Woody Guthrie's Wardy Forty
By Phillip Buehler
Designed and edited by Steven Brower
In collaboration with Nora Guthrie and the Woody Guthrie Archives
Through never-before-published letters, historic family photographs, and rare personal interviews, Woody Guthrie's Wardy Forty explores the five years Woody spent at Greystone Park State Hospital in New Jersey. Woody was a patient there from 1956 – 1961, in Ward 40 and called it "Wardy Forty." Through contemporary photographs of the now-abandoned hospital, these years are brought to life and provide a mysterious glimpse into a deserted bygone era.
Woody Guthrie's Wardy Forty: Greystone Park State Hospital Revisited includes:
- Over 70 contemporary color photographs of now-abandoned Greystone Park State Hospital by Phillip Buehler taken with medium format film.
- Over 30 rare family photographs from Nora Guthrie's personal collection.
- Historic, never before seen photographs by world-renowned photographer John Cohen.
- Never-before-published photographs by Guthrie's close friend Bob Gleason.
- Personal letters from Guthrie written at Greystone to his wife, Marjorie and children; Arlo, Joady, and Nora.
- Archival documents and writings from the Woody Guthrie Archives including a scene from an unpublished play Guthrie wrote at Greystone.
- Rare personal interviews with Marjorie Guthrie, Arlo Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Harold Leventhal, and Guthrie's doctors at Greystone.
- Handwritten lyric by Bob Dylan Song to Woody" that have never been published.
- Plus: a very special afterword written especially for this project by Alice Wexler, Ph.D, author and founding Board member of the Hereditary Disease Foundation, with a brief history of Huntington's disease and update on recent research and steady progress towards a cure.
Woody Guthrie's Wardy Forty: Greystone Park State Hospital Revisited ~ Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. Hardcover. 162 pages. 2013.
