Stafford, Kim RobertHenry, James, 1908-Greenfield, Thelma N.
Title:
Kim Robert Stafford collection
Dates:
1972-1989 ( inclusive )
Quantity:
3.55 linear feet (7 containers)
Collection Number:
Coll. 206
Summary:
Kim Stafford is a writer from the Pacific Northwest. His poetry and essays focus on the relationship of
people with nature and social custom. Stafford places great value on folklore and bases much of the
research for his own writing on the study of folk custom and oral history. He has taught and served as an
artist-in-residence throughout the state of Oregon and in Washington, Idaho, and California. He regularly
offers poetry readings and writing workshops and is active as a printer. The majority of the collection of
Kim Stafford’s work encompasses books and other printed material, including periodicals and newspapers.
Also included are photographs, videos, broadsides, and printed flyers.
Repository:
University of Oregon Libraries
Special Collections & University Archives
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through
a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Biographical Note
Kim Robert Stafford was born on October 15, 1949 in Portland, Oregon, one of four children of Dorothy and William Stafford, who was also a poet. Stafford’s interest in nature dominates his poetry and essays, which focus on the relationship of people with nature and social custom.
Kim Stafford has spent most of his life in the Pacific Northwest, particularly in Oregon. He received his college and graduate education at the University of Oregon where he obtained his B. A. in 1971, his M. A. in 1973, and his Ph.D. in Middle English Literature in 1979. In addition to a fellowship for graduate study at the University of Oregon from 1971-1974, Stafford received creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1976 and 1984.
During the 1970s Stafford began an intense study of printing in Port Townsend, Washington, where he assisted Graywolf Press in the production of printed works of several poets. He has made a practice of regularly issuing postcard editions of his poems from his own press, Ashwood Press.
Stafford places great value on folklore and bases much of the research for his own writing on the study of folk custom and oral history. He served as an oral historian for the Siuslaw Pioneer Museum in Florence, Oregon, in 1975. Stafford’s interest in folk literature led to his regular attendance and support of the Cowboy Poetry Gathering, held annually in Elko, Nevada. In January 1990 he gave the Gathering’s keynote address.
Kim Stafford has steadfastly pursued his creative work in Oregon. He has taught and served as an artist-in-residence throughout the state of Oregon and in Washington, Idaho, and California. He was an artist-in-residence in Burns, Oregon (1975) and Wallowa, Oregon (1978). Stafford taught at Pacific Lutheran University (1980), Idaho Sate University (1981-1982), and the University of California at Davis (1983-1984). He began teaching in 1978 at Lewis and Clark College, and became director of the Northwest Writing Institute (Oregon Writing Project).
A steady contributor to many literary journals, Stafford describes himself as a “professional eavesdropper,” and relies on his daily journal as a source for his writing projects. In 1976 he published a collection of his own poetry, A Gypsy’s History of the World, and contributed to a collection of poetry by his father, Braided Apart. Stafford continues to publish collections of his poetry and prose. His collection of essays, Having Everything Right, won a special award in 1986 from the Western States Arts Foundation.
Stafford has contributed to many Northwest as well as national poetry and literary journals. In Oregon, his work frequently appears in The Oregonian supplement of Northwest Magazine in the poetry section as well as in feature articles. He regularly offers poetry readings and writing workshops and is active as a printer.
Content Description
Given the variety and rarity of Stafford’s publications, this collection is remarkably complete to date (September, 1990). All of the books in this collection have been removed from the manuscript collection but are available in Rare Books.
Stafford has produced several books, including two for which he shares authorship with his father William Stafford: Braided Apart (1976) and That Meeting Place: Poems (1979). The collection also includes Stafford’s award-winning collection of essays, Having Everything Right (1986), as well as his latest collection of poems about local character, Places and Stories. Within this category are also two books which present some of Stafford’s ideas and examples about teaching writing: Twenty-three Ways of Holding Still and Thirty-Seven Ways of Holding Still: Poems Written at Wallowa School and Assignments as Given (1978), which contain exercises for grade school students supplementing the examples of the work of Stafford’s students from Idaho and eastern Oregon primary and secondary schools.
