colorado
Program, schedules, correspondence, notes, teaching materials, and misc papers for the thirty-fourth Writers Conference in the Rocky Mountains, Boulder Colorado.
1967
6b.8
Poetry in-Service New York Teachers Course
Includes lecture "Where the Words Come From".
1967
6.9
University of Utah Writers Conference
Notes and teaching materials for the 1970 University of Utah Writers Conference.
1970
6b.10
Reporting to Crazy Horse UCSC Workshop Santa Cruz
Notes and teaching materials for the UCSC Reporting to Crazy Horse writing workshop.
1971
6b.11
Haystack Writers Workshop Summer 1989
Handout guide of poets and writers. Contains W.S. poems "Not Marble nor the Guild's Monuments", and from one of Jim Heynen's "Ways to Start Writing".
1989
6b.12
Miscellaneous programs for conferences and workshops
Undated
6b.13
Miscellaneous notes from workshops, talks, etc.
Undated
6b.14
"Towards this Day" CBYF National Youth Conference
Script for the CBYF National Youth Conference pageant.
1954
6b.15
"Alters of Faith" KATU Christmas Special
Outline and script for the KATU Christmas special pageant.
1963
6b.16
KGW Christmas Program
Program materials for KGW Christmas program pageant.
1966
6b.17
Research notes about Stafford prose
Compiled by Paul Merchant.
2012

