Processed by: Archives Staff ; machine-readable finding aid created by:Eric Weig
Appalachian poetry project papers
1980-1982
University of Kentucky Special CollectionsLexington, Kentucky 40506
Organized: Administrative records, workshops, related materials, anthology, and poets. Arrangement thereunder is both chronological and alphabetical.
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item], Appalachian poetry project papers, 1980-1982, 1M87M39, Special Collections, University of Kentucky.
4.5 Cubic ft.
In August, 1979, writer Gurney Norman, under the auspices of the University of Kentucky's Appalachian Center, submitted a proposal to the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry to "identify, recognize and nurture the poets of the central Appalachian region" by organizing poetry workshops in regional communities and ultimately to publish a poetry anthology. The Foundation funded the project and in January 1980 the work began with poets George Ella Lyons and Bob Henry Baber acting as executive director and consulting director, respectively. The grant period ended in December, 1980 and the project was never refunded. As of August, 1987, the anthology had not been published.
See also: Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative records, 1M82M5. These papers provide a thorough record of the activities of the Appalachian Poetry Project. Included are administrative records of the project, correspondence with many of the participating poets, typescripts of the poetry submitted for the anthology, and two drafts of the proposed volume entitled CONTEMPORARY APPALACHIAN POETRY. Among the more than one hundred poets noted in the papers are Gurney Norman, George Ella Lyon, Bob Henry Baber, Lillie Chaffin, Fred Chappel, Lee Howard, Jane Wilson Joyce, Jeff Daniel Marion, Robert Morgan, Lee Pennington, Rita Quillen, Bettie Sellers, Bennie Lee Sinclair, and Jane Stuart.