Descriptive Summary
Whitebird, Joanie Green
Whitebird, Joanie Green
Papers
1950-1997
Materials are written in English.
93-131, 93-177, 93-197, 93-465, 94-100, 94-123, 94-173,
94-295, 95-009, 95-177, 95-252, 95-303, 96-007, 96-089, 96-197, 96-263, 96-297,
96-363, 97-032, 97-087, 97-118, 97-212, 97-350, 98-108, 2001-135
ca. 23 ft., 6 in.
Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The
University of Texas at Austin
Joanie Whitebird was a writer,
editor, publisher, and founder of Wings Press, San Antonio book publisher. The
papers contain correspondence, scrapbooks, notes, literary productions in draft and
final versions, business and financial records, clippings, pamphlets, broadsides,
books, postcards, photographs, audio and video materials, ephemera, and artifacts.
Biographical Sketch
Joanie Whitebird was a writer, editor, publisher, and founder of Wings Press, San
Antonio book publisher. Whitebird played a significant role in the formation of both
COSMEP (Committee of Small Magazine Editors and Publishers) and Travois, the first multicultural anthology of Texas
poetry.
As an editor, Whitehead founded Wings Press in 1975 with Joseph F. Lomax, editor and
publisher. Upon Lomax’s death, Whitebird took over publishing duties as well. Wings
Press primarily published collections of poetry, along with some works of music,
fiction, and history. In 1993, Whitebird designed and published Working the Stone, a collection of poetry by Bryce
Milligan. Two years later, with her health in decline, Whitebird sold the press to
Milligan. She died in 2000. Wings Press holds an annual poetry competition in her
honor, the Whitebird Chapbook Series.
Source: Wings Press. All You
Ever Wanted to Know About Wings Press.
http://www.wingspress.com/background.cfm (accessed June 21, 2010).
Scope and Contents
The Joanie Green Whitebird Papers, 1950-1997, contain correspondence, scrapbooks,
notes, literary productions in draft and final versions, business and financial
records, clippings, pamphlets, broadsides, books, postcards, photographs, audio and
video materials, ephemera, and artifacts. The
papers reflect Whitebird’s lifelong interest in writing and her activities as a
writer and publisher of Wings Press, San Antonio book publisher. Also
included in the collection are a copy of Working the
Stone by Bryce Milligan, poetry correspondence and publications, and
Whitehead’s eulogy for musician Townes Van Zandt. Furthermore, the papers contain
personal materials relating to Whitehead’s move to Georgia, her daughter Jessie
(1983-1989), and various draft manuscripts of Whitehead’s writings, including her
novel Pelican, about her brother Dove. The papers also
contain poetry of Michael Ventura and Scott Whitebird, as well as correspondence
related to and galleys of the book Blessed Bastard by
Ruth P. M. Lehmann.
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Index Terms
Subjects (Persons)
Whitebird, J.--Archives.
Lomax, Joseph L.
Milligan, Bryce, 1953-
Ventura, Michael
Whitebird, Scott
Lehmann, Ruth P. M. (Ruth Preston Miller),
1912-2000
Subjects (Organizations)
Wings Press (San Antonio, Tex.)
Committee of Small Magazine Editors and Publishers
(U.S.)
Subjects
Poetry--American--20th century
Poetry--Authorship--Correspondence
Poetry--Authorship--History--20th century
Poetry--Publishing--United States--History--20th century
Authors--United States
Places
Houston (Tex.)
San Antonio (Tex.)
Georgia
London (England)
Seattle (Wash.)
Preferred Citation
Joanie Green Whitebird Papers, 1950-1997, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History,
The University of Texas at Austin.
Separated Material
Some material has been separated to the Artifact Collection and to the Library Unit.
Processing Information
Portions of this collection are unprocessed. Contact repository for more information.
Detailed Description of the Papers
Inventory
Contact repository for more information.