Jim Wayne Miller papers [FINDING AID UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

Jim Wayne Miller was born in Leicester, Buncombe County, North Carolina, on 21 October 1936, the son of James Woodrow Miller and Edith [Smith] Miller. He received his public school education locally, graduating in 1954. Then Miller attended Berea College, Berea, Kentucky, receiving with a degree in English in 1958. In the summer of 1957, after his junior year in college, Miller lived in Germany as a member of the Summer Homestay, Experiment in International Living. He culminated his educational pursuits by earning a doctorate in German, with a minor in English, from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1965.


Miller married Mary Ellen Yates of Willard, Carter County, Kentucky on August 17, 1958. She was the daughter of Ritchie Yates and Carrie [Ratcliff] Yates. The Millers resided in Bowling Green, Kentucky most of their married life. Their three children are: James Yates “Jimmy” Miller born January 11, 1962, Frederic Smith “Fred” Miller born March 15, 1963, who married Lynne, and Ruth Ratcliff Miller born January 27, 1967.


Jim Wayner Miller began his teaching career at Fort Knox Dependent School in Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he taught English and German from 1958 to 1960. He then became a National Defense Education Act Fellow in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages at Vanderbilt University until 1963. In the fall of 1963, Miller relocated in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and began his association with Western Kentucky University as an associate professor of German with the Department of Foreign Languages (later renamed the Department of Modern Languages and Intercultural Studies). In 1970, Miller became a full professor and after thirty years of dedicated service to the university, he chose optional retirement in 1993.


Miller was a scholar of Appalachian Studies, a poet, and an author. He wrote about the regional culture and language along with political and environmental issues. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Jesse Stuart Foundation and was on the staff of the Hindman Settlement School Writing Workshop for several years. Miller’s works were the subject of festivals and workshops concerning writing and Appalachian studies. Among the literary honors Miller won were the Thomas Wolfe Literary Award in 1980, the 1989 Zoe Kincaid Brockman Memorial Award for Poetry, the Appalachian Writers Association’s Book of the Year and Outstanding Contributions to Appalachian Literature awards, and the Appalachian Consortium Laurel Leaves Award. The Kentucky General Assembly named him as the state’s Poet Laureate in 1986. Miller was also a fellow of the Yaddo Corporation, an artist colony in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Miller composed and published many poems, articles, and essays. His published poetry collections are Copperhead Cane, 1964; Dialogue With a Dead Man, 1974 and 1978 reprint; The Mountains Have Come Closer, 1980 and 1991 reprint; I Have a Place, 1981; Vein of Words, 1984; Nostalgia for 70 and Sideswipes, 1986; Brier, His Book and The Wisdom of Folk Metaphor, 1988; Round and Round With Kahlil Gibran, 1990; and The Brier Poems, 1997. Miller also published a collection of poetic ballads, The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same, 1971. He contributed many individual works to various journals and anthologies. Additionally, Miller wrote the novels Newfound, 1989, reprinted in 1991; and 1996; and in 1993 His First, Best Country, which was earlier published as a chapbook, 1987. Concerning Appalachian issues, he wrote the non-fiction books Reading, Writing, Region: A Checklist, Purchase Guide and Directory for School and Community Libraries in Appalachia 1979 and 1984 reprint; and The Examined Life: Family, Community, and Work in American Literature, 1989. Miller’s collection of poems Copperhead Cane was published in 1995 as a bilingual German edition, Der Schlangenstock. He also translated German poems by Emil Lerperger and published The Figure of Fulfillment, 1975; and The Salzach Sibyl, 1986. He edited, co-edited and reviewed works by others, such as his work with the Write On! Editorial/Creative Services organization and anthologies such as Gathering At the Forks: Fifteen years of the Hindman Settlement School Appalachian Writers Workshop. He performed many readings, writing workshops and speaking engagements throughout the nation concerning Appalachia, poetry, and various other related topics.


Miller adapted his short story His First, Best Country to be performed as a play. Horse Cave Theater first presented it as its Original Kentucky Play for the 1992 season in Horse Cave, Kentucky. Additionally, in September 1994, Appalfolks of America presented the Clifton Forge Players performing His First, Best Country at the Historic Stonewall Theatre in Clifton Forge, Virginia.


After battling lung cancer for three months, Miller died on August 18, 1996, at his residence. He was interred in the Bowling Green Gardens in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Sources:

The Collection.
Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series, Volume 15, 1992.
Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, August 20, 1996.
Park City Daily News, Bowling Green, Kentucky, August 19, 1996.
On Campus, Western Kentucky University, September 1996.