Books containing contributions by Kim Stafford date from 1983 through 1988. These include Stafford’s introduction to a collection of essays in honor of his advisor and Middle English scholar Stanley Greenfield, Modes of Interpretation in Old English Literature (1986). Also included is Idaho Place Names (1988) by Lalia Boone, which contains a poem by Stafford as the frontispiece.
Stafford is a prolific contributor to national and Northwest literary journals, many of which have had short lives on the market. The collection of journals with Stafford’s poetry includes 47 journals, some with several issues containing Stafford’s work. These range from well-know journals such as the Atlantic Monthly, Poetry Northwest, and the South Carolina Review, to rare issues of Permafrost, Mister Cogito, and other ephemeral periodicals. The earliest published poem in the collection dates from 1971-1972 (Northwest Review), with the majority of entries dating from 1975-1980.
The section containing Stafford’s essays, articles, and reviews is represented by a collection of 15 periodicals. These include short stories and reviews, as well as articles about others, such as “He Found This Great Strength,” the Idaho Foxfire Network, which describes the last days of Lloyd Reynolds, scholar, artists, and friend of Stafford. This category also contains an interview with Kim Stafford about his writing (Mossy Creek Journal, 1988).
James Henry kept a cross-reference index of all of Stafford’s poems and essays. Henry’s file is kept in the Special Collections Reading Room.
As an artist-in-residence, Kim Stafford often collected and published the work of his students in booklets. These are represented in the category of work edited by Kim Stafford and include rare copies of the poetry by students at Lewiston, Idaho (1975); Enterprise, Oregon (1978); Lincoln Junior High, Burns, Oregon (1980); Redmond, Oregon (1980); and Washington High School, Portland, Oregon (1981).
Three programs contain work by Kim Stafford. Cityfolk (1981) and Cowboy Poetry Gathering (1987 and 1989) feature Stafford’s essays.
Newspapers containing poetry and essays by Kim Stafford were collected by the donor. The majority of Stafford’s works are represented here in issues of The Oregonian or its supplement, Northwest Magazine, together with Stafford’s contributions to the Elko Daily Free Press and Fresh Weekly (Willamette Week) dating from 1980 to 1989. Because the donor had Kim Stafford autograph nearly every entry of the collection, the original newspapers have been preserved and kept in a separate box at the end of the collection.
Whenever James Henry could not find original issues of journals or publications containing Stafford’s work, he obtained photocopies. Many of these copies duplicate original issues in the collection. The copies are represented in 21 titles and numerous issues.
Also included in the collection are undated press catalogues and flyers, as well as advertising postcards for Stafford’s own work or books and periodicals to which he contributed.
As director of the Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, Stafford contributed regularly to the institute’s newsletter. In addition to newsletters from 1988 through 1990, the collection also contains flyers advertising workshops and events at the Institute from 1987 to 1989.
A few newspaper articles about Kim Stafford also appear in this collection and feature Stafford’s work as a judge in the Young Writers Fiction Contest (1988), as head of a conference on writing (1989), his award for Having Everything Right (1986), as well as other events in which Stafford participated.
James Henry and Kim Stafford began corresponding in March 1981 when Henry began a serious collection of Stafford’s work. Their correspondence currently includes letters through November 1989 and reveals the wide-ranging interest, activities, and jobs that Kim Stafford took on during this period, and the slow process of assembling the materials for this collection which required Henry’s persistence. A selection of James Henry’s letters to Kim Stafford, which were photocopies from Stafford’s files, is also included. This correspondence highlights the effort involved by the collector as well as the firm friendship and respect between Stafford and Henry in their struggle as writers.
Also included among the correspondence are James Henry’s replies from publishers to his requests for copies of their journals. These have been arranged according to publishers rather than by addressee to coordinate them with the publications in the collection. The inventory identifies the names of all correspondents.
Numerous photographs of Stafford appear throughout the journal and newspaper articles of this collection. Also available is one autographed 8 by 10 inch photograph of Kim Stafford and his father.
During the 1970s the Oregon Humanities Foundation produced a television series on Northwest Writers. A video featuring Kim Stafford as part of the Visiting Writers Series is included in this collection. An audiocassette recording of Stafford’s keynote address to the Cowboy Poetry Gathering at Elko, Nevada in January 1990 is also included.
