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Correspondence between Walter Clark, Jr. and John Ridland
Mss 376  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Access Restrictions
  • Use Restrictions
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • Processing Information
  • Biographical Note on Walter Clark, Jr.
  • Biographical Note on John Ridland
  • Scope and Content
  • Related Archival Material

  • Title: Correspondence between Walter Clark, Jr. and John Ridland
    Identifier/Call Number: Mss 376
    Contributing Institution: UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
    Language of Material: English
    Physical Description: 0.83 linear feet (2 document boxes)
    Creator: Clark, Walter, 1931-2008
    Creator: Ridland, John
    Source: Clark, Francelia Mason, 1938-
    Date (inclusive): 1953-2019
    Date (bulk): 1953-2008
    Abstract: Correspondence between poets Walter Clark, Jr. (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) and John Ridland (University of California, Santa Barbara), dating from 1953-2008.
    Physical Location: Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library
    Language of Material: The collection is in English.

    Access Restrictions

    The collection is open for research.

    Use Restrictions

    Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Research Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Research Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Research Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of Item], Correspondence between Walter Clark, Jr. and John Ridland, Mss 376. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

    Acquisition Information

    Gift of Francelia Clark and John Ridland, 2019.

    Processing Information

    Correspondence arranged by Francelia Clark and John Ridland, 2018-2019.

    Biographical Note on Walter Clark, Jr.

    Walter Houston Clark, Jr. (1931-2008) was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Clark received his bachelor's degree from Swarthmore and a PhD in philosophy and education from Harvard. Clark taught at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) from 1965 until his retirement 28 years later. Clark published one book of poetry, View from Mount Paugus and Other Poems (Abattoir Editions, 1976), and published many of his poems in literary journals and magazines. Clark's wife, Francelia Clark, arranged a posthumous volume Like a Bird Flying Home: Poetry and Letters to his Daughter from New Hampshire (Bauhan Publishing, 2013). Clark founded the New England Literature Program (NELP) in 1975, which he co-directed until 1991. Walter Clark Jr. obituary. 2008. The University Record Online, http://www.ur.umich.edu/0708/Jun09_08/obits.php. Accessed on 4 September, 2019.

    Biographical Note on John Ridland

    John Ridland (1933-2020) was born in London and grew up in California. He earned his PhD from Claremont Graduate School and published numerous books and chapbooks, including Ode on Violence (1969), In the Shadowless Light (1978), Palms: Six Ballads (1993), A Brahms Card Ballad (2007), Happy in an Ordinary Thing (2013), and A. Lincolniad: An Epic Poem Honoring the Memory of President Abraham Lincoln (2014), among many others. With his wife Muriel he wrote And Say What He Is: The Life of a Special Child (1975). Ridland was also a translator and published translations of the Middle English poems Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Pearl as well as books of selected poems of the Hungarian poets Sándor Márai and Miklós Radnóti and many others here and in Hungary. Ridland published a verse translation of the Hungarian folk epic John the Valiant (Corvina Press, 1999). In 2010, Ridland was recognized with the Balassi Sword Award for his translations of Hungarian literature. Ridland received a gold medal from the Arpad Society of Cleveland Ohio. He taught for over forty years at the University of California Santa Barbara and served as a professor emeritus of the college.

    Scope and Content

    Correspondence between poets Walter Clark, Jr. (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) and John Ridland (University of California, Santa Barbara).
    Both attended Swarthmore College, where they met in 1953. After graduation, Clark and Ridland maintained a lifelong correspondence. Collected and arranged into volumes by date, the letters trace events in the personal lives of Clark and Ridland, their friendship, their development as poets and educators, and above all, their ideas about both the craft and teaching of poetry. The letters include poems by Clark and Ridland.
    Correspondence continued until 2008, the year of Clark's death. The correspondence was meticulously arranged into volumes (by date) by Francelia Clark, Clark's widow, and John Ridland. This arrangement has been preserved. The collection also contains a folder of correspondence between John Ridland and Francelia Clark, dating from 2011 to 2019.

    Related Archival Material

    John Ridland papers, UArch FacP 51. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    English teachers -- California -- Santa Barbara
    English teachers -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor
    Correspondence
    Poems
    Clark, Walter, 1931-2008 -- Correspondence
    Ridland, John -- Correspondence
    Clark, Francelia Mason, 1938- -- Correspondence
    University of California, Santa Barbara. Department of English. Faculty