Uncategorized - Sharon Oard Warner

Dr. Virginia Hyde: an Appreciation

Sharon Warner — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 15:10:15 +0000

27 January 2019

In January of 2004, the D. H. Lawrence Ranch was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) at the National level, which means the property is eligible for National Landmark Status.

This singular achievement was made possible by two scholars–Tina Ferris and Dr. Virginia Hyde. On January 2, 2019, we lost Dr. Hyde.

As many in the D. H. Lawrence literary community mourn her passing, I am taking this opportunity to do something long overdue—to recognize her important contribution to the history of the property.

The application process for the NHRP is arduous and time-consuming. The proposal took more than five years to complete and was complicated by the proximity of the two authors to the site. Neither lived anywhere near the D. H. Lawrence Ranch. Neither served as faculty at the University of New Mexico. Dr. Virginia Hyde worked from her office at Washington State University and Tina Ferris contributed from her home in the greater Los Angeles area. They worked not for recognition or recompense but simply to serve the greater good. And, so they have.

(BTW: I don’t believe Georgia O’Keeffe was frightened every moment. That’s the sort of hyperbole that the Misfit indulged in at the end of Flannery O’Connor’s story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” Do you remember the concluding line of the story? The misfit has just shot the grandmother, and he speaks this line over her body:

The project began in 1998, in the early years of e‑mail. In fact, one of the oldest messages on my UNM e‑mail account is from Dr. Hyde. I looked it up earlier today and note that it was posted at 9:48 p.m. on a Sunday evening in July of 2000. Virginia wasn’t taking the summer off, the weekend off, or even the evening off. Instead, she was writing to enlist my help in completing the measurements for some of the historic buildings as well as the distances between them. This information was necessary for Section 7 of the narrative. (The proposal makes for fascinating reading and is available at the website for the D. H. Lawrence Society of North America.)

Virginia had been patient with me. This wasn’t her first message. I was overdue in sending her the necessary measurements. But in completing the task, I had met with all manner of obstacles. The caretaker for the Ranch, Mr. Al Bearce, was entirely opposed to the project. More than once, he threatened to call the Highway Patrol and have me booted off the property. But he wasn’t the only problem.

Virginia references another issue in her message: “We do very well understand some of the factors that make this work difficult, such as the mice that would certainly give me pause just as you say!”

Gently, she goes on to recommend a measuring tape that will speed up the job: “Sears sells a 100-ft.-reel tape for $16.00, and no doubt there are cheaper brands, too. We’d also suggest that it might be handy to print out this sheet and to write replies on the back.” I did as she asked and am proud to have made a tiny contribution to this large and lasting achievement. And, I am grateful that doing so brought me briefly into the life of Dr. Virginia Hyde.

She taught for 34 years in the English Department of Washington State University. She authored The Risen Adam: D. H. Lawrence’s Revisionist Typology (Penn State UP) and edited the Cambridge critical edition of Lawrence’s Mornings in Mexico and Other Essays (Cambridge UP, 2009). In total, she authored or edited six books, guest-edited literary journals, and published dozens of essays in journals and books, including the MLA “Teaching Authors” series.

She will be missed by many. But, at the D. H. Lawrence Ranch, the loftiest of the pines and the slightest of the mice whisper their gratitude and welcome her spirit.

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Georgia O’Keeffe and Fear

Sharon Warner — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 13:43:26 +0000

16 September 2016

“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do.”

—Georgia O’Keeffe

This week, the Georgia O’Keeffe Research Center is sponsoring a forum on “Balancing Authenticity, Idealism, and Expectations at a Single-Focus Institutions.” This three-day event (Sept. 14–16) has drawn a number of museum directors, archivists, and independent scholars. As well as one English professor and novelist. That would be me. I am taking part on behalf of the D. H. Lawrence Ranch Initiatives.

Like Georgia O’Keeffe, I have often been frightened. Also like her, I have pushed myself to act in spite of my fear. Yes, I was a wee bit scared to attend the forum because, after all, what do I know about museums? (Shrug) I’ve wandered through quite a few of them.

Believing in yourself can be difficult, but believing in your cause, in this case the D. H. Lawrence Ranch, well, that’s not hard at all. The Ranch could be and should be a museum and it could be and should be a residency center for the arts.

“She would have been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”

But, as a result of my tour, I do know that Georgia O’Keeffe was certainly frightened during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Would you believe she had a bomb shelter built outside the bedroom of her Abiquiu home? The docent told us about the bomb shelter, which is built into the side of a hill, as well as all the supplies O’Keeffe ordered to be stored in the shelter. Once she was prepared for disaster, she went right on making art.

Seeing O’Keeffe’s home at Abiquiu is something I’ve dreamed of doing for years, and I am grateful to the Georgia O’Keeffe Research Center for the fascinating tour of both the Abiquiu and the Ghost Ranch homes.

In recent years, the caretakers for the Abiquiu house have restored the gardens where O’Keeffe grew most of her vegetables and fruit. History brought to life, quite literally.

While it’s true that Lawrence didn’t raise vegetables at the Ranch, he did have a cow named Susan, and he milked her whenever he could catch her.

In recent years, the Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch homes have been carefully preserved and lovingly tended, but such was not always the case. It’s up to those of us who care about an artist’s legacy to preserve it.

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Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Starry, Starry Night”

Sharon Warner — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 13:29:25 +0000

7 September 2014

This past Wednesday and Thursday, National Geographic photographers visited the D.H. Lawrence Ranch. Unlike most folks, who go to the Ranch during the daylight hours, these photographers trekked up to the Homesteader Cabin after nightfall, when nocturnal animals emerge under the cover of darkness.

The owls and coyotes must have been watching as the photographers set up their tripods around the Lawrence Tree and aimed their cameras skyward, through tangled tree limbs and toward the stars. Eighty-five years after Georgia O’Keeffe lay back on a carpenter’s bench and got lost in the stars, National Geographic photographers made the journey to see what she saw and record it for the rest of us.

To get a quick lesson and two minutes of splendor, visit this site, Khan Academy, “O’Keeffe: The Lawrence Tree.”

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