Some of Stafford’s poetry has been printed in limited editions by others. The largest (18” x 24”) in the collection is the Breakwater Broadside Series I, which included Stafford’s “The Bears” (1980). “The Rocking Chair” (1980) and “A Woman and a Bear” (1985) also include illustrations.
Kim Stafford’s father, William Stafford, is a nationally acclaimed post whose work James Henry began collecting before he began collecting Kim Stafford’s work. Some of the periodicals include poems by William Stafford who has autographed most of them. These are listed in a separate category, although the publications may be found within he appropriate category of Kim Stafford’s work.
The works donated to this collection by Thelma Greenfield are of a personal nature, most dating from Stafford’s frequent contact with the Greenfields when he was a student at the University of Oregon. The one piece of correspondence, a letter dated June 13, 1989, contains a draft of one of Stafford’s essays. The remaining items, made during the early 1970s, include several broadsides and a small handmade book which features Stafford’s poetry and photographs taken by Stafford.
Other Descriptive Information
The major portion of this collection of works by Kim Stafford is one of three collections donated to the University of Oregon Library by James Henry during 1989 and 1990. Thelma Greenfield donated additional materials for inclusion in the collection in 1990. This introductory section provides information regarding the donors James Henry and Thelma Greenfield; other sections include a biography of Kim Stafford, a scope and content note, and a box-by-box inventory of the collection.
James Henry was born in Oakland, California on July 26, 1908 and spent most of his youth in the oil country of southern California. In 1927 he went to work at the Shell Oil Refinery in Martinez, California where he remained until 1941. During the second World War, Henry served in the Air Force as an airplane and engine mechanic. At the conclusion of the war, Henry continued to work as an airplane mechanic at the San Francisco and Oakland Airports. He retired in 1968 and has lived in The Dalles, Oregon since 1979.
Over the years, Henry’s activities have ranges from touring California by motorcycle to long distance running, but by far his deepest and most compelling interests are the English language, modern literature, and book collecting. Henry has written on Thomas Wolfe and Jack London, and he had done extensive research on colloquial American English. An avid book collector, Henry had put together outstanding collections on such writers as George Sterling, Jack Kerouac, Herbert Gold, and William and Kim Stafford.
In assembling these book collections, Henry has shown himself to be an adept sleuth and a fine scholar in complaining publication histories. Many times he has ferreted out materials long considered lost by their authors and publishers. Henry has demonstrated his respect for writing and scholarship by donating these assembled collections to libraries in California and Oregon where they can be read and enjoyed by a wide audience.
James Henry first became interested in Kim Stafford’s work in 1980 while assembling a collection of materials by William Stafford, Kim’s father. Over the years, through correspondence with publishers and Kim Stafford and careful searching, Henry has put together an important collection of materials produced by Kim Stafford. During this time Henry took an active interest in Kim Stafford and his creative endeavors. The two men have been in frequent contact since 1980 and have developed a close friendship. Henry donated this collection to the University of Oregon Library during 1989 and 1990.
In 1979 Kim Stafford received his doctorate in Middle English literature from the University of Oregon. His advisor Stanley Greenfield and Greenfield’s wife, Thelma, became good friends with Kim Stafford during the course of his studies at the University of Oregon. In 1990, Thelma Greenfield donated gifts of broadsides, a book, and correspondence (which includes the draft of an essay) to add to this collection.
Use of the Collection
Restrictions on Access :
Collection is open to the public.
Collection must be used in Special Collections & University Archives Reading Room.
Restrictions on Use :
Property rights reside with Special Collections & University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries.
Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted to the
Manuscripts Librarian in Special Collections & University Archives. The
reader must also obtain permission of the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation :
[Identification of item], Kim Robert Stafford collection, Coll. 206, Special Collections & University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon.
Administrative Information
Detailed Description of the Collection
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in
the collection.