Essays, 1947-1985Return to Top

Container(s): Box 7

1 box
Container(s) Description Dates
Folder
7.1
"Are You Sure You Want To Teach?"
California Journal of Secondary Education.
1947
7.2
"War Trial"
Three typescripts.
1950
7.3
"Religious Perspectives in Teaching English Literature"
A comment on Mr. Hoxie Fairchild's, Hazen pamphlet.
1950
7.4
"The Proof and Echo of All Human Fame"
Typed (2-page) essay about Alfred Tennyson with hand-written correction.
ca. 1950
7.5
"Winterward" an Abstract
Intro to Ph.D. dissertation Winterward.
1954
7.6
"The Spontaneity Theme"
Subtitled "Mutually Reinforcing Passages in Wordsworth, Newman, and Arnold"
1954
7.7
"The Negotiable Poem"
In Approach journal.
1960
7.8
"I am a Pacifist"
A discussion on war.
1960
7.9
"Fiction Versus the Lie"
A search for identities in Carlyle and Wordsworth - Particularly as related to The France Revolution and "The Convention of Cintra".
1961
7.10
"How to Keep from Being Overwhelmed by Your Appreciation of Poetry"
The Journal, Lewis and Clark College.
January 1962
7.11
"Writing the Australian Crawl"
Read at NCTE convention 1963, Published in NCTE's CCC journal 1964.
1963
7.12
"The Poet on Campus"
For Writers Digest, Spring 1964.
1963
7.13
"No Answer to this Day"
1963
7.15
"The Convent Threshold"
1964
7.15
"A Send-Off"
For the Grand Ronde Review.
1964
7.16
"Composition as Art"
A prose statement for the back cover of College Composition and Communication. This publication is listed in the Stafford bibliography #E297, but the entry lacks a description for this statement.
February 1964
7.17
"The Eve of St. Agnes" and "The Convent Threshold"
For Pocketbook publishers.
1964
7.18
"New Perimeters: Poets on the Early Warning Line"
1965
7.19
"Scripture: The Boundary of Literature"
1965
7.20
"In the Funhouse Mirror"
Satire Newsletter, State University College N.Y.
1965
7.21
"A Few Easy Lessons"
An essay including "Seventy Dollars an Hour", "You are on Trial at School", "Parents and the First Day of School", "What is a Current Event", and "Soliloquy at a Writing School".
1965
7.22
"A Poets Voice: An Approach Through Peace"
A statement on "How does a poem mean" for the Vanguard, Portland State University.
1965
7.23
"Om a Statement of Sympathy foe Civil Rights Workers"
1965
7.24
"A Statement About Fifteen"
Poems for young readers, 56th Annual NCTE Convention.
1966
7.25
"What Roethke Gave" and "Roethke's Way"
1966
7.26
"Start with the Little Things"
For Camp Fire Girl magazine.
1966
7.27
"Where the Words Come From"
1966
7.28
Tennessee Poetry Journal Statement
1967
7.29
"Poetry and Music: Some Reflections on the Muse"
For Music Teacher at Corvallis, Oregon.
1967
7.30
"Finding the Language"
Submitted for Steins book on Fall reads.
1967
7.31
"Every Syllable Can Vote"
Essay following "Finding the Language".
1967
7.32
"A Little Statement About Art: The Importance of the Trivial"
Prose statement with copy of correspondence to David Green.
1967
7.33
"Poems, Traditional and Modern"
1967
7.34
"These Poems"
Introduction by William Stafford for Earle Birney's "Memory No Servants: Poems 1947-1967".
1968
7.35
"Lit Instructor: Why it Matters'
1968
7.36
"Today's Poets and Everyday language"
1968
7.37
"Poems and a Statement" about "Traveling through the Dark"
Published. See Stafford bibliography #s F76 and A75.
1968
7.38
"Brother Antoninus, (William O. Everson)"
For St. James Press, "Contemporary Poets of the English Language".
1969
7.39
"On May Swenson"
For St. James Press.
1969
7.40
"A Way of Writing"
For Field: Contemporary Poetry and Politics.
1969
7.41
"The College Bookman"
For Harper & Row Publishers.
1970
7.42
"A Witness for Robert Penn Warren"
1970
7.43
Drafts of official Library of Congress Consultant's reports
Includes notes on guests and readers at LOC.
circa 1971
7.44
"Getting Our Language Back"
circa 1974
7.45
"The Terror in Robert Frost"
For New York Times magazine, August 18, 1974
1974
7.46
"Assumptions About Literature Classes"
Seattle NCTE
1976
7.47
"A Report on a College Party: 5 November 1976"
Unpublished typed copy with handwritten notes.
November 5, 1976
7.48
"Ten Little Questions"
Typed draft of essay sent to Agenda.
1976
7.49
"The Minuet: Sidling Around Student Poems"
Typed draft and correspondence for essay published by Field. See Stafford bibliography items #s E989 and F370.
1976
7.50
"A Way of Writing"
Early draft with handwritten notes.
circa 1977
7.51
"Whose Tradition"
One clean typed copy and two typed versions with handwritten edits. First published in Writing the Australian Crawl. See Stafford bibliography #s A30 and F346.
circa 1978
7.52
"The Kids Dance"
Typed draft and copy of letter to Gary Young. Published in The Heart of Knowing (F352).
1979
7.53
"Staying Carefully Ignorant"
For The Writer Feb. 1982. Essay includes "The Writers Vocation" using selections from "Writing the Australian Crawl".
1982
7.54
"In Memorium of Richard Hugo"
For The Weekly Seattle, Nov. 10, 1982
1982
7.55
"A New Portfolio of Poems"
Introduced and selected by William Stafford for World Order quarterly, Vol. 17, no. 4.
1983
7.56
"A Priest of the Imagination"
For the ADE Bulletin no. 76, Winter 1983.
1983
7.57
"A Side Glance at History"
For The Bench Press.
1984
7.58
How to Eat Loaches, by Yorifum Yaguchi
Book and manuscript. Note by William Stafford.
1984
7.59
"The World and Yellow Cars"
1985
7.60
"Exploring the Wild, Surprising World of Poetry"
For Learning Magazine, Jan. 1985.
1985
7.61
"Some Qualms about Excellence"
1985

Essays, 1986-1993Return to Top

Container(s): Box 8

1 box
Container(s) Description Dates
Folder
8.1
Russ Roberts' Book - Introduction
Introduction by William Stafford.
1986
8.2
"William Stafford, 1914-"
Autobiographical essay. Correspondence and drafts.
1986
8.3
"Inner Journeys, Outer Balances"
Afterword to James DePreist's This Precipice Garden. Drafts.
1986
8.4
"Jumping Into the Daylight"
April 1986
8.5
"How it Feels to Write Poetry Today"
Including the poem "Waiting for the Poem to Come".
circa 1986
8.6
"Hitchhiking Toward Jeffers"
For American Poetry.
1986
8.7
"Soul Food"
Essay published with title, "The Writers Compass" for The Writer, Sept. 1987. Drafts and correspondence.
1987
8.8
"Hunting for Gold in a Manuscript"
For The Phoenix magazine, Clark College, WA.
1987
8.9
"Iowa, Snodgrass, Heart's Needle"
For Ford-Brown and Co. Publishers. On the Poet W.D. Snodgrass.
1988
8.10
"Larger than the World"
Introduction for Fr. Jeremy's book of poems.
1988
8.11
"What Happened at Port Angeles"
On Raymond Carver for Washington Magazine, Published as "Suddenly Everything Became Clear to Him: Writer Raymond Carver Turned College Life into Art".
1988
8.12
"Making Best Use of a Workshop"
For The Writer, April 1988
1988
8.13
"Learning One's Place in the Family"
1988
8.14
"An Artist's Anguish"
In response to "Piss Christ" by Andres Serrano and the NEA/ACLU conflict.
circa 1989
8.15
"Of All Forms of Literature Poetry Suffers First from Pollution"
Published without title in Hungry Mind Review (E1583). Correspondence and typed draft.
1989
8.16
"Eighth Grade Art"
For The Hungry Mind Review, July 1990.
1990
8.17
"Months with R's in them"
For New York Times Magazine, Oct. 21, 1990. Published in the article "The Oyster at its Best".
1990
8.18
"Reaching Into the Well"
Includes the poem "Why the Sun Comes Up".
1990
8.19
"Being Tough, Being Gentle"
For The Writer, May 1991.
1991
8.20
"A Guide for Modern Teachers of Creative Writing"
Open letter in response to Stephen Minot's critique of Stafford's comments in an interview with Claire Cooperstein. Published in Poets & Writers Sept/Oct. 1991. See E1637, E1678, and H310.
1991
8.21
"Just a Good Read"
Essay for Miller Williams and the Poetry of the Particular. See F555.
1991
8.22
"Robert Bly's Working-with-Things Project"
In response to the Bly's Fest event
1991
8.23
"Available to the World"
Correspondence and drafts. Published; see F586.
1991
8.24
Introduction to Some Other Morning by Jeremy Driscoll
Typed draft.
1992
8.25
"The Writing of Bess"
Typed draft and correspondence. Published in Writer's Digest.
1992
8.26
"Approach with Caution"
Typed draft and correspondence. See A57b.
1993
8.27
"Sometimes, Reading"
Typed draft. Submitted to Ohio Review. See A75 and F681.
1993
8.28
"Listening, Sniffing, Inhaling a Student's Work"
Unpublished? essay sent to University of Texas at San Antonio.
1993
8.29
"Not a Speech"
Essay including the poem "With Kit, Age 7, at the Beach" published in Sponsa Regis, later called Women Today, and the poem "Lit Instructor".
Undated
8.30
"Improving Your Dreams"
For a poem and essay labeled "A Course in Creative Writing, from A Glass Face in the Rain.
Undated
8.31
"A Sign from one of the Islands"
To Washburn Press.
Undated
8.32
"A Gesture Towards an Unfound Renaissance"
Undated
8.33
"The Writer and His Beliefs - An Excursion"
Undated
8.34
"Teaching 'Edited English'"
unpublished? essay. Typed drafts with handwritten corrections
Undated
8.35
Untitled prose, "Think of the writers who broke into individuality..."
unidentified fragment.
Undated

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Pacifism--Poetry.
  • Pacifism--United States.
  • Poetry -- Authorship.
  • Poetry -- Study and teaching.
  • Poetry--20th century.
  • Poets, American--20th century.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Conscientious objectors -- United States.

Personal Names

  • Stafford, Dorothy
  • Stafford, William, 1914-1993--Archives

Corporate Names

  • Lewis & Clark College (Portland, Or.)

Geographical Names

  • Kansas.
  • Oregon.

Other Creators

  • Personal Names
    • Stafford, Kim (creator)