Lou Rowan Papers, 1942-2018 (MSS 806)

Extent: 6.4 Linear feet (16 archives boxes and 1 oversize folder), + 1.49 GB of digital files

Digital Content

The collection contains digital files described in the container list, as well as several thousand emails. Email may be searched and requested for viewing via the Digital Collections website.

View Online

Papers of writer, poet and editor Lou Rowan. Rowan studied with Louis Zukofsky and was influenced by the New York, Black Mountain, and Objectivist poets. Editor of the poetry journals Friendly Local Press and Golden Handcuffs Review, Rowan is also known for his poetry and fiction. The collection includes writings, correspondence, notebooks, biographical information, photographs, and digital files.

Born in Los Angeles in 1942, Louis Richard Rowan, Jr. was educated on the East Coast, earning a bachelor's degree in history at Harvard University in 1964 and a master's degree in English at New York University in 1969. He also studied theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Rowan held teaching and upper management positions at the Manhattan School and at Friends Seminary from 1968 to 1980, after which he switched careers to investment banking at Bankers Trust Company in New York and Frank Russell Company in Tacoma, Washington.

Rowan began his writing career as a student in the 1960s in New York, influenced by the New York School, Louis Zukofsky, and the Black Mountain and Objectivist poets. After his careers in teaching and banking, Rowan began writing full-time in 2003 in the Pacific Northwest. He has published fiction, poetry, and critical essays. Much of his writing is experimental and crosses genres. Rowan has edited the poetry journals Friendly Local Press from 1968 to 1971 and 1986 to 1989 and Golden Handcuffs Review since 2002.

Papers of writer, poet and editor Lou Rowan. Rowan studied with Louis Zukofsky and was influenced by the New York, Black Mountain, and Objectivist poets. Editor of the poetry journals Friendly Local Press and Golden Handcuffs Review, Rowan is also known for his poetry and fiction. The collection includes writings, correspondence, notebooks, biographical information, photographs, and digital files.

Arranged in four series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) WRITINGS, and 4) EDITING.

Container List

BIOGRAPHICAL

Scope and Content of Series

Series 1) BIOGRAPHICAL: Biographical information about Lou Rowan, including his transcripts, resumes, biographical statements, and an address book.

Box 1 Folder 1
Address book
Box 1 Folder 2
Bibliography - Notes
Box 1 Folder 3
Biographical information, 1942-2008

Includes group photograph of The Polytechnic School, class of 1956.

Digital file 7
Biographical information, 2005-2006

Biographical information about Lou and Ginger Rowan, including bibliographies, in Word and PDF.

Box 1 Folder 4
Resumes and biographies, 1980-2014
Box 1 Folder 5
Transcripts - Harvard University and New York University, 1964-1969

CORRESPONDENCE

Scope and Content of Series

Series 2) CORRESPONDENCE: Incoming and outgoing correspondence to poets, publishers, editors, and family members, and Rowan's unsent correspondence to public figures. Arranged in two subseries: A) Paper Correspondence, A-Z, and B) Digital Correspondence

Paper Correspondence, A-Z

Box 1 Folder 6
Antin, David and Eleanor, 1967-2009
Box 1 Folder 7
Baez, Joan (unsent letter by Rowan)
Box 1 Folder 8
Barry, Ruth, 1963
Box 1 Folder 9
Blackburn, Paul, 1966-1967
Box 1 Folder 10
Brakhage, Stan, 1967
Box 1 Folder 11
Bromige, David
Box 1 Folder 12
Brown, Laynie, 2002-2003
Box 1 Folder 13
Center for Book Culture, 2002

Rowan was on the board of directors.

Box 1 Folder 14
Corman, Cid, 1966-1967
Box 1 Folder 15
Creeley, Robert (unsent letter by Rowan)
Box 1 Folder 16
Edwards, Sam, 1967
Box 1 Folder 17
Enslin, Theodore (Ted)
Box 1 Folder 18
Eshleman, Clayton, 1966-1967
Box 1 Folder 19
French, Emily, 1949
Box 1 Folder 20
Lamberton, Robert, 1989-1997
Box 1 Folder 21
Letters from ministers, 1962-1963
Box 1 Folder 22
Mailer, Norman (unsent letter by Rowan)
Box 1 Folder 23
Maitland, Ronald D., Rev., 1963-1964
Box 1 Folder 24
Manhattan School, 1970-1971

Includes photographs of Manhattan School staff.

