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Scholar donates books to SOU library Northwest poetry works appraised at $38,000 By BILL VARBLE Tom Ferte called Teresa Montgomery last year to say he had some books he was thinking about donating. "He said two to three hundred," says Montgomery, the interim director of Southern Oregon University's library. From that call came a gift to SOU's library of 694 books. The core of the collection is Oregon and Northwest poets. The collection, including some literary journals, is appraised at $38,000. The retired English teacher made the gift in memory of his daughter, Adrienne Lee, who died in a car wreck in 1985. To celebrate the collection, the library is hosting a two-day poetry event April 3 and 4 featuring readings by poet Carolyn Kizer and Dorothy Stafford, wife of Oregon's long-time poet laureate William Stafford. Also expected to read are poets Joyce Epstein, Lawson Inada, Robert McDowell, Paulann Petersen and Vince Wixon. "It was a complete surprise," Montgomery says of Ferte's call and the offer of the books. "I was thunderstruck." After talking to Ferte Montgomery drove to Salem and visited the retired Western Oregon University English professor, a 1961 graduate of then-Southern Oregon State College in Ashland. When she saw the books she felt a growing sense of excitement. "We get calls from people all the time," she says. "This was the real thing." Ferte showed her a signed, handbound copy of Stafford's "You and Some Other Character," one of only 328 copies published in 1987 by Honeybrook Press in Rexburg, Idaho. He had Stafford's "Allegiances" from 1970, "Down in My Heart" and "The Animals That Drank Up Sound." In fact he had everything Stafford wrote, all signed. He pulled out a signed edition of Robert Bly's "The Morning Glory," Carolyn Kizer's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Harping On" and Ursula K. LeGuin's "Dancing at the Edge of the World." There was a slim, brown first edition of "Amores," D.H. Lawrence's second book of poems, published in 1916 by New York publisher B.W. Huebsch. There were books of poems by Vern Rutsala and Madeline DeFrees. "I was overwhelmed," Montgomery says. "To see these books that were clearly very unique. Some of the books by Robert Bly and William Stafford, some of their early works aren't generally available anymore. And the D.H. Lawrence." Ferte did his master's thesis on Lawrence, whose work was considered scandalous during his lifetime (1885-1930), but who was regarded as one of the most important novelists of the 20th century by the 1950s when Ferte came along as an English student. Ferte had classes at SOSC with Oregon Shakespeare Festival founder Angus Bowmer. Margery Daily, a Stanford professor who was active in Ashland's emerging Shakespeare scene of the 1950s, was a mentor to him. A gift from Daily started SOU's special collections. Ferte explained the gift saying he has roots in Ashland. He says he gave away 60 percent of his library when he moved from Monmouth to Salem -- before Montgomery saw the Oregon/Northwest collection. "What are you going to do with these books?" his wife once asked him. "I never thought of myself as a collector," he says. The collection totals 802 items. Montgomery says it will take some time to examine and catalog the entire collection. The books will be held in special collections and will be made available to scholars. "People will need to request specific books," she says. "We're not as restrictive as larger libraries. We hope we'll be able to work with the English Department. "There's something special about old books," Montgomery says. "The texture of the paper, the bindings." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA