Clark County deepens regional ties to the late writer Richard Brautigan

Nataliya Shpylova, a Fulbright scholar from the Ukraine, came to Clark County in August to study Richard Brautigan with John Barber at Washington State University Vancouver. She'll be here for 10 months and is the first Fulbright scholar WSU Vancouver has hosted. (Courtesy of WSU Vancouver)

The late author Richard Brautigan, a Washington native known for capturing the zeitgeist of the 1960s and ‘70s counterculture movement, may have a homecoming of sorts at the Clark County Historical Museum.

The museum is working to acquire the Brautigan Library, a collection of unpublished works by unknown authors who were inspired by a fictional library in Brautigan’s novel, “The Abortion.”

If that happens, the museum will become the epicenter of Brautigan research, and Brautigan fans from around the world will likely make pilgrimages to Vancouver, said John Barber, co-director of Digital Technology and Culture at Washington State University Vancouver and a leading Brautigan scholar.

Brautigan was born in Tacoma and raised there and in Eugene, Ore. He lived in San Francisco when he did most of his writing.

His connection to Vancouver is the people who study his work.

Barber already has drawn one Brautigan devotee from abroad to Clark County. On the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 1, Ukrainian scholar Nataliya Shpylova will give a talk on Brautigan at the Clark County Historical Museum. Shpylova is a Fulbright scholar who is spending 10 months at WSU Vancouver doing Brautigan research.

Her presentation will center on how Brautigan inspired literary diversity, a primary goal of the Brautigan Library. The library includes a range of materials, from memoirs to poems to recipes.

The Brautigan Library has been in need of a home for the past year, which is what spurred discussions with the Clark County Historical Museum. In addition to its proximity to WSU Vancouver and Barber, the museum is appealing because it’s close to Brautigan’s birthplace and to Portland, where some of his earliest poems were published.

“This is Richard Brautigan’s old stomping ground,” said Todd R. Lockwood, founder of the Brautigan Library.

Lockwood started the library in his hometown of Burlington, Vt., in 1990. In the mid 1990s the collection moved from its original location to Burlington’s Fletcher Free Library, where it stayed until 2007. Since then the approximately 350 volumes have been stored in Lockwood’s basement while he and Brautigan’s estate looked for a suitable host.

Details are still being finalized, but the collection should arrive at the museum in the spring, said Susan Tissot, executive director of the Clark County Historical Society and Museum.

The Brautigan Library will be a welcome addition to the museum, she noted.

“It will make our research library relevant,” Tissot said.

The museum plans to build a literacy project around the collection to engage the community. The public may also have the opportunity to become part of the Brautigan Library. The library has been static for many years, but Barber hopes to open it up to new digital submissions. Space limitations likely will prevent more physical volumes from being added to the collection, Barber said.

Next summer Barber would like to hold an international symposium on Brautigan pegged to the centennial of the former Carnegie Library building which houses the Clark County Historical Museum. Such an event has the potential to draw Brautigan scholars from around the world and “bring international exposure to the area,” he said.

It also will help keep the mission of the Brautigan Library alive.

“I’m just delighted to see it move to a new life where there will be new people involved,” Lockwood said. “It beats the heck out of sitting in my basement for another year.”

Mary Ann Albright can be reached at maryann.albright@columbian.com or 360-735-4507.

See this Sept. 5 Bits 'n' Pieces item on Nataliya Shpylova to learn more about her background and interest in Richard Brautigan.

Visit John Barber's Web site on Richard Brautigan to learn more about the writer's life and works.

What: “Richard Brautigan: Inspirations for Literary Diversity,” a presentation by Nataliya Shpylova.
When: 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1.
Where: Clark County Historical Museum, 1511 Main St., Vancouver.
Cost: Free.
Information: 360-993-5679.


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