Box 1 Folder 25
Mickle, Mary Elizabeth (Rowan) and Alan, 1967-1970
Box 1 Folder 26
Olson, Toby, 1996-2006
Box 1 Folder 27
Plimpton, George (The Paris Review) , 1997
Box 1 Folder 28-29
Publishers and editors, 1967-2005
Box 1 Folder 30
Ron [surname unidentified]
Box 1 Folder 31
Rowan family, 1967-1980
Box 1 Folder 32
Rowan, George D., 1968 and undated
Box 1 Folder 33
Rowan, Lansing Brann, 1962 and undated
Box 1 Folder 34-35
Rowan, Louis, Sr. and Susan, 1958-1967
Box 2 Folder 1-2
Rowan, Louis, Sr. and Susan, 1968-1980
Box 2 Folder 3
Rowan, Quentin, 1985-2001
Box 2 Folder 4
Rowan, Stephanie Rauschenbusch, 1964-1968
Box 2 Folder 5
Rowan, Virginia (Ginger) Holzheimer
Box 2 Folder 6
Saint Mark's School, 1958-1959
Box 2 Folder 7
Sontag, Susan (unsent letter by Rowan)
Box 2 Folder 8
Taggart, John, 2006
Box 2 Folder 9
Université Paris 13, 2015
Box 2 Folder 10
Vidal, Gore
Box 2 Folder 11
Miscellaneous correspondence - Incoming
Box 2 Folder 12
Miscellaneous correspondence - Outgoing
Box 2 Folder 13
Miscellaneous correspondence - Unsent

Digital Correspondence

Digital file bb92610240
Compiled correspondence (PDF), 1996-2006

Personal and business correspondence originally compiled chronologically by Rowan into a 62-page Word document. Many of the correspondents are identified by first name only.

WRITINGS

Scope and Content of Series

Series 3) WRITINGS: Drafts, manuscripts, notebooks, correspondence, notes, artwork, and reviews for Rowan's published and unpublished writings. Arranged in six subseries: A) Notebooks and Journals, B) Poetry and Drama, C) Short Fiction, D) Essays, E) Books, and F) Freelance Projects.

A) Notebooks and Journals: Rowan's notebooks and journals include drafts of writings, personal notes, and journal entries. Several early drafts for Rowan's books can be found in his notebooks. A hunting log from 1954-1955 includes photographs of the Rowan family. Arranged chronologically.

B) Poetry and Drama: Drafts and notes for poems and plays by Rowan, including English translations of poet Paul Eluard. Rowan grouped his shorter poems by date, and as he often worked on poems years after writing the original version, drafts of a single poem can appear in more than one folder. The subseries also includes several short plays written by Rowan. Arranged chronologically.

C) Short Fiction: Drafts and notes for short stories by Rowan, including epistolary writings and satires. Includes a folder of drawings by Rowan. Arranged chronologically, with undated drafts arranged alphabetically at the end.

D) Essays: Drafts, notes and correspondence for Rowan's essays and reviews. The subseries includes essays on literature written while Rowan was a graduate student at New York University, a translation of Jean-Paul Sartre, a talk for Benedictine College, and sermons and field reports written while Rowan was a student in theology. Rowan also used the pseudonym Richard L. Lewis while writing for Golden Handcuffs Review. Arranged chronologically, with undated drafts arranged alphabetically at the end.

E) Books: Drafts, manuscripts, notes, correspondence, reviews and artwork for Rowan's published and unpublished works of poetry, fiction, and biography. Rowan's fiction includes My Last Days (2007) and its sequel, Our Last Days, two autobiographies of Superman; Alphabet of Love Serial (2015), a collection of short stories; A Mystery's No Problem, (2016) and it's precursor, Interlude; and Corpus, an alternate history of the United States. Works of poetry includeYour Pages Are Not Numbered (1968); Let Leaves; an untitled manuscript for a book of poetry; and a handmade book of poetry and fiction. The subseries also includes a biography of Seattle entrepreneur Linda Farris. Some early drafts of Rowan's books can be found in the Notebooks and Journals subseries. Arranged chronologically.

F) Freelance Projects: Notes and drafts for advertising copy and biographies written for businesses and individuals on a freelance basis.

Notebooks and Journals

Box 2 Folder 14
Hunting log, 1954-1955

Includes photographs of Lou Rowan and family.

Box 2 Folder 15-16
Journals, 1966-1991
Box 3 Folder 1-5
Journals and notebooks, 1972-1996
Box 3 Folder 6
Journal - The Dance, 1996-1997
Box 3 Folder 7
Notebook - Beginning of My Last Days , ca. 1998

Notebook is water damaged.

Box 4 Folder 1
Notebook, 1998-1999
Box 4 Folder 2
Notebook - Corpus! , 2000-2004
Digital file 9
Journal 12, 2000-2007

Rowan's journal entries interspersed with drafts of Corpus! and other writings, originally compiled by Rowan in a Word document.

Box 4 Folder 3
Notebook - Paris/Madrid/Maui/U.S. P. Woolf project. Corpus - Introduction and early plans. Alphabet - Early outline, 2001-2004
Box 4 Folder 4-5
Notebook and journal, 2001-2005
Box 4 Folder 6
Notes, 2007 and undated

Poetry and Drama

Box 4 Folder 7
Anglo-Saxon, plus poems for Martha King, ca. 1965
Box 4 Folder 8-12
Poems, 1965-1969
Box 5 Folder 1
Cheating Winter's Crossword (for Franklin Irving), 1965-1986
Box 5 Folder 2-4
Trying to be White (Buck) (for Paul Blackburn), 1967-1986
Box 5 Folder 5
My Heart Flew at Half Mast to You (for Martin Luther King), 1968-1969
Box 5 Folder 6
Threnody for Kennedy, 1969
Box 5 Folder 7-8
Poems, ca. 1970-1979
Box 5 Folder 9
A Prayer for My Sister, ca. 1970-1979
Box 5 Folder 10
Translations of Paul Eluard, 1971
Box 5 Folder 11-12
Poems, ca. 1970-1999
Box 5 Folder 13
Father Serial. In Memory of Lou Rowan, ca. 1988
Box 5 Folder 14-15
Poems, ca. 1990-1999
Box 6 Folder 1
Our Valentine, ca. 1990-1999
Box 6 Folder 2
VLR (On Love), 1993
Box 6 Folder 3
Poems, 2004
Box 6 Folder 4
Vain Letters, undated
Box 6 Folder 5
Poems, undated

Plays

Box 6 Folder 6
A Sense of Life - Oratorio, 1965-1966
Box 6 Folder 7
Short plays, 1965-1979
Box 6 Folder 8
Georgie, Mommie, Poppy, ca. 2001

Short Fiction

Box 6 Folder 9
Letters becoming stories, 1960-1964
Box 6 Folder 10
Baldwin letter, 1963
Box 6 Folder 11
Late Report from Grant's Tombus , 1965-1966
Box 6 Folder 12
Drafts, 1965-1966
Box 6 Folder 13
The Burn of a Screw, 1968
Box 6 Folder 14
An Entering-the-Union High, 1968
Box 6 Folder 15
Heidegger-am-Bed (for Robert Kelly), 1968
Box 6 Folder 16
A Message from Low: To the Incoming Students, Words of Welcome, 1968
Box 6 Folder 17
A 'Sperimental Stroll on John Finley Walk, 1968
Box 6 Folder 18-19
Prose, 1968-1971
Box 6 Folder 20
Corn, Cones, Conches (for Bob Lamberton), 1968-2006
Box 6 Folder 21
Pot, 1970
Box 6 Folder 22
Early stories, 1970-1991
Box 6 Folder 23
Drawings, 1971
Box 7 Folder 1
Sketches toward stories, 1971-1979
Box 7 Folder 2
Asylum and related journals, 1979-1980
Box 7 Folder 3
Drafts toward stories, ca. 1980-1989
Box 7 Folder 4
Prose and poetry, 1985-1992
Box 7 Folder 5
Story drafts, ca. 1990-1999
Box 7 Folder 6
No Legs, 1996
Box 7 Folder 7
Guidance (for Michael Sheldon), 1997-2006
Box 7 Folder 8
Blackout (for Gilbert Sorrentino), 1999
Box 7 Folder 9
Drafts, 2000-2002
Box 7 Folder 10
Unreel (for David Antin), 2003
Box 7 Folder 11
World History (from My Last Days), 2004

