On Sept. 9, Carissa Hansen, an archivist in the Upper Midwest Literary Archives (UMLA) at the University of Minnesota, and her colleague Kate Hujda showcased material from early pieces of past SMSU professor Bill Holm’s work as well as authors Robert Bly, Margaret Hasse, and press Milkweed Editions.

The event, called Boxelder Bug Days, was held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Minnesota Public Library.

The previously unseen works were purchased from Holm’s widow, Marcy Brekken, in 2012.

“There are manuscripts, essays, photos, periodicals, posters, newspaper articles and a lot of other,” Hansen told The Minnesota Mascot. “I’ve learned a lot about his life already. But there is much more to go through. There are literally a hundred boxes of things we got from Marcy.”

Holm’s works are being included in a year-long grant project titled “Prairie Poets and Press: Literary Lives of the Upper Midwest”. It’s dedicated to exploring the archives of Minnesota poets.

“We’re financed in part with funds provided by the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society. I’ve been working on this particular project since February,” Hansen said.

The work for the project is being done by the UMLA, which was started in 1971 at the University of Minnesota. It houses both personal and organizational papers of authors and presses located in or influenced by the upper Midwest, which consists of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

“Aside from writing and living in Minnesota, one thread that ties Holm, Bly, and Hasse together is their work with Milkweed Editions,” Hansen said. “They all published poetry with Milkweed Editions during the press’s infancy as a full-time book press.”

“Holm was not shy about acknowledging that the subject matter of Boxelder Bug Variations was unusual,” Hansen said. “When asked in Milkweed’s author questionnaire what other books might compete with his book, he wrote ‘On bugs? Mine’s the best!’.”

One interesting and unusual item that Hansen has discovered from the boxes of Holm’s literature was a book that he had begun working on called Low Down and Coming On: A Feast of Delicious and Dangerous Poems About Pigs.

“It was something that he had started and he had put a call out to anyone that wanted to submit a poem about pigs,” Hansen said. “It’s an honor to work on Bill’s papers. Minnesota and Minnesota culture is present in the collection. It’s fantastic.”