Wallace Stegner - Legacy

Legacy

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Stegner's birth, Timothy Egan reflected in The New York Times on the writer's legacy, including his perhaps troubled relationship with the newspaper itself. Over 100 readers including Jane Smiley offered comments on the subject.

One commenter to The Times, Stephen Trimble, a 2008–2009 Wallace Stegner Fellow at the University of Utah's Tanner Humanities Center, drew attention to the broader Utah birthday tribute to Stegner through leading conversations about Stegner’s work in communities across Utah. Gov. Jon Huntsman's declaration of February 18, 2009 as Wallace Stegner Day highlighted Stegner as "one of Utah's most prominent citizens...a legendary voice for Utah and the West as an author, educator, and conservationist... raised and educated in Salt Lake City and the University of Utah, possess a lifelong love of Utah’s landscapes, people, and culture." See more on the Utah centennial tributes at www.stegner100.com.

In recognition of Stegner's legacy at the University of Utah, The Wallace Stegner Prize in Environmental or American Western History was established in 2010 and is administered by the University of Utah Press. This book publication prize is awarded to the best monograph the Press receives on the topic of American western or environmental history within a predetermined time period.

Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho has a history of presenting an annual lecture titled after Stegner. The Wallace Stegner Lecture has long been a literary-cultural highlight for the LCSC community. Named in honor of Western writer Wallace Stegner, the annual lecture features discussions about the writer’s relationship with the physical and psychological territories in which he or she resides.

The Stegner Fellowship program at Stanford University is a two-year creative writing fellowship. The house Stegner lived in from ages 7 to 12 in Eastend, Saskatchewan, Canada was restored by the Eastend Arts Council in 1990 and established as a Residence for Artists. In 2003, indie rock trio Mambo Sons released the Stegner-influenced song "Little Live Thing / Cross to Safety" written by Scott Lawson and Tom Guerra, which resulted in an invitation for Lawson to serve as Artist-in-Residency for March 2009.

In May 2011, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Stegner's Los Altos Hills home, which was sold in 2005, is scheduled to be demolished by the current owners. Lynn Stegner said the family attempted to sell the home to Stanford University in an attempt to preserve it, but the university said the home would be sold at market value, customary for real estate donated to Stanford. Wallace Stegner's wife, Mary said that Wallace would disapprove of the fuss surrounding the issue. In addition, when the town wanted to name a path near their home after him, he said "No." However, Mary Stegner confided that her husband later came to enjoy walking on it, and the path was eventually named for him posthumously, in 2008.