Guide to the Drew McCord Stroud (Ryu Makoto) Papers 1919-2007


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Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
• Descriptive Summary
• Information on Use
• Access
• Citation
• Biographical Note
• Scope Note
• Related Resources
• Subject Headings
• INVENTORY
• Series I: Personal
• Series II: Correspondence
• Series III: SARU Press
• Series IV: Published Writing
• Series V: Audio
• Series VI: Articles, Ephemera, and Oversize

Acknowledgments

The Drew McCord Stroud (Ryu Makoto) Papers were processed and preserved as part of the "Uncovering New Chicago Archives Project," funded with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Descriptive Summary

Information on Use

Access

Series V, Audio, does not include access copies for part or all of the material in this series. Researchers will need to consult with staff before requesting material from this series.

The remainder of the collection is open for research.

Citation

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Stroud, Drew McCord (Ryu Makoto). Papers, [Box#, Folder#], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Biographical Note

Drew McCord Stroud (Ryu Makoto) was born on September 3, 1944 in Arizona. Stroud received a BA from Harvard College in 1966 and a MA from University of Arizona in 1986. Stroud taught Spanish at the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University, British and American Literature at Wan Hua University in Taipei, and was associate professor of English, Spanish, Latin American, and Asian Studies at the Temple University branch campus in Tokyo.

During the early 1970's, Stroud was involved in the presentation of concerts in Harlem, New York, given by the Urban Philharmonic Society featuring Latin jazz artists. Stroud's early interest in jazz and blues traditions is evident in his documentation of Japanese blues singer, Mikami Kan.

Stroud's publications of poetry include: Lines Drawn Towards (1980); The Hospitality of Circumstance (1992); and Caught in the Act (2001). For the translation from Spanish to English of Poamorio (1984), written by Dario Canton, Stroud won a publication grant from the Wittner Bynner Foundation.

In addition to being a poet and professor, Stroud is founder and editor-in-chief of SARU "monkey" Press International with offices located in Yokohama, Japan, Seattle, Washington, and New York City. According to Stroud, SARU Press International has been "the principal English-language press publishing the work of expatriate poets living in Japan."

Scope Note

The Drew McCord Stroud (Ryu Makoto) Papers contain manuscripts, drafts, proofs, poems, published articles, correspondence, record albums and cassettes, newspaper clippings, fliers, and Japanese ephemera. These papers document Stroud's family, academic career, and role as editor-in-chief of SARU Press.

The Drew McCord Stroud Papers are divided into six series; Series I, Personal; Series II, Correspondence; Series III, SARU Press; Series IV, Published Writing; Series V, Audio; and Series VI, Articles, Ephemera, and Oversize.

Series I, Personal, contains childhood artwork and poems, family information, correspondence, academic records, and ephemera. The correspondence includes letters Stroud wrote as a child and young adult to President Eisenhower and other prominent American politicians about current events. There is also correspondence between Stroud's grandfather and father, Berthold Stroud and Ford Emery Stroud, about life during the Depression and Berthold's job as district manager for the Apex Rotarex Corporation. Also included are travel essays and a journal of Stroud's mother, Isabel. There are notes and handouts collected in a course given by Rupert C. Allen. There are also printed poems and booklets by other authors. See Series VI for oversize newspaper articles by Isabel Stroud. See Series II, III, and IV for additional correspondence.

Series II, Correspondence, contains letters to and from Stroud concerning his role as editor of SARU Press and as an author. Arranged alphabetically. Correspondence to and from Dario Canton is mostly in Spanish. Correspondence to and from Mikami Kan, Kazuko Shiraishi, Takahashi Mutsuo, and Tominaga Nagahisa is in Japanese. The correspondence discusses authors, publications, and works by authors of SARU Press as well as inquiries by authors regarding publications, manuscript submissions, and personal advice. See Series I for family correspondence. See Series III and IV for correspondence kept with manuscripts. See Series VI for oversize correspondence.

Series III, SARU Press, contains manuscripts, proofs, drafts, and editorial material related to the press and its published works. Published authors include, Rupert C. Allen, Judy Katz-Levine, and Gloria Oden. There are also manuscript translations by Stroud and others of works by Dario Canton, Kenji Miyazawa, Shuntaro Tanikawa, and Xavier Villaurrutia. Some manuscripts contain handwritten notation and critiques. See Series IV for Stroud's published writing. See Series VI for oversize SARU Press material.

Series IV, Published Writing, contains manuscripts, drafts of poems, and correspondence critiquing Stroud's (Ryu Makoto) manuscripts. Included are drafts of poems from Lines Drawn Towards and Caught in the Act. There are offprints, scholarly articles, and poems and essays featured in journals. See Series III for Stroud's literary translations.

Series V, Audio, contains cassettes of poetry readings given by Judy Katz-Levine, an interview of Isabel McCord Stroud, and an interview of Tominaga Nashisa in Japanese. There are also record albums of Japanese blues singer Mikami Kan.

Due to the lack of listening/access copies, researchers will need to consult with staff before using this material.

Series VI, Articles, Ephemera, and Oversize, contains published articles of Isabel McCord Stroud, mostly of her travels. There are posters, leaflets, mailings, and programs about Japanese political and cultural life collected by Stroud in both Japanese and English. Also included is a proof of the jacket cover of The Undergraduate (Spring 2005), a publication distributed by St. Mary's College of California. There is correspondence from Dario Canton, Peter Goodman, and Mikami Kan to Stroud. Also included is a literary review of Stroud's work, The Hospitality of Circumstance.

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Subject Headings

• Makoto, Ryu
• Stroud, Drew McCord
• Canton, Dario
• Kan, Mikami
• Katz-Levine, Judy
• Oden, Gloria
• Japanese poetry -- Translations into English.
• Poetry
• Political Culture--Japan

INVENTORY

Series V, Audio, due to the lack of listening/access copies, researchers will need to consult with staff before using this material.