Geoffrey Clark Papers (1973-1999) US-RBrRW-ua2023.03 , 1973-1999

(bulk 1983-1997)


Roger Williams University
Roger Williams University Library
One Old Ferry Road
Bristol, RI 02809
Tel: 401-254-3049
Fax: 401-254-0818
email: hbenedict@rwu.edu

Published in 2023

Collection Overview

Title: Geoffrey Clark papers
Date range: 1976-2000, (bulk 1983-1997)
Creator: Clark, Geoffrey, 1940-2021
Extent: 3 linear feet
Abstract: Literary manuscripts (memoir, short stories, novellas, novels).
Language of materials: English
Repository: Roger Williams University
Collection number: Geoffrey Clark Papers

Scope & content

The Geoffrey Clark papers include drafts of his writings – short stories and longer works. Some pieces appear to be unpublished.

Access Points

Subject Topics Document Types Subject Topics

Arrangement

Biographical note

Fiction writer, Geoffrey Clark (1940-2021), was raised Petoskey, Michigan, in the northern part of the lower peninsula. He received his BA and MA in English from Central Michigan University and MFA in Creative Writing and LIterature from the University of Iowa.

Much of Clark’s writing is about young people growing up in a rural community like the one he grew up in. His full-length works include Jackdog Summer, Wedding in October, and Two, Two Lily-White Boys. His shorter fiction has appeared in literary magazines, including Ploughshares, Mississippi Review, Witness, Flying Horse, Green Hills Literary Lantern, and Pittsburgh Quarterly.

Clark joined the Creative Writing department at Roger Williams College in 1973. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he served as faculty advisor for Aldebaran - a student run literary magazine which began in 1971. He also edited The Best I Can Wish You: Stories from Five Women Writers (1985) and How the Weather Was: An Anthology of Stories by Rhode Island Writers (1990), both published by the College's Ampersand Press. Clark continued to write after his retirement in 1999. He resided in Warren, Rhode Island, until his passing in 2021.

Bibiography

  • What the Moon Said: Short Stories (1983)
  • Ruffian on the Stair: Short Stories
  • Schooling the Spirit: Stories (1993)
  • Jackdog Summer: A Novel (1996)
  • All the Way Home: Stories and a Novella (1997
  • Rabbit Fever: 12 Stories and a Memoir (2000)
  • Wedding in October: A Novel (2002)
  • Necessary Death: Stories (2006)
  • Two, Two, Lily-White Boys: A Novel (2012)
Many of Clark's short stories were published multiple times, in different anthologies. It appears that some of the manuscripts (listed in the following inventory) were never published.

Access & Use

Access to the collection: There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment.
Use of the materials: Although Roger Williams University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation: The Geoffrey Clark papers, Roger Williams University Archives.
Contact information: Roger Williams University
Roger Williams University Library
One Old Ferry Road
Bristol, RI 02809
Tel: 401-254-3049
Fax: 401-254-0818
email: hbenedict@rwu.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION  
Acquisition: The collection was a gift (2021) from Joy Warren, Geoffrey Clark’s sister-in-law.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID  
Author: Finding aid prepared by Heidi Benedict.
Encoding: Finding aid encoded by Heidi Benedict in 2023
Descriptive rules: Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Inventory

Box 1 Clumsy Partners
 undated
Box 1 CADS (a collection of five short stories and a novella)
Contents Note: Includes Summer Gothic; Species and Gender; At the Geyser; Two-Tone Blue; Bernice Encounters Neccessity; Haybaling

 undated
Box 1 Collection of Short Stories
Contents Note: Includes Quick Friends; A Place for Your Guests; Summer Gothic; Summer Lightning; Geyser; Bernice Encounters Necessity; The Whole Nine Yards; Lunar Frisson; Rabbit Fever; The Best I Can Wish You; and a partial/unititled story.

undated
Box 1 Summer Story
Contents Note: Inlcudes typescript and handwritten drafts.

 undated
Box 2 Edge City
Contents Note: Published as Edge of Summer, in Schooling the Spirit, in 1993.

 1990
Box 3 The Flowing Bridge
Contents Note: Includes a "quasi-memoir" and six stories -- The Best I can Wish You; Remembering, Rediscover; Primary Sources; Travelling; The Flowing Bridge. The memoir was published in Rabbit Fever: 12 Stories and a Memoir (2000).

undated
Box 4 Running in the Dark
Contents Note: Includes seven of his "Notebooks" (1977-1978).

 undated
Boxes 5-6 Schoolng the Spirit
Contents Note: Box 5 contains six (of seven) stories that were later published as Schooling the Spirit in 1993. The novella Edge of Summer, in Box2 , was also published with these short stories in Schooling the Spirit.

 undated
Boxes 7 Untitled Story
 undated