Edward Vargo, who was among the first wave of Updike critics and scholars, has donated his Updike papers to The John Updike Childhood Home. The materials are mostly from his 1973 monograph, Rainstorms and Fire: Ritual in the Novels of John Updike.
Vargo has been living in Thailand, and the donated materials include Updike-related printed matter from that part of the world and accompanying notes, drafts, correspondences, and bibliographies. Later items are also included, such as notes and typescripts from “Whose Africa? Culture Wars in John Updike’s The Coup,” which was presented at the XXI Congress of the International Federation for Modern Languages and Literatures in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1999.
It took the Houghton Library a year to catalog all materials so that they could become available for scholars by appointment, and the board of The John Updike Society, which owns and operates the house-museum at 117 Philadelphia Ave. in Shillington, Pa., predicts that it could take a year or longer before scholars can gain access to the Childhood Home materials. Some of the items that could help researchers include letters, early notes and drafts, cancelled checks, Updike’s travel log, and numerous books that bear his annotations and marginalia.
On Monday, May 2, about 120 students from Governor Mifflin Middle School toured The John Updike Childhood Home with their teachers, Ms. Werle and Miss McKay. Organizing the event and leading the tour was Director of Education Maria Lester, who also conducted a creative writing workshop.
After the tour and hearing/seeing what Shillington and Berks County meant to Updike, students went outside to write original “sense of place” poems based on their own childhood memories growing up in and around Shillington. Shown here are students at work and some posing together under Updike’s dogwood tree.
“Finally, students graduating from GM will know who John Updike was and how he put Shillington on the map,” said Dave Silcox, Updike’s longtime local contact who has been heavily involved in acquiring exhibit materials for the house museum. Thanks to the teachers and to Maria Lester for making it happen!
It was a soft (and occasionally noisy) spring day in Shillington when a crowd of around 30 gathered on the side lawn of The John Updike Childhood Home, 117 Philadelphia Ave., in Shillington, Pa.
They came on Friday, March 18, to celebrate what would have been the author’s 90th birthday, to hear leading Berks County citizens read from Updike’s works, letters, interviews, and even poems the Pulitzer Prize-winning author wrote as a love-struck 10 year old.
John Updike was born 90 years ago on this date. To celebrate, John Updike Childhood Home Director of Education Maria Lester organized and hosted a reading featuring prominent Berks County residents. Watch the Facebook Live recording of the 90th Birthday Celebration at The John Updike Childhood Home, 117 Philadelphia Ave., Shillington, Pa., featuring readings from Updike’s works, interviews, letters, and even personal love poems written as a 10 year old in Shillington.
:01—Introduction and reading by Maria Lester, Director of Education at The John Updike Childhood Home (pictured)
4:54—Samantha J. Wesner, Senior Vice President Student & Campus Life, Albright College
17:18—Conrad Vanino, Shillington Councilperson and Fire Police Lt.
22:13—Charles J. Adams III, Editor, The Historical Review of Berks County
35:48—Bill McKay, Superintendent, Governor Mifflin School District
44:55—Melissa Adams, Executive Director, The Reading Public Library
49:10—Jackie Hirneisen Kendall, Updike’s classmate and first “crush”
53:55—Dave Silcox, Updike’s Berks County contact for 10 years
57:40—David W. Ruoff, former student and friend of Wesley Updike
1:01:00—Jack De Bellis, author of Updike’s Early Years, The John Updike Encyclopedia, and John Updike Remembered
John Updike, born this day in 1932, would have turned 90 today. From 1958-2009, Updike published roughly one book every year. He remains one of the most lauded American writers of the 20th century, being one of just four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction twice, one of only a handful of creative talents to receive both the National Medal of Arts (1989, from Pres. George H.W. Bush) and the National Humanities Medal (2003, from Pres. George W. Bush) in White House ceremonies, and one of just four literary writers to appear on the cover of Time magazine twice.
Pictured (right) is the Alex Katz portrait of Updike that was featured on the second cover on October 18, 1982. Time had commissioned the portrait for the cover, and later donated it to the National Portrait Gallery, where it hangs in the 20th Century Americans exhibition on the third floor. The National Portrait Gallery also is home to the 1968 painting by Robert Vickrey (lower left) that appeared on the first Time magazine cover.
