Miller Williams and Willard Gatewood had an idea in 1980. They believed that the University of Arkansas required an additional outlet for scholars who wanted to publish their work. They believed that Arkansas had a shortage of publishing opportunities, as well as a lack of attention to its history and culture.
In the McIlroy house, which was renovated at the Fayetteville campus’ edge in December 1980, opened the University of Arkansas Press.
Brent Riffel wrote “A stylized representation of this house became UA Press logo”, for the Central Arkansas Library System’s Encyclopedia of Arkansas. “Initially, the press lacked both staff and funds to produce its own works. Williams arranged with William King, the head of University of Missouri Press. Missouri would be the editing and production house.
The UA Press was not independent until 1983 when it began to function. The first title it published was “The Governors of Arkansas Essays in Political Biography”, which Timothy Donovan, a UA historian, published in June 1981.
As I peruse the 40-page 2022 catalogue, I find many books that I would like to purchase for myself, and others I would love to get as Christmas gifts. You wouldn’t know that the press had a turbulent past judging by the quality and quantity of its books. It truly has been “the little university press that could.”
McIlroy House was set on fire in November 1983. The staff had to leave for nearly a year. A warehouse fire in September 1987 destroyed many books, and caused extensive damage. John White, UA Chancellor was able to close the publishing house down in the late 90s.
It’s also the story about some of the most gifted people to ever live in this area.
Arkansas and their determination for UA Press to succeed. Williams and Gatewood rise at the top.
Williams, one the most important American poets of the 20th Century, was 33 years a UA professor in English, foreign languages, and comparative literature. Fayetteville was home to a number of talented writers, many from all over the country. Williams was an author, editor and translator of over 30 volumes of poetry, fiction, literary criticism, and literary criticism.
Williams was born April 30, 1930 at Hoxie. Williams was born in April 1930 at Hoxie. He was the son and daughter of a Methodist minister. He graduated from Fort Smith high school in 1947. He entered Hendrix College, Conway, as a freshman. He then transferred across the city to the University of Central Arkansas. He was transferred again to Arkansas State University, Jonesboro. In 1952, Williams published “Et Cetera,” his first collection de poems.
He received a bachelor’s degree as a biology major at Jonesboro University in 1951. He then went on to earn a master’s degree in zoology from the University of Arizona two years later. For the next ten decades, he was a biology professor. Williams was a teacher at Millsaps College Jackson, Miss. He also briefly attended the University of Mississippi’s medical school.
Gatewood, his friend, wrote later that “In 1962, Flannery A’Connor helped him get a job in Louisiana State University’s English department.” “Fourteen years later, Williams joined Loyola University New Orleans where he established and edited ‘The New Orleans Review’. He returned to UA in 1970 as a member the English department and of the graduate program for creative writing.
His growing status in literature was evident in the honors he received starting in the 1950s. These included the Henry Bellman Award, Breadloaf Writers Conference Fellowship for Poetry in 1961, Harvard University’s Amy Lowell Traveling Fellowship for Poetry in 1963-64 and New York Arts Fund Award for 1970. Also, Fulbright Professorship at National University of Mexico, Prix de Rome for Literature 1976, and Charity Randall Citation for Contribution To Poetry as a Spoken Arts in 1993.
Williams was awarded the John William Crrington Award for Literary Excellence in 1994 as well as the National Arts Award (1997).
Gatewood wrote, “At the State Department’s invitation, Williams delivered lectures & readings on tours through many continents while mentoring UA student.” “President Bill Clinton selected him as the speaker for his poem, “Of History and Hope”, at the 1997 presidential inauguration. Williams described himself as a South-born product. He also benefited from his long commitment to science.
Williams is remembered for his broad imagination and his use irony, subtlety, and ambiguity. He was referred to by a journalist as “the Hank Williams” of American poetry. Miller Williams was presented with the Porter Prize’s Lifetime Achievement Award for 2009. The UA Press gives the Miller Williams Poetry Prize each year.
Williams died Jan. 1, 2015, at Fayetteville. Lucinda Williams, his daughter, was a well-known poet and songwriter. She has received multiple Grammy Awards. Time magazine dubbed her America’s greatest songwriter in 2002.
“As a kid, she met many her father’s writing friends, including Eudora Mundy and Flannery Connor, who famously let Lucinda chase her peacocks,” Philip Martin of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette wrote. She was 12 years old when she began writing her own songs and performing for her parents. After a short stint at the UA she started her career as an itinerant musician. She played in coffee shops and bars in Austin, Nashville and Houston.
Lucinda Williams was the headliner of a benefit concert in September 2007 to raise funds for Miller Williams Poetry Prize.
Miller Williams grew up in Arkansas in small towns. Gatewood was born in North Carolina, on a tobacco plant. Gatewood was born February 1931. He received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees from Duke University. He started his college teaching career in 1957 at East Tennesssee State University. Gatewood taught at East Carolina University and North Carolina Wesleyan College, as well as the University of Georgia.