Digital documents - Writings in Microsoft Word

Digital file 10 Folder 1
Accounting Apple, 2006
Digital file 10 Folder 2
Breakup, 2006
Digital file 10 Folder 3
Exercises, 2006
Digital file 10 Folder 4
Experimental, 2006
Digital file 10 Folder 5
Notes from Imagined Childhood, 2006
Digital file 10 Folder 6
Prince, 2006
Digital file 10 Folder 7
S (for Douglas Woolf), 2006
Digital file 10 Folder 8
Stories 2, 2006
Digital file 10 Folder 9
Stories list, 2006
Digital file 10 Folder 10
Stories quarry, 2006
Digital file 10 Folder 11
Stories reworking, 2006
Digital file 10 Folder 12
Story ideas, 2006
Digital file 10 Folder 13
UK, 2006
Digital file 10 Folder 14
You've got quarry, 2006
Box 7 Folder 12
Cherry Gets Me Going, 2007
Box 7 Folder 13
The Met's Catcher's Vision of New Jersey, 2013
Box 7 Folder 14
X, 2015
Box 7 Folder 15
L, 2016
Box 7 Folder 16
Accidental
Box 7 Folder 17
Arianna's Memories
Box 7 Folder 18
Dear Robert, Joan, and Button
Box 7 Folder 19
Early Rejoicing - Meditation for EJB
Box 7 Folder 20
Ending 1
Box 7 Folder 21
An Enlargement
Box 7 Folder 22
A Fay School: Real Life is a Compromise with Power
Box 7 Folder 23
Jack's Ladder
Box 8 Folder 1
Jealous
Box 8 Folder 2
(Jesus)
Box 8 Folder 3
Late Poems
Box 8 Folder 4
Living
Box 8 Folder 5
Men
Box 8 Folder 6
Me 'n' You (Mean You!) What Do You Mean?
Box 8 Folder 7
My Heart Skipped a Beat When Your Gorilla Drank it Neat
Box 8 Folder 8
Pigs
Box 8 Folder 9
Pills, Razors and Ale (for Glenn, Vivian, Steve)
Box 8 Folder 10
Primp School
Box 8 Folder 11
Rest Less: A Grovel-Novel
Box 8 Folder 12
Rising
Box 8 Folder 13
Robin Hood and the Virgin (for Toby Olson)
Box 8 Folder 14
Rufus at 12
Box 8 Folder 15
Saturday Night Among These Last Things
Box 8 Folder 16
Today: Dialogue
Box 8 Folder 17
The Trouble With an Elephant
Box 8 Folder 18
Trust
Box 8 Folder 19
Drafts