Braided Apart: Poems, by Kim Robert Stafford and William Stafford; Confluence Press
1976
The Granary: Poems, Carnegie-Mellon University Press
1982
A Gypsy’s History of the World, Copper Canyon Press
1976
Having Everything Right, Confluence Press
1986
The Middle English Pearl and the Art of Translation, Typescript of dissertation
1979
Places and Stories, Carnegie-Mellon University Press
1987
That Meeting Place: Poems, by William Stafford and Kim Robert Stafford; Gypsy Press
1979
Thirty-seven Ways of Holding Still: Poems Written at Wallowa School and Assignments as Given, Gypsy Press
1978
Twenty-three Ways of Holding Still: Poems Written at Wallowa School, Gypsy Press
1978
Books containing articles, essays, or reviews by Kim Stafford
Idaho Place Names, by Lalia Boone; University of Idaho Press; frontispiece poem by Kim Stafford
1988
James Welch, by Ron McFarland; Confluence Press
1986
Modes of Interpretation in Old English Literature: Essays in Honor of Stanley Greenfield; Phyllis Brown, et. al. eds.; University of Toronto Press; foreword by Kim Stafford
1986
Present Tense, by Magic Circle Dance Theatre; program notes by Kim Stafford
June 1988
Rain in the Forest, Light in the Trees, Owl Creek Press
1983
The Spider Anthology; Arachne’s Muse Foundation
1983
Three Rivers, Ten Years, Carnegie-Mellon University Press (University of Pittsburgh Press)
1983
The Truth About the Territory: Contemporary Nonfiction from the Northwest; Rich Ives, ed.; Owl Creek Press (two copies: hardback and paperback)
1987
Writer’s Northwest Handbook, written and edited by Media Weavers, 2d ed., “Some Remedies for Writer’s Block,” by Kim Stafford
The Trout Laker, “Hallelujah for the Thumb,” Vol. 1, No. 2
Summer 1988
5
Western American Literature, Book Review: Words for the Wind: The Collected Verse of Theodore Roethke, University of Washington Press, 1981; Vol. 17, No. 2
Series V: Photocopies of poems and essays by Kim Stafford
Container(s)
Description
Dates
Box
Folder
6
3
Arts Review, “The Bears,” Vol. 1, No. 2
Winter 1984
6
3
The Atlantic Monthly, “Feather Bag, Stick Bag”
April 1976
6
3
Christian Science Monitor, “Five Views of Concord”
November 27, 1977
6
3
Christian Science Monitor, “Mountains: The Stars Were So Close, So Clean”
March, 10, 1986
6
3
The Dragonfly, “The Pilgrim Martyred (from Jung),” No. 9
undated
6
3
Hudson Review, “The Lighthouse,” Vol. 32, No. 1
Spring 1979
6
3
James Welch (Ron McFarland, ed.), “At the Only Bar in Dixon”
undated
6
3
Luckiamute, “San Jan Batista,” No. 1
1972
6
3
Luckiamute, “Earth Mercy,” No. 1
1972
6
3
Luckiamute, “Tehuacan,” No. 1
1972
6
3
Luckiamute, “The Reason for Snow,” No. 1
1972
6
3
Luckiamute, “Drift,” No. 1
1972
6
3
Luckiamute, “Abandoned Sounds,” No. 1
1972
6
3
Luckiamute, “Utah Winter,” No. 1
1972
6
3
Luckiamute, “Central Oregon Storm,” No. 4
1975
6
3
Luckiamute, “Yarrow,” No. 4
1975
6
3
Modes of Interpretation in Old English Literature: Essays in Honor of Stanley Greenfield, University of Toronto Press, Phyllis Brown, et al., eds; forward by Stafford
6
3
The Midwest Quarterly, “Nana,” Vol. 17, No. 1
1975
6
3
The Nation, “John Clare,” Vol. 230, No. 6
February 16, 1980
6
3
New York Times Book Review, Review of The Paradise of Bombs by Scott Russell Sanders
May 24, 1987
6
3
The North American Review, “Root and Feathers,” Vol. 261, No. 2
Summer 1976
6
4
Oregon East, “Poetry at Wallowa School,” Vol. 7
1977-1978
6
4
Oregon English, “The Power of One,” Vol. 8, No. 1
Spring 1986
6
4
Oregon Rainbow, Two photographs by Kim Stafford, Vol. 1, No. 3
Autumn 1976
6
4
Oregon Rainbow, “Villanelle for the Spiders,” Vol. 1, No. 3
Autumn 1976
6
4
Outside, “The Desert Sage and Silence,” Vol. 12, No. 9
See also “Being the one You Are," Northwest Magazine, April 9, 1989 (same essay).
