An exhibit of Special Collections books currently on display in the west lobby on the Main Floor of Mullins features the Libraries’ collection from the illustrious poetry imprint, Lost Roads Press.
Lost Roads Press exhibit on display on the Main Floor of Mullins Library.
1978 article in the Fayetteville independent newspaper, The Grapevine, marking Frank Stanford’s unexpected death.
In 1977, the now renowned poet Frank Stanford founded Lost Roads Press in Fayetteville. 2018 marks the 40th anniversary of Stanford’s death. He committed suicide at just 27 years old a year after founding Lost Roads. (See the Encyclopedia of Arkansas article by Fayetteville poet, educator, and Frank Stanford scholar Matthew Henriksen for more biographical information about Stanford.) In 1980, the Press relocated briefly to San Francisco before spending much of the next several decades in Rhode Island under the direction of the first person published by the press, C. D. Wright, and fellow poet Frank Gardner.
Special Collections and the University of Arkansas Libraries are partnering with the Open Mouth Reading Series for a festival celebrating the enduring legacy of Frank Stanford’s work in Fayetteville, September 21-23, 2018.
Special Collections holds copies of each of the twelve volumes published by the Press in Fayetteville, including the first published books of Wright and other celebrated writers such as Ellen Gilchrist. Special Collections is proud to be the repository for archival materials related to Gilchrist’s writing career.
The Land Surveyor’s Daughter, the first book published by Ellen Gilchrist, included in the Lost Roads Press exhibit.
A longtime faculty member of Brown University and recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and numerous awards and grants, C. D. Wright passed away in 2016. (See this blog post celebrating Wright’s life and legacy as an Arkansas writer.) Both Stanford and Wright attended the University of Arkansas, and the University Libraries are proud to preserve their works and make them available for generations of aspiring poets and students to come.
Lost Roads Press items from soon after the Press’s founding.
This exhibit also includes one of the limited edition prints from the C. D. Wright-edited Lost Road Project, which was inspired by the Press’s founding in Fayetteville and the literary tradition of her home state, published in 1994. Special Collections is fortunate to hold a complete set of the Lost Roads Project prints, available to researchers upon request. Wright donated the prints to the University Libraries in 1998.
Letterpress print of Frank Stanford’s “What About This?” included in C. D. Wright’s Lost Roads Project (1994).
Special Collections continues to work to document—and make accessible to researchers—the books and archives of Arkansas’s historical and cultural leaders. Recently, the department acquired Wright’s personal collection of her published works, along with a few other manuscripts and mementos from her personal and professional life. At more than 115 print and manuscript items, the collection is still being processed, but Special Collections looks forward to making it available to the public soon.
Book on display include:
Room Rented by a Single Woman: Poems. C. D. Wright, 1977.
The Battlefield where the Moon Says I Love You: a Poem. Frank Stanford, 1977.
Sadness at the Private University: Poems. Ralph Adamo, 1977.
Walking along the Missouri River: Poems. John McKernan, 1977.
The Blessing of the Fleet: Poems. Irv Broughton, 1977.
Finding the Broom: Poems. John Stoss, 1977.
The Singing Knives: Poems. Frank Stanford, 1979. Limited printing second edition of Stanford’s first published book, reissued in commemoration of Stanford’s death.
The Sleeping Porch: Poems. Justin Caldwell, 1979.
You: Poems. Frank Stanford, 1979.
The Land Surveyor’s Daughter: Poems. Ellen Gilchrist, 1979.
The end of the World: Poems. Ralph Adamo, 1979.
Terrorism: Poems. C. D. Wright, 1979.
“What About This” by Frank Stanford, as reproduced for the Lost Roads Project in 1994 in a limited pressing of only 15 copies, one of which C. D. Wright donated to the University Libraries.