Harvey J. Hess III Collection
Scope and Contents
The Hess collection includes correspondence, publications, journals, worksheets, and news clippings by and about Harvey Hess. Notes on journals in the Hess collection, Boxes 1-4 (Box 4 also contains biographical material. There are also some miscellaneous journal pages in box 14, primarily from the mid-1990s. Harvey Hess was a writer who created poetry, essays, music and art reviews, librettos, plays, and short stories. He also kept diaries. Dating his journals was challening, because more than half of his notebooks were undated. Complicating this was Hess’ tendency to write on any scrap of paper that he had on hand. He often jotted down new material on the unused pages of notebooks that were already twenty or more years old. The journals represented in this collection begin in 1960 and continue through July 12, 2012, just six days before Hess’ death. For notebooks lacking dates, several methods were used to determine when they might have been written. Some were dated by context, such as references to certain movies, the release date of which is known, or mention of places where Hess was known to be living at the time. For others, the copyright date and/or the logo on the notebooks themselves were used. Subject matter frequently helped to narrow the time period. For instance, early references to writing the libretto for his Hawaiian opera Ka Lei No Kane in an otherwise undated notebook placed the entries around 1975. A less reliable method was Hess’ handwriting, which tended to be shakier as he aged. However, his handwriting also became difficult to read when he was ill. Since he seemed to have battled ill health off and on for much of his adult life, handwriting alone could not always be counted on to give a reliable, or even approximate, date, but it sometimes added secondary evidence to help confirm a time period gleaned by other methods.
The journals testify to Mr. Hess’s diverse interests. Many notebooks contain only poetry, some of which is represented nowhere else in this collection. He was an ordained minister and often meditated on theological and philosophical matters. Literary criticism found its way into his journals, as did personal observations of nature. His health was a frequent concern. While mostly serious, Hess occassionally displayed a playful, frivolous, and at times even ribald sense of humor. He was especially fond of experimenting with language and creating plays on words. The journals are arranged in chronological order, oldest to newest. For most of the notebooks it was possible to assign an approximate date, or at least a range of years during which they must have been written. The few that could not be reliably dated by any method have been placed after the 2012 entries.
Some of the series include itemized inventories. When present, they have been attached as PDFs to the relevant part of the collection. Use the collection organization section of the finding aid to navigate through the different series for more information.
Dates
- 1946-2012
Creator
- Hess, Harvey (Person)
Language of Materials
Most of the material is in English, although there are some librettos that use the native Hawaiian language.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions. Materials are open for research.
Technical Access
Some content was recorded on media that requires special playback equipment for use. It may require the production of a listening or viewing copoy. SC&UA will determine options for use on a case by case basis.
Physical Access
Some material is fragile and must be handled with care.
General Use, Reproduction, and Copyright Policies
Many items housed in the Rod Library Special Collections & University Archives, including unpublished images and manuscripts, may be protected by copyright, publication rights, trademarks, or model release rights which the library does not own and for which the library cannot grant permission or licensing. Materials currently under copyright are usually still available for research and limited reproduction under Fair Use laws. However, it is the sole responsibility of the patron to determine whether or not their use of a given material falls within Fair Use guidelines and to obtain permission for said use from the rightful copyright owner.
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy or similar laws, and the Iowa Open Records Law (see Iowa Code § 22.7). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of Northern Iowa assumes no responsibility.
Biographical / Historical
Harvey Jason Hess, III, was born in Waterloo, Iowa, to Harvey Hess, Jr., and Esther Miller Hess. He graduated from Orange Township High School (Black Hawk County, Iowa) in 1956. Immediately following high school, he studied the French language and culture for a brief time at the Sorbonne in Paris. He attended the Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa) from 1956 to 1958, beginning as a music major. He later received his bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Religion from McPherson College in 1961 and studied Japanese culture at the University of Washington in Seattle (1963). Hess also studied at Bethany Theological College in Illinois in 1961-1962 and 1964-1965. In 1995, he earned his master's degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Northern Iowa. Hess was licensed to preach in 1958 and renewed that license in 1961.
He became an ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren in 1962. A trip to the Yucatan Peninsula in 1967 inspired a series of poems, Ruins Consequential.
