WILLIAM L. FOX
William L. Fox was born in 1949 and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Claremont College in 1971. In that year his first volume of poetry was published (Iron Wind, Sono Nis Press). The following year his book of poems Trial Separation was published by Caveman Press. Fox's other published works include Election, Three Rivers Press, 1974; Monody, Laughing Bear Press, 1977; First Principles (as Ian Tarnman), The Future Press, 1978; The Yellow Pages, 616 Center One Press, 1980; 21 and Over, Duck Down Press, 1982; Time by Distance, Duck Down Press, 1985; Reliquaire, Duck Down Press, 1987; and Seven Nevada Poets (as editor), Rainshadow Editions, 1991. His poetry, criticism, drama, and nonfiction have been published in numerous magazines and journals in the U.S. and other countries. Fox also wrote under the pen name Ian Tarnman, primarily in the 1970s.
Fox co-founded the small press, West Coast Poetry Review with Bruce McAllister in 1972, and specialized in publishing poetry chap books, publications of under thirty pages or so. WCPR is no longer in business as of 1993.
Fox has been an artist-in-residence in the states of Nevada and Washington; and associate, deputy, and executive director of the Nevada State Council on the Arts. He served as a panelist for the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and poetry program director for the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. His art work has been shown in many exhibitions. He currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico. [As of August, 1999, Fox resides in the Los Angeles, California, area.]
SCOPE AND CONTENT
The records of William L. Fox were donated to the Special Collections Department by Mr. Fox in 1993, 1996, 1998 and 1999. They consist of six cubic feet materials dating from 1964-1999. Mr. Fox has retained any literary and copy rights which he may own but the collection may otherwise be used for research purposes.
The collection consists of records of his work on public and private agencies and boards; his work as publisher and editor of WCPR and overseas editor of the poetry journal, edge; his poetry, both under his own name and that of Ian Tarnman; and correspondence with various poets and authors
Included are minutes, correspondence, grant applications, handwritten and typed manuscript poems, and notebooks, some of which are a combination journal/composition exercise book. The earliest materials date from Fox's high school years. A significant file in Series II, WCPR, consists of correspondence from Joanne De Longchamps, 1973-1983, and her last, unpublished poetry manuscript, "The Glass Hammer," 1983.
A large body of Mr. Fox's poetry manuscripts is still in his possession. He has declared his intention of eventually donating those materials to Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
Arranged by: Susan Searcy
Date: August 3, 1993; revised December 23, 1993, June 18, 1998,
and August 18, 1999.
The records of the William L. Fox collection are arranged into the following series:
I. Arts Organizations and Boards
II. West Coast Poetry Review
III. Writings of William L. Fox
IV. Writings of Ian Tarnman
V. Correspondence
Series I. Arts Organizations and Boards. 1972-1997. .75 cu. ft.
This series includes grant applications and related correspondence submitted by Fox to the Nevada State Council for the Arts and the NEA; correspondence, minutes and other materials from the Squaw Valley Community of Writers; and correspondence and minutes of the NEA Literature Panel and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Reno). Later accessions contains materials related to the Nevada Art Gallery and work Fox did with Santa Fe, New Mexico, art groups. The contents are arranged chronologically.
Box 1
I/1 Nevada State Council for the Arts for WCPR and Fox. 1972-1978.
I/2 NEA for WCPR and Fox. 1974-1989.
I/3-4 Squaw Valley Community of Writers, 1979-1985.
I/5-6 NEA Literature Panel. 1982.
I/7 CCLM/NEA. [1982].
I/8 Museum of Contemporary Art, general. 1989-1992.
I/9 Nevada Art Gallery. Bylaws, correspondence. 1977.
I/10-12 Nevada Art Gallery poetry classes. 1976-1977.
I/13 Flyers and catalogs for readings and exhibits. 1994.
I/14 SITES Santa Fe. Brochure for arts series. 1997.
I/15 "Burning Books" exhibition catalog.
Series II. West Coast Poetry Review. 1972-1987. .5 cu. ft.
WCPR was organized in 1972 by William L. Fox and Bruce McAllister, who served as publishers and co-editors. This series contains correspondence with Joanne de Longchamps, Don Gordon, McAllister, Fox, and George Hitchcock. There are several folders of reviews of poetry publications, either by Fox or of WCPR publications. WCPR (or Fox) published an occasional literary journal entitled 616 Center One; the first three issues are in this collection. Last, there is a typescript manuscript and some correspondence related to a volume of poetry edited by Fox, Seven Nevada Poets. There are no copies of the chapbooks published by WCPR in this manuscript collection but many of them may be found in the Special Collections book stacks.
Box 1
II/1a Joanne de Longchamps. Correspondence and unpublished ms, "The Glass Hammer." 1973-1983.
II/1b Don Gordon. 1972-1986.
II/2 George Hitchcock. 1970-1975.
II/3-5 Bruce McAllister. 1978-1986.
II/6-7 Personal memos. 1972-1987.
II/8 ISBN numbers.
II/9 Reviews by Fox.
II/10-12 Reviews of WCPR publications.
II/13 "Royal Drift Passages" by Jeff Kelley. 616 Center 1 Press, Vol. 1, #1, 1980.
II/14 "The Yellow Pages" by William L. Fox. 616 Center 1 Press, Vol. 1, #2, 1980.
II/15 "1981 Invitational Anthology." 616 Center 1 Press, Vol. 1, #3, 1980.
II/16 Seven Nevada Poets ms, ed. by Fox. 1986-1989.
Series III. Writings of William L. Fox. 1964-1997. 1.75 cu. ft.
