untitled. first line: At a dog's bark or siren's whine, 1984-04-20
Scope and Contents
Series 1 is arranged into four sub-series: Sub-Series 1 (Early Writing); Sub-Series 2 (Daily Writing); Sub-Series 3 (Pocket Notebooks and Bound Journals); and Sub-Series 4: (In-Class Writing). Materials are arranged chronologically within each sub-series. In Sub-Series 1, Stafford's Early Writing, includes writings from childhood through college. In Sub-Series 2, the daily writing pages are sporadic until January 1, 2014, and consistent daily thereafter. The Pocket Notebooks in Sub-Series 3 are hundreds of 3" x 4.5" self-sewn pamphlet booklets that he would carry with him for recording thoughts, gleanings from eavesdropping, dreams, quotations from reading, and other grist for later rumination and writing. This sub-series also includes many bound journals filled with notes to self, poem drafts, travel accounts, and other texts. The In-Class Writings in Sub-Series 4 include hand-written pages in poetry and prose that Stafford would draft in class, after giving his students a writing prompt, as teacher and students wrote together. Some of these in-class drafts Stafford later typed and revised for publication. The heart of this series consists of Stafford's hand-written daily writings (in Sub-Series 1:2): several thousand pages resulting from writing every morning that Stafford's father, William Stafford, practiced from 1950-1993. Kim Stafford's daily writings are described in detail in his essay “Writing as Ritual” (found in Sub-Series 2:2), and beginning in 2014 consistently include the four elements he found appearing often in William Stafford's daily writing: the date, some exploratory prose, a free-standing idea (or “aphorism”), and then a poem, or beginning of a poem. (Kim Stafford then revised these daily poems on the computer, and many of these revision sequences are available in Sub-Series 2:3).
Dates
- Creation: 1984-04-20
Conditions Governing Access
This Collection is open for research. A small selection of correspondence is restricted and requires permission from Kim Stafford or his estate before research use can be granted.
Extent
From the Series: 21 boxes
Language of Materials
From the Series: English
Repository Details
Part of the Lewis & Clark College, Special Collections and Archives Repository