September 1987
6
4
Outside, “The Desert Sage and Silence,” Vol. 12, No. 9
September 1987
6
4
Poetry Northwest, “The Rocking Chair,” Vol. 20, No. 4
Winter 1979-1980
6
4
Poetry Northwest, “Heartwood,” Vol. 20, No. 4
Winter 1979-1980
6
4
Sequoia, “Shed This”
[1973]
6
4
Sequoia, “raccoon”
[1973]
6
4
The Small Farm, “Putting Hand-set Type Away,” Nos. 11 and 12
Spring 1980-Fall 1980
6
4
The Virginia Quarterly Review,
“Mr. Epp’s Garden in Aurora,” Vol. 56, No. 1
Winter 1990
6
4
The Virginia Quarterly Review,
“Back Home in the Shopping Center,” Vol. 60, No. 4
Autumn 1984
6
4
The Virginia Quarterly Review,
“Indian Languages,” Vol. 60, No. 4
Autumn 1984
6
4
The Virginia Quarterly Review,
“In Photograph, My Grandmother, Re-Shingling the Roof Pretends to Be Departing for Heaven,” Vol. 62, No. 1
Winter 1986
6
4
The Virginia Quarterly Review,
“Under an Oak in California,” Vol. 62, No. 1
Winter 1986
6
4
The Virginia Quarterly Review,
“Walking to the Mailbox,” Vol. 62, No. 1
Winter 1986
6
4
West Coast Review,
“Indian Graveyard Central B. C.,” Vol. 11, No. 2
October 1976
6
4
West Coast Review,
“Be Warned: Read This in a Private Place Alone,” Vol. 11, No. 2
Stories, Songs, and Opinions of the Idaho Country, first published by Rendezvous in 1982; second printing
1987
6
5
Faces in the Crowd: An Anthology of Washington High School Student Poetry and Fiction 1981, Centrum Foundation; (eds. Carol Bangs, Sam Hamill, Kim Stafford)
1981
6
5
Kids Are Poets Too: Poems from Lincoln Junior High, Lincoln Junior High School (Burns, Oregon)
1980
6
5
A New Face Full of Surprise (Redmond, Oregon)
[February 1980]
6
5
Reachin' for the Moon: Student Writings and Images from Wallowa Valley (Enterprise, Oregon); published by Chieftain and Wallowa School
1978
6
5
Echoes of the Wind: Poems for Idaho Children Grades 3-4-5 (Lewiston, Idaho)
Salal Series V, Eight poets in a Postcard Edition, “Crow Feather,” (two copies)
1976
6
6
“The Cove,” postcard-flyer for A Gypsy’s History of the World (two copies)
November 1976
6
6
“The Yew,” postcard
1980
6
6
“The Yew,” small paperback book, Ashwood Press
1980
6
6
“October in Idaho,” postcard
December 10, 1983
6
6
“Sleeping in the Barn,” postcards (two copies)
December 1982
6
6
“The Good Life,” postcard
December 10, 1983
6
6
“The Family at Lost Lake,” postcard advertising Limberlost Review (two copies)
June 1984
6
6
“Night Work in June,” postcard
December 21, 1984
6
6
“Smallest Day at Dark,” postcard
December 21, 1985
6
6
“After All These are Elemental Things,” Brooding Heron Press
Double-sided broadside with “Nights You Row” by Jawbone Press 1982 on reverse side.
1985
6
6
“Rosemary at Four,” postcard
December 21, 1986
6
6
Two untitled poems by Rosemary Stafford – “The Sun Doesn’t Come Up”
December 21, 1987
6
6
“The Life and... Adventures of Robinson Crusoe”
undated
6
6
“Reflections on Courtship and Marriage”
undated
6
7
Books
Box
Folder
6
7
Dream of Dying, poems by William Logan, published by Graywolf Press, Port Townsend, Washington (Kim Stafford was typesetter)
1974
6
7
Eight Poems by Linda Gregg, published by Graywolf Press, Port Townsend, Washington (Kim Stafford was press assistant)
1982
6
7
Journey from Essex, Poems for John Clare (ed. By Sandra McPherson), published by Graywolf Press, Port Townsend, Washington (Kim Stafford was publishing assistant)