Fox's extensive body of creative work is represented in Series III. Material in this series begins with some of his earliest creative writings in high school and college, and continues through the 1980s, illustrating work which was assembled for and/or published in anthologies. Works authored by Fox as Ian Tarnman are filed in Series IV. The formats vary from notebook form to typescripts. This series is arranged chronologically.
Box 2
III/1 Rejection slips. 1968-1979.
III/2 Poetry written for class assignments. 1964-1967.
III/3 Ms poems/diary notebooks by Fox. 1967-1970.
III/4-6 Untitled ms by Fox. 1971.
III/7 Student notebook of poetry. 1971-1976.
III/8 Misc. mss, TxD Journals to Jeanne [Fox]. 1974.
III/9 Ms poems/journal, trip to Nepal. 1974, 1975.
III/10-12 "Monoday." 1976-1977.
III/13 "First Principles" (written as Ian Tarnman). Feb. - Nov. 1976.; "A Lecture on Holes." July 1976.
III/14 "Time by Distance." 1978.
III/15 Great Basin article. 1984.
III/16 "Interim Analysis." 1984.
III/17 "Reliquaire" by Fox and Jim McCormick. 1985.
no # Photos of Bill Fox, Site II installation by David Arnold. 1987. Photos transferred to photo archives.
III/18 "Average Plate Characteristics." Plates only. 1989-1990.
Box 3
III/19 "Principia Poetica." n.d.
III/20 Various typescript manuscripts.
III/21 "thin messages [sic]." n.d.
III/22-23 "ladies in canyon [sic]." n.d.
III/24 Notebook. n.d.
III/25-27 edge poetry journal, for which Fox was overseas editor. 1971-1973.
III/28 Manuscript - "Footlocker." 1982.
III/29 Spring Writers' series "Recursos de Santa Fe." Tape and flyer. 1995.
III/30 Rejection records - poems now out of circulation. 1969-1989.
III/31 Visual poems. 1970s. Filed in ms. map case drawer.
III/32 Art piece: "longfellow in the pit." Filed in ms map case drawer.
III/33-34 Tumbleweeds correspondence and manuscript. 1991-1995.
III/35 Pat's Downtown Club catalog. 1996. Filed in ms map case drawer.
III/36 Poster for Center for Contemporary Art. 1996.
III/37 Audio tapes: William Fox poetry readings at Hazen High School, Renton, WA, 2/23/73; and Monday Evening Poetry, 4/2/79.
III/38 "Boxes:" A Collaborative Exhibition with Walter McNamara. 1994.
III/39 Ms: "100 Blues" by William Fox.
III/40 Ed Martinez: Straight from the Heart book. Text by William Fox. 1996.
III/41 Driving by Memory. Notes, correspondence. ca 1997.
III/42 Mapping the Empty, edited draft version. n.d.
III/43-45 the point reyes variations. 7/1996; 9/15/1995; 8/1995.
Series IV. Writings of Ian Tarnman. 1973-1987. .25 cu. ft.
William Fox wrote a number of poems under the name of Ian Tarnman. At least one assembly of Tarnman's poetry was published, as the anthology "First Principles" (see Box 2, III/13). This series contains other Tarnman manuscript materials. Arranged chronologically.
Box 4
IV/1 Mss. 1976-1976.
IV/2-3 W.L. Fox as Ian Tarnman. Correspondence and mss. 1974-1979.
IV/4 "Casino Poems." 1975.
IV/5 "Half Dome." 1975.
IV/6 "A Guide to Pronunciation." 1987.; "Interim
Analysis/Casino Poems." 1980.
Series V. Correspondence. 1969-1999. 2 cu. ft.
This series contains extensive correspondence with poets, writers, and artists who were published by Fox or who worked with him on various projects. The files are in the order in which they were received; each file is arranged chronologically. Later accessions contain additional correspondence from authors and letters regarding Fox's treks in the Himalayan Mountains.
Box 4
V/1 J. Michael Yeats. 1970-1975.
V/2 William Ransom. 1972-1975.
V/3-8a D.S. [Donald Stewart] Long. 1969-1978.
V/8b-d Donald Long correspondence. 1978-1994.
V/9-12 D.S. Long poetry.
Box 5
V/13 Geoffrey Cook. 1973-1979.
V/14 Jerry Costanzo. 1972-1974; 1980.
V/15 Ian Hamilton Finlay. 1974-1976.
V/16 Hugh Fox. 1974-1979.
V/17 Mary Ellen Solt. 1974-1979.
V/18 Bill Stafford. 1969-1985.
V/19 Mark Waggaman. 1972-1976.
V/20 Michael Andre (Unmuzzled Ox). 1988-1990.
V/21 Elaine Dallman. 1983-1992.
V/22 Linda Essary. 1974-1989.
V/23a Misc. 1999.
V/23b Paul Brach. 1981.
V/24 Otto and Maria Sadovszky. 1979-1981; 1986-1987.
V/25-27 Aaron Marcus. 1979-1981.
V/28 Robert Morgan. 1982-1993.
V/29 Mick Sheldon. 1986.
V/30-31 Paul Shuttleworth. 1980-1990.
V/32-33 Mountain Travel. Correspondence and tour leader materials. 1988-1990.
V/34-36 Stan Armington correspondence regarding Himalayan treks. 1973-1978.
V/37 Dick Higgins correspondence and manuscripts. 1975-1994.
V/38 Thomas Fitzsimmons correspondence and manuscript. 1996.
V/39 John Berry, Generator Press. 1988-1994.
V/40 Craig Hill, Score Publications. 1985-1994.
V/41 Gerald Lacklin. 1994-1995.
V/42 Bob Moore, Nexus. 1989.
V/43 Richard Kostelanetz. 1975-1996.