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The Paul and Mary Ann Ford Fly Fishing Collection |
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Paul and Mary Ann Ford
The Paul and Mary Ann Ford Fly Fishing Collection is the generous gift of Paul Ford, Ed.D., Western Washington University Professor Emeritus of Educational Administration and Foundations, and Mary Ann Ford, M.Ed.
Raised in southeastern Massachusetts and on Cape Cod, Paul Ford was educated at Dartmouth College (A.B.) and Harvard University (Ed.M., Ed.D.). In 1970, he joined the faculty of Western's department of Education. Until his retirement in 1993, he served as teacher, department chair, acting dean, acting vice president for academic affairs/provost, and as vice president for academic affairs from 1984-1987. A lifelong angler, Paul Ford is also a published chronicler of the art and mysteries of the fishing experience, as well as an expert tyer of flies.
A native of eastern Washington state, Mary Ann Ford earned degrees from Whitman College (B.A.) and Western Washington University (M.Ed.; Principal's Certificate). Her long career in public education included appointments as a teacher, curriculum director, and principal. In addition to her expertise regarding books and artwork related to fly fishing, Mary Ann Ford is a gifted needlework and decorative crafts artist.
About the Collection
The focus of the Paul and Mary Ann Ford Fly Fishing Collection is American works about fly fishing in America that are of fine quality in both physical presentation and content. The collection's current emphasis is on the spiritual, sociological, and aesthetic aspects of fly fishing. In addition to books, the collection includes magazines, paintings, prints, sculpture, and needlework. The Fords began transferring the collection to Western Libraries Special Collections in late 2003. It will be transferred in stages and will include newly published works of distinction selected by the Fords.
The Ford Collection in the WWU Libraries Catalog
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Selected Highlights of the Paul and Mary Ann Ford Fly Fishing Collection
The collection is particularly rich in works about fly fishing and fly tying in the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and Montana. These four titles exemplify this emphasis. The annotations are by Paul Ford.
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Charles E. Brooks The Henry's Fork Nick Lyons Books/Winchester Press, 1986 "Charles E. Brooks retired from the Air Force in the 1950s and settled in West Yellowstone, Montana, not far from the Henry's Fork of the Snake River. At that time, the Henry's Fork was wonderful fly fishing and it is to this day--classic fly water with big fish. Brooks wrote and published much about the river and that, of course, brought hordes of less fortunate Easterners to fish it. Not Brooks' intent at all, but nevertheless the truth. The Henry's Fork tells the history of the Henry's Fork country and is must reading for one who would understand the development of fly fishing in the West." |
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Roderick L. Haig-Brown Return to the River: A Story of the Chinook Run McClelland & Stewart, 1946 "Roderick Haig-Brown came to Washington State from his native England in 1926 to work in logging ventures. Early on, he fished the Stillaguamish North Fork and Deer Creek, its then-fabulous steelhead tributary. Eventually, he settled on the Campbell River on Vancouver Island, where he pursued outdoor writing, served as a Magistrate and, for one term, as Chancellor of the University of Victoria. A fly fisher to the core, he was a vigorous proponent of wildlife habitat protection for all of nature's creatures. Haig-Brown is internationally regarded as one of the finest writers every to touch on sport fishing." This copy of Return to the River is the 1st Canadian edition, illustrated by Charles DeFeo. |
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Ralph Wahl One Man's Steelhead Shangri-La F. Amato Publications, 1989
"Ralph Wahl's One Man's Steelhead Shangri-La ... is the story of how Wahl discovered and fished a secret place on the Skagit River--an area of magical attraction and fish. We all need our secret places and Wahl found and treasured his. Then it disappeared like some mystical ephemera and Wahl was led to wonder if it ever existed. This is copy 62 of a limited edition of 200 copies and is signed by the author." |
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Steve Raymond Kamloops: An Angler's Study of the Kamloops Trout Winchester Press, 1971
"In 1971, Steve Raymond of Bellingham [Washington] published the first book ever written about British Columbia's feisty Kamloops trout. Called Kamloops, with color plates by Alan Pratt, the books is a remarkable study of the fish, its environs and how fly fishers pursue it. The book is of particular interest to local area fly fishers who make many trips north in search of the lively fish. [This copy] is from the first printing of the first edition."
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Special Collections Western Washington University Libraries 516 High Street Bellingham, WA 98225-9103 360-650-3193; Email |
