Uncovering the Life of an Artist: Organizing the Bill Holm Archival Collection
Advisor Information
Charles Johanningsmeier
Location
UNO Criss Library, Room 225
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
4-3-2016 10:00 AM
End Date
4-3-2016 10:15 AM
Abstract
In May of 2015, I was invited by the Upper Midwest Literary Archive to organize and catalog the manuscript collection of Minnesota writer, Bill Holm. Holm, an accomplished humorist, columnist, essayist, lecturer, and poet, passed away in 2009. At that time, all of Holm’s correspondences, publications, manuscripts and other documents were placed in the care of the Upper Midwest Literary Archive. Despite Holm’s relative popularity in the state of Minnesota, by 2015 his documents remained largely untouched and disorganized. With my grant, I organized and cataloged over ten large boxes of various manuscripts and publications, and compiled their contents in an organized directory. Without such organization and categorization, Holm’s documents are virtually inaccessible to researchers and scholars. Within the collection are numerous drafts of published works as well as unpublished manuscripts, some of which included essays and poems that would later appear in other publications. The collection also includes unpublished anthologies edited by Holm that include poems by other Midwestern writers such as, Robert Bly, John Rezmerski, and Ted Kooser. With access to these documents researchers will be able to gain a nuanced picture of Holm’s writing process, his connection to other Midwest writers, his views on nationality and ethnic identity, as well as new access to unpublished creative works.
Uncovering the Life of an Artist: Organizing the Bill Holm Archival Collection
UNO Criss Library, Room 225
In May of 2015, I was invited by the Upper Midwest Literary Archive to organize and catalog the manuscript collection of Minnesota writer, Bill Holm. Holm, an accomplished humorist, columnist, essayist, lecturer, and poet, passed away in 2009. At that time, all of Holm’s correspondences, publications, manuscripts and other documents were placed in the care of the Upper Midwest Literary Archive. Despite Holm’s relative popularity in the state of Minnesota, by 2015 his documents remained largely untouched and disorganized. With my grant, I organized and cataloged over ten large boxes of various manuscripts and publications, and compiled their contents in an organized directory. Without such organization and categorization, Holm’s documents are virtually inaccessible to researchers and scholars. Within the collection are numerous drafts of published works as well as unpublished manuscripts, some of which included essays and poems that would later appear in other publications. The collection also includes unpublished anthologies edited by Holm that include poems by other Midwestern writers such as, Robert Bly, John Rezmerski, and Ted Kooser. With access to these documents researchers will be able to gain a nuanced picture of Holm’s writing process, his connection to other Midwest writers, his views on nationality and ethnic identity, as well as new access to unpublished creative works.