Gatewood arrived in Arkansas in 1970 to be the University’s first Alumni Distinguished Professor for History. This chair was endowed by the alumni association. The chair was held by Gatewood until his retirement, in 1998. He was UA chancellor between 1984 and 1985, and taught hundreds of students. He also directed 25 doctoral theses. Some of these students went on to become college historians.
Tom DeBlack, a Arkansas historian, said that Gatewood was the recipient of most major awards at UA during his tenure, including the University Distinguished Research Award (1980) and the Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Service (1994). He was the author, coauthor, or editor of 14 books as well as more than 75 articles in scholarly journals. His books included many pioneering works in African American history.
Gatewood’s book “Aristocrats of Color, The Black Elite 1880-1920” was published in 1990 by UA Press and nominated to the National Book Award. Gatewood served as president of the Southern Historical Association from 1986 to 1987.
In 2002, UA Press published “The Southern Elite & Social Change: Essays to Honor of Willard B. Gatewood Jr.” These essays were written by former students as well as colleagues.
The book’s introduction stated: “There will, no doubt,” other great scholars and teachers. However, all contributors to this volume agree that Dr. Willard B. Gatewood Jr. has been a deep teacher and scholar. His enthusiasm and admiration for history are ours.
Gatewood passed away in October 2011. Gatewood died in October 2011. The book was critically acclaimed and sold over 10,000 copies in its first 10 months.
Gilchrist is a Vicksburg, Miss. native. She graduated from Vanderbilt University, and then received a second degree from Millsaps. There she studied under Welty. Gilchrist, who did postgraduate work at UA in creative writing, was a contributing editor to the Vieux Carre Courier in New Orleans between 1976 and 1979. She also published her first poetry book.
Gilchrist preferred to have “The Land of Dreamy Dreams”, published by UA Press over a commercial publisher. Its success led to a contract with Little, Brown & Co. Her short stories collection “Victory Over Japan” was awarded the 1984 National Book Award.
UA Press was able in July 1982 to hire Stephanie Brown as its first editor due to the success of Gilchrist’s 1981 collection. Williams was still responsible for the majority of manuscript acquisitions. In February 1984, UA Press established a student award for writing. It opened its London office two more years later. In 1988, it established a journal division that produced scholary journals.
Riffel stated that UA Press was a leading publisher for American poets by the 1990s. “The press published additional books of poetry that were nominated for awards, in addition to Frank Stanford’s posthumous works. … A result of Williams’ friendship, Jimmy Carter, the former President of the United States, became a key figure in the author roster. Carter had the opportunity to write about a broad range of subjects through the media.
Carter’s books include “An Outdoor Journal – Adventures and Reflections” from 1988, as well as a reexamination of 1980 Camp David peace agreements titled “The Blood of Abraham : Insights to the Middle East”.
White became chancellor of the state in 1997. In that year, he decided to close down the press due to its constant loss of money. His decision sparked controversy statewide.
Riffel wrote, “In response to Gatewood and others prominent Arkansans launched an public campaign for keeping its doors open.” White conceded that the plan to shut down the press was a misguided one in 1998. With the funding of Tyson Foods in Springdale and a large part thanks to White’s concession, the press was able to reorganize itself into a nonprofit entity and continue producing new titles.
“In 1998, Lawrence Malley was hired by the press to be its director. He led the expansion of the press’s forays into Middle East books. This was in response to the establishment at the UA of King Fahd Centers for Middle East Studies and Islamic Studies. Recent years have seen Arkansas history made a significant contribution by the press, with the release of the Histories of Arkansas series. It traces Arkansas’s past from its territorial period to the modern era. Malley retired in 2013, and Mike Bieker, the former assistant director, was elected director.
The publishing house is still a major focus for poetry, fiction, as well as books on the Middle East.
They continue to receive awards. Kathleen Condray was awarded the 2021 Booker Worthen Literary Prize for “Das Arkansas Echo: A Year In the Life of Germans, Nineteenth-Century South”. Kenneth Barnes received the 2022 J.G. Award for “The Ku Klux Klan 1920s Arkansas: How Protestant White Nationalism Came To Rule a State” Arkansas Historical Association, Ragsdale Book Award
“Winthrop Rockefeller – From New Yorker, Arkansawyer and 1956” by John Kirk of University of Arkansas at Little Rock was published earlier in the year. The book is already being praised.
Cherisse Jones Branch, ASU history professor, has received positive reviews for her book “Better Living With Their Own Bootstraps” (Black Women’s Activism and Rural Arkansas, 1914-1965).
My winter reading list includes “Country Boy: the Roots of Johnny Cash” by Colin Edward Woodward, and “Up South In the Ozarks” by Brooks Blevins of Izard Country.