Essays

Box 8 Folder 20
Re: Vocation (Religion?), ca. 1960
Box 8 Folder 21
The Price of Self Assertion, 1961
Box 8 Folder 22
Field-work reports on Sunday School, 1964
Box 8 Folder 23
Sermons, ca. 1965
Box 8 Folder 24
The Holy State of Matrimony, 1965-1966
Box 8 Folder 25
Panrirge's Panegyric on Columbia University, 1967 November 15
Box 8 Folder 26
The Reason, Friends, Why I am Not a Sunday Painter, 1967 December 4
Box 8 Folder 27
A.B.C.'s for the Jefferson Airplane, 1967
Box 8 Folder 28
Sent and unsent criticism, 1967
Box 8 Folder 29
How Does a Feel Feel? Review of "Time has Come Today" (The Chambers Brothers, 1967)
Box 8 Folder 30
Let Leaves: What Basil King's Paintings Make Me See, 1967-1968
Box 8 Folder 31
The American Mass, ca. 1968
Box 8 Folder 32
That I Shall Always Prefer the Indulgence of Your Inclinations to the Satisfaction of My Own: A Stylistic Comparison of Tom Jones with the Movie Thereof, ca. 1968
Box 8 Folder 33
Grave, an Essay on Tristram Shandy , 1968
Box 8 Folder 34
Jean-Paul Sartre, Preface to Critique of Dialectical Reason - English translation and commentary by Rowan, 1968
Box 8 Folder 35
Words for Mrs. Davis with Respect to the Movie Intolerance (D.W. Griffith, 1916), 1968
Box 8 Folder 36
Work That goes Farther Than Our Dream. Review of Bending the Bow (Robert Duncan, 1968), Of Being Numerous (George Oppen, 1968), and The Back Country (Gary Snyder, 1967), 1968
Box 8 Folder 37
"Tooth'd Withal": An Essay on the Language of Ben Jonson's Major Comedies, 1968-1969
Box 8 Folder 38
For Diane - Essay for Diane Wakoski symposium, 1976
Box 8 Folder 39
The Very Thing That Happens (Russell Edson, 1964) - Review, 1976
Box 8 Folder 40
Blue Chickory (Lorine Niedecker, 1976) - Review, 1977
Box 9 Folder 1
The Syntax of Integrity. Review of Gilbert Sorrentino's White Sail (1977) and The Orangery (1978), 1978-1979
Box 9 Folder 2
Caracas, 1993
Box 9 Folder 3
The Intercourse of Life: Experiencing "The Price" and "The Structuralist" - Review of David Antin, 1999-2001
Box 9 Folder 4
Matlin - Review of David Matlin, 2003
Box 9 Folder 5
Response to Bernard Hoepffner, 2003
Box 9 Folder 6
Walk Journal, 1/19/03: Our Latest War, 2003
Box 9 Folder 7
Interview of David Matlin on U.S. prisons, 2004
Digital file 11
Digital documents - Writings in Word, 2005

Untitled essay on Douglas Woolf; The Lecture: An Insouciance of Influence - Review of The Lecture (Lydie Salvayre, 2005); and Brave World - Response to Stacey Levine's "Transgend/Ear."

Box 9 Folder 8
If Only the Imagination. . . Review of Poems for the New Millennium, volume 3 (University of California Press, 2009), 2010
Box 9 Folder 9
An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent (John Henry Newman, 1870)
Box 9 Folder 10
Interlude (Halftime): What I Think
Box 9 Folder 11
K. Lear's "Growth"
Box 9 Folder 12
Laughter: To Laugh
Box 9 Folder 13
Living Among the Beasts
Box 9 Folder 14
A Parody of Xavier Prynne: A Personal and Confidential Letter to a Sub-Sub-Secretary
Box 9 Folder 15
The Shout Heard 'Round the World: or, Supergirl Converts a Muslim
Box 9 Folder 16
Why Not Me? - Talk for Benedictine College

Books

Box 9 Folder 17
Your Pages Are Not Numbered (1968) - Drafts, 1967-1968
Box 9 Folder 18-19
Let Leaves - Drafts, correspondence, and artwork, 1983-1996
Box 9 Folder 20-23
My Last Days (2007) - Drafts and correspondence, 1999-2009
Box 10 Folder 1-7
My Last Days (2007) - Drafts, 1998-2002
Box 11 Folder 1-8
My Last Days (2007) - Drafts, 1998-2007

Includes a review by Toby Olson and artwork by Quentin Rowan.