In 1972, Hess moved to Hilo, Hawaii, where he lived until 1984. In 1974, he wrote the libretto for The Naupaka Floret, a choral symphony based on Hawaiian legend. Its music was composed by Jerre Tanner. While in Hawaii, Hess developed an artistic collaboration with Jerre Tanner and visual artist John Thomas. In 1975, Hess and Tanner were commissioned to create the world's first Hawaiian comic opera, Ka Lei No Kane (The Garland of God Kane), which was also based on Hawaiian legend. The opera had its world premiere in Hawaii in 1977 and has since been recorded and performed many times in America and Europe. Hess and Tanner also collaborated on the operas The Coffee Cantata (Hess English singing translation of Bach work), The Kona Coffee Cantata, and The Singing Snails: Na Pupu-Kani-Oe, as well as choral symphonies, song cycles, and more. During his time in Hawaii, Hess also cultivated his interest in the Japanese poetic forms of haiku, senryu, and tanka. He won acclaim in this field and published his poetry in several international journals. In the summer of 1971, he and Tanner wrote a song cycle of English language tanka called Six Songs from a Winter's Pillow Book for contralto and 13- and 17-string Kotos. It premiered in 1972. The music was revised in 1979 and is now a symphonic song cycle.
Hess was listed in Who’s Who in the West and also The International Journal of Haiku Poets. He was also a correspondent for Ha`ilono Mele, the journal of the Hawaiian Music Foundation (1977-1979), and the music and arts critic for the newspapers Hawaii Tribune-Herald and West Hawaii Today (1978-1983). Hess moved to Spokane, Washington, in 1984, where he became the music and arts critic for the Spokane Spokesman-Review (1984-1987), continued to write poetry, and to collaborate with Tanner on musical projects. He remained in Washington until 1987, when he returned to Waterloo, Iowa.
His Iowa roots inspired one of his poetic series, Th’Autumnal Sequence, which was originally written in 1970 and published in 2002. Hess served as music and arts critic for the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier from 1987 through 2008, and as an instructor at the University of Northern Iowa (1989-2011) and at Hawkeye Community College (1992-2007). He taught English, Creative Writing, and Humanities at both institutions. Harvey Hess died of natural causes on July 18, 2012, at the age of 73.
Partial Bibliography: Lyric Images, (with photographs by Gary M. Mason); private publication, Waterloo, Iowa 1962 Orchid Art and the Orchid Isle (with paintings and drawings by John Thomas); Malama Arts Inc., Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 1982 Hawaii Lyrics, Finial Press, Champaign, Illinois 1985 The Coffee Cantata and The Kona Coffee Cantata librettos, Malama Arts Inc., Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 1986 The Singing Snails libretto, Malama Arts Inc., Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 1986 Ka Lei No Kane libretto, Malama Arts Inc., Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 1987 Skipped Stones--Faces in Time, Eight Pound Tiger Press, Cedar Falls, Iowa 1994 Th’Autumnal Sequence--Sonnets of the Fall (a collection of 53 sonnets), Eight Pound Tiger Press, Cedar Falls, Iowa 2002
Extent
18.08 Linear Feet (14 boxes)
3.58 Linear Feet (oversize)
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Hess donated a small amount of material to the University of Northern Iowa Archives in increments from about 2000 through 2010. University Archivist Gerald L. Peterson processed this material. On August 31, 2012, after the death of Mr. Hess, sister Lucy Hess donated to the University Archives a large quantity of material that had been stored in Hess' apartment. Library Associate Dave Hoing processed this material and integrated the earlier material into one cohesive collection. Because of the disordered state of the material when it was acquired, Mr. Hoing needed to impose his own, usable order on the collection. He also created extensive notes and inventories as aids to researchers. In June 2016, Hess' other sister, Linda, sent two more boxes of material, which have been processed and added as an addendum to the collection in Box 14.
Processing Information
A small amount of material was arranged and described by University Archivist Gerald L. Peterson, November 2010; that material was re-processed and the remainder of the collection, acquired after Mr. Hess's death, was processed and arranged by Library Associate Dave Hoing, 2014; additional new material acquired and processed by Dave Hoing, August 2016; last updated, October 2017 (dh). Linear feet count updated on August 7, 2017.
- Title
- Harvey J. Hess, III, Collection
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script