In the mid-90s I became aware of competing factions writing proposals for a museum celebrating American poets, from Antoninus to Zukofsky. I did not keep up with their progress—if any. It was a great idea, although criteria for such an edifice might prove a nightmare, given the diversity and pettiness of American poetry. Too, if I had my druthers, I’d further broaden the idea to include writers of fiction, and memoirs—since literary writers tend to be among the least rewarded if often the most remembered, quoted and paraphrased. Walks and halls of fame and the like have sprung up across the nation only to die. Outside the Library of Congress, art museums frequently provide evenings of poetry and slams, usually hosted by literary organizations. University enclaves like the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House at NYU, and centers like Cave Canem abound. Sometimes, cultural centers like Milwaukee’s Woodland Pattern or Just Buffalo in upstate New York constantly rededicate themselves to honor The Muse. The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum includes a cowboy poetry archive. Salem College in North Carolina boasts a Literary Hall of Fame, and even Venice Beach, California, more widely known for muscles and bikinis, has its Poet’s Walk. Who would finance such a venture and where should it be located? What kind of public would enjoy what kind of exhibits or make use of its archives? Who would be inducted and who would be overlooked?
For years the Smithsonian has been looking for a partner organization to help revitalize it’s Arts and Industries building (the second oldest building on the national Mall) which is currently under used and in need of repair. Perhaps a National Museum of Literary Arts and Letters could fill the void.
Posted By: Dan Brady on January 29, 2009 at 11:20 amThe space could act as a venue for readings and lectures, house poets’ manuscripts and papers, and multi-media exhibits. Universities and private collections could lend writer’s papers and artifacts for exhibits. Earned income possibilities might include an extensive poetry and literary bookstore, space rental, conference/festival registrations, and of course, gift shop items. I’d love to see an on-site operated letterpress that could produce signature items from the museum.
This beautiful building has been essentially unused for quite some time and the Smithsonian hasn’t had any luck with promising proposals thus far. This is a project that the Poetry Foundation is a unique position to spearhead. Possible partners could include the PEN/Faulkner Foundation (already based in DC), the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Library of Congress. Or other arts organizations with sizable budget such as the Lannan Literary Foundation or even Harvard’s Houghton Library.
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The Houghton at Harvard wouldn’t have the budget for such a museum – but it does support the Woodberry Poetry Room, which is open to the public and a true poetry landmark.
Posted By: Don Share on January 29, 2009 at 12:20 pmReport this comment
You would know better than me from your time there. That’s for sure. I guess I was thinking Houghton was supported, in part, by Harvard’s near $30 billion endowment (even after the current financial crisis). Either way, an exhibit culled from the Woodberry’s collection could be a big draw. Poet’s House could contribute a similar loan for an exhibition or take their annual showcase on the road.
Posted By: DAN BRADY on January 29, 2009 at 2:20 pmReport this comment
That’s a great idea, Dan! (Not to bore anyone w/details, but there’s not a linear relationship between the endowment of an insitution and the money doled out in annual budgets. It’s also complicated by the fact that much funding is gift money with terms on its use, not $$ from some great kitty that can be used at will. Anyway, though the recent news about Brandeis and it’s soon-to-be ex-museum do not bode well, you’re right to think that there’s much to be done along the lines you suggest.)
Posted By: Don Share on January 29, 2009 at 2:28 pmReport this comment
sorry, i can’t let this one go by—
Posted By: Bill Knott on January 29, 2009 at 3:47 pmharvard poetry room open to the public!
hah . . .
that’s a half-truth at best …
i spent 30 years in bostcamsom and recall knowing very few poets who went to that poetryroom, or mentioned it to me——
i myself went 3 or 4 times early on, and then stopped trying . . .
because by “public” they don’t mean riffraff like me——
assuming you can get by the guard at the front door who demands your harvard id card,
and then when you prove yourself scum by not having a harvcard,
and you kneel begging the fleas in his collar to grant you admittance to this holy of holies,
please please i’m a poet may i go to the poetroom, i won’t touch anything else i swear,
the guard phones up to the po-room to warn them an intruder has entered the premises,
and everybody there in the entryhall looks at you like you’re shoe scrape and tut tut to each other and furrow their noses at the stink of you—
and then of course assuming you are allowed up to the Woodpecker po-place,
the studentstaff on duty there hawkwatch you make sure you don’t commit unharvard,
“Can I help you find anything” they sneer like you’re a nitwit who can’t read the labels around the walls—
and after you put a book or magazine back on the shelf or rack they immediately gloat-glide over and examine it for injury, frowning at you all the while——
et cet . . . really a demeaning experience—
and, as i said above, after 3 or 4 trials like this, i stopped going—
“open to the public” . . . yeah
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Bill, what can I say? It’s 100% open to the public. You (or somebody) used to bring up boxes of your terrific photocopied books, back in the day, which we faithfully distributed at your own generous request. In all the time I was there, if we ever had a student who would have chased a book or mag back to the shelf, it would have astounded me. You never let me know about being treated poorly, or I woulda yelled at somebody about it. On behalf of the ghost of Ned Woodberry, I apologize to you.
Posted By: Don Share on January 29, 2009 at 3:59 pmI will say that half the time the guards at the main entrance to the building gave me the hairy eyeball, too – as required by their job description, I suppose. Then again, I don’t dress as well as the average student nowadays, so they probably thought I was a shoe-scraper, too. Which, in fact, I was.
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I realize this is a bit off-topic, but I think there would be strong interest for this among Harriet readers. So I just wanted to share this web site I only found out about yesterday.
Posted By: Kent Johnson on January 30, 2009 at 10:18 amIt is the site of my former Milwaukee roommate John Beadle, with whom I’d lost touch for many years (he’s still in Milwaukee– he’s been building motorcycles at Harley Davidson for nearly three decades). Already, back in the 80s, when we were living together and selling The Militant newspaper at plant gates at 6 AM, he had an astonishing collection of African records. For four or five years he had a weekly African music radio show on a public station in Milwaukee, can’t remember the call letters now. And now his collection, this is no exaggeration, is one of the most important on the planet. He is married to a woman from Nigeria, so he’s been going over there annually for many years now, bringing back the latest, and also the obscure oldies.
Anyway, please check this out, and drop him a note of appreciation for this wonderful and long labor of culture work.
http://likembe.blogspot.com/
Kent
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Wow. A poetry museum is a terrible idea for two reasons.
Posted By: Bradley Paul on February 4, 2009 at 10:25 pmFirst, it seeks to institutionalize that which should rail against institutions. How could anyone conceive that Whitman’s barbaric yawp belongs in a building on, say, the Mall? This seems to miss the point as ridiculously as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Second, does anyone doubt for a minute that the decision on who does and does not get into this thing (other than the canonical poets) would be determined by the politics, nepotism and faddishness that characterize so much of the poetry world?
There are enough anthologies, prizes and MFA programs. Poetry doesn’t need to cavort with officialdom any more than it already does.
Of course, the other alternative is that it turns into a campy wax museum, where we can see an animatronic Berryman kick a pile of his own $#!@ at a pair of Iowa City cops. If that’s the plan…full speed ahead.
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