Digital file 12
My Last Days (2007) - Digital drafts, 2006
Box 12 Folder 1
Our Last Days - Drafts, undated
Digital file 13
Our Last Days - Digital drafts, 2005
Box 12 Folder 2
Except My Life - Correspondence, 2001
Digital file 14
Except My Life - Digital drafts, 2006
Box 12 Folder 3-6
Corpus - Notes and drafts, 2002-2004
Digital file 15
Corpus - Digital drafts, 2006
Digital file 16
You've Got My Number - Digital drafts, 2006
Digital file 17
Sweet Potatoes (2007) - Digital drafts, 2006
Box 12 Folder 7-8
Alphabet of Love Serial (2015) - Drafts
Digital file 18
Alphabet of Love Serial (2015) - Digital drafts, 2006
Box 12 Folder 9-10
Her Soul on Display. Linda Farris: An Interpretation (2016), 2015-2016
Box 13 Folder 1-3
Her Soul on Display. Linda Farris: An Interpretation (2016), 2015-2016
Box 13 Folder 4-9
A Mystery's No Problem (2016) - Notes and drafts, 1980-2011
Box 14 Folder 1-6
A Mystery's No Problem (2016) - Drafts, 2004-2016
Digital file 19
A Mystery's No Problem (2016) - Digital drafts, 2006-2007
Box 14 Folder 7
Poetry manuscript, undated
Oversize FB-380 Folder 5
Untitled book of poetry and fiction on handmade paper, undated

Freelance Projects

Box 14 Folder 8
Air Canada, 2014
Box 14 Folder 9
Jump! (Brian Kibby), 2014
Box 14 Folder 10
SistersGulassa, 2014
Box 14 Folder 11
Nello Addabbo, 2015
Box 14 Folder 12
Biography project
Box 14 Folder 13
Hilton
Box 14 Folder 14
Paul Wylde

EDITING

Scope and Content of Series

Series 4) EDITING: Drafts, correspondence, notes, incorporation documents, ephemera, and artwork for the poetry journals Friendly Local Press and Golden Handcuffs Review. Arranged in two subseries: A) Friendly Local Press and B) Golden Handcuffs Review.

A) Friendly Local Press: Drafts, correspondence, notes, and artwork for Friendly Local Press, a poetry journal edited by Rowan from 1968 to 1971 and from 1986 to 1989.

B) Golden Handcuffs Review: Drafts, correspondence, notes, incorporation papers, artwork, and ephemera for Golden Handcuffs Review, a poetry journal edited by Rowan starting in 2002.

Friendly Local Press

Artwork

Box 15 Folder 1
King, Basil, 1968
Box 15 Folder 2
Radford, Matthew - Proposed logo
Oversize FB-380 Folder 5
Stuecklen, Karl, 1968
Box 15 Folder 3
Stuecklen, Karl, 1971-1986

Correspondence

Box 15 Folder 4
Eigner, Larry, 1980-1989
Box 15 Folder 5
Enslin, Theodore (Ted), 1987-1988
Box 15 Folder 6
Mac Low, Jackson, 1987
Box 15 Folder 7
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1968-1987
Box 15 Folder 8
Volume I, No. 1 - Draft, with dedication to Stephanie, 1968
Box 15 Folder 9-10
Volume II, No. 1-2 - Notes and drafts, 1986
Oversize FB-380 Folder 5
Volume II, No. 2 - Cover layout, 1986

Golden Handcuffs Review

Digital file 20 Folder 1
Business correspondence, 2004-2006

Email files converted to Word documents by Rowan.

Box 15 Folder 11
Correspondence and notes, 2002-2010
Box 15 Folder 12
Editorial: Golden Handcuffs' Foreign and Military Policy, 2004-2005
Box 15 Folder 13
Ephemera, 2002-2008
Box 15 Folder 14
Incorporation, 2002-2011
Box 15 Folder 15
Ingram Periodicals, 2002-2013
Digital file 20 Folder 2
Production files, 2005-2006
Box 15 Folder 16
Subscriptions, 2009-2013
Digital file 20 Folder 3
Volume I, Nos. 1-10 - Correspondence, cover art, and drafts in Word and PDF, 2002-2008
Box 16 Folder 1-19
Volume I, Nos. 1-19 - Correspondence, drafts, notes and ephemera, 2002-2015
Oversize FB-380 Folder 5
Volume I, No. 16 - Cover art, 2013
Box 16 Folder 20-25
Volume II, Nos. 20-25 - Notes and outlines, 2015-2018