Updike was notoriously generous with his time—well known for responding to readers and spending time with groups large and small that wanted to hear him talk about writing and the state of literature in America. In that spirit, The John Updike Childhood Home will hold a special 90th Birthday Celebration reading just 90 minutes from now. Weather permitting, the reading will be held under the arbor at the side of the house; in case of inclement weather, the reading will be moved indoors and the audience will be limited to the first 25 people who come to the event at 117 Philadelphia Ave., Shilington, Pa.
The 90-minute reading of Updike’s Pennsylvania-related works, organized and hosted by Director of Education Maria Lester, features prominent Berks County residents, some of whom knew Updike and members of the Updike family. Those unable to attend in person should check the John Updike Childhood Home Facebook page at 12 p.m. EST. The plan (technology permitting) is to stream the event on Facebook Live.
Featured readers: Samantha J. Wesner, Senior Vice President Student & Campus Life, Albright College; Conrad Vanino, Shillington Councilperson and Fire Police Lt.; Charles J. Adams III, editor of The Historical Review of Berks County; Bill McKay, Superintendent, Governor Mifflin School District; Melissa Adams, Executive Director, The Reading Public Library; Jackie Hirneisen Kendall, Updike’s classmate and first “crush”; Dave Silcox, Updike’s Berks County contact for 10 years; David W. Ruoff, former student and friend of Wesley Updike; and Jack De Bellis, author of Updike’s Early Years, John Updike Remembered, and The John Updike Encyclopedia.
LOCATION: Under the grape arbor of The John Updike Childhood Home, 117 Philadelphia Ave., Shillington, Pa. In case of bad weather, indoor seating will be limited to the first 25 people in attendance. The event will also be streamed on Facebook Live.
They say good things come in small packages. Surprising things, too. When Updike house Director of Education Maria Lester opened a package recently, she found a smiling John Updike ornament. On the back of the ornament: “Ho Ho Ho! Casting off of J.U.’s gravestone in Plow Church cemetery.”
It was from Michael Updike, a slate sculptor who carved the marker for his father’s Plow Church cemetery gravesite.
“I know the ornament competition is for children but somehow I couldn’t resist,” Michael wrote. “Hope this isn’t too creepy and gives small children nightmares.”
Unless the little ones have been walking through that cemetery in Plowville, all they’ll see is a smiling face on a tree that suggests it really is the most wonderful time of the year. And from now on, this ornament will be a part of the annual tree-trimming tradition at the Updike house.
Twenty locals visited The John Updike Childhood Home on the first Saturday of limited regular hours (12-2pm), Director of Education Maria Lester reported.
With a Christmas tree in the parlor the feeling was festive, and a half dozen children also stopped by to drop off ornaments they made for the First Annual Ornament Competition. Many of the entries will be displayed on the tree and around the house, with the winner receiving $50 and two runners-up receiving $25 each.
The contest is open to all Berks County students in grades K-5, whether public, private, virtual, or home schooled. Children are to create an ornament for the tree by using one or more of these Updike-related symbols/motifs: centaur, rabbit, books, typewriter, art/palette, church steeple, pigeon, or basketball.
The entries will be judged by Lester and the docents who have volunteered to staff the museum on Saturdays. Entries may also be dropped off at the Updike house this coming Saturday, Dec. 11 during open hours.
One of America’s most celebrated writers would have turned 88 today if he were still alive. His voice is missed, but his legacy goes on. With the help of family, classmates, friends, and fans, the John Updike Society is currently working to create unique exhibits that will celebrate the author and the influence that Shillington and Berks County, Pa. had on his life and works.
Here, in remembrance of his birthday, is a photo of an early childhood book with a very young John Updike owner signature inside that will go on display in the house come October 3, when The John Updike Childhood Home, at 117 Philadelphia Ave. in Shillington, has its Grand Opening.
Also at this 1 p.m. ceremony, the plaque confirming the house as being listed on the National Register of Historic Places will be unveiled, as well as a Historic Pennsylvania Marker—both of which were approved last year.
Updike often said that his first ambition was to be a cartoonist and a Disney animator. Instead, he wound up being one of only three American writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction twice, and he wrote more than 60 books over a storied career that spanned some 60 years—enough to earn him the unofficial title of “America’s Man of Letters.”
