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Guide to the David Swanger Papers 1962-2005
MS 117
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Title: David Swanger Papers
Date (inclusive): 1962-2005
Collection number: MS 117
Creator:
Swanger, David
Extent:
2 boxes
Repository:
University of California, Santa Cruz. University Library.
Special Collections
Santa Cruz, California 95064
Abstract: This collection contains correspondence, poetry, fiction and prose writings by UCSC education and creative writing Professor
Emeritus David Swanger.
Physical location: Stored offsite at NRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the papers.
Language:
English.
Collection is open for research.
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and
their heirs. For permission to publish or to reproduce the material, please contact the Head of Special Collections.
David Swanger Papers, MS 117, Special Collections, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Gift of David Swanger.
David Swanger, long-time professor of education and creative writing at UCSC, was born in New Jersey on August 1st, 1940,
the son of Saul and Pearl (Ginevsky) Swanger. He married Lynn Lundstrom on April 5th, 1969. They have three children.
Professor Swanger started out as a short story writer while living for a while in England. In an interview with Maggie Paul
he remembered it this way: "There was something about living in this bleak, D.H. Lawrencian kind of landscape, where one
could be very lonely and miserable, and I seemed to have a lot of time on my hands. I began to write short stories, shamelessly
imitative of Thomas Wolfe -- but that didn't seem to the bother the publisher. But then I came back to the United States
and I wasn't quite as unhappy." However, he then noted that nonetheless the "bleak period" he'd experienced had "created
its own momentum, its own literary momentum."
But it was education that David Swanger pursued as a vocation in college, earning a BA at Swarthmore in 1963, and an MAT in
1964, followed by a Doctorate in Education in 1970, both at Harvard University. He had already been teaching at Harvard beginning
in 1969, and after graduating from Harvard, he took an appointment as an assistant professor there, remaining a year before
moving to the relatively new University of California campus at Santa Cruz in 1971. At the west coast campus he began as
an assistant professor of education, becoming full professor in 1985, and Professor of Education and Creative Writing in 1987.
He taught at UCSC for thirty three years before his retirement, and continues to be associated with UCSC as Professor Emeritus.
Over the years David Swanger has earned numerous honors and awards, including the Best of the Small Presses Award for Literary
Magazines in 1981, and the Best of the Small Presses Nominee for Poetry in 1983 and 1992, all from Pushcart Press. Locally
he has several times been prizewinner (including 1st prize in 1989) in the Senior Poetry Division of the Santa Cruz County
Fair. In both 1986 and 1990 he was a finalist in the Walt Whitman Award Competition, and won the Foley Poetry Award in 1991.
As an educator, he has been named "Advisor of the Year" by Porter College, UCSC, in 1980, and "Teacher of the Year" by the
Re-entry Students' Association in 1991. The Social Sciences Division gave him the "Golden Apple" award for teaching excellence
in 1997, and Crown College Award of Merit.
David Swanger has written 7 books, and edited the 1985 textbook
The Evolution of Education. His many poems have appeared in such journals as
Poetry Northwest, the
Georgia Review, the
Literary Review, the
Chariton Review, the
Kansas Quarterly, and
Poetry Flash, in local journals such as
Quarry West,
Sundaze, and the
Oakes Literary Review, as well as
The Blue Penny Review, an on-line magazine. His articles have appeared in newspapers from coast to coast (in the
Boston Sunday Globe and the
San José Mercury News), and in professional journals such as
The Journal of Aesthetic Education,
Educational Theory, and the
Art Education Journal. He has also written chapters for many other books, and continues to give public readings and lectures, both locally in
the Santa Cruz area, and as far away as London, England.
Scope and Content of the Collection.
The collection includes biographical material, correspondence with editors, reviewers and readers and photocopied examples
of David Swanger's published poems and prose.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Swanger, David--Archives
American Poetry
Authors, American--California--Santa Cruz County
English Poetry
Santa Cruz County (Calif.)--Imprints
The books have been removed and cataloged separately. These can be searched through the Library's online catalog.