William A Bauer

1932-2012

William ("Bill") Alfred Bauer (professor, poet, and writer) was born on 10 May 1932 in Portland, Maine and spent his childhood in the city of Auburn. He attended Lakestreet School, Webster Grammar School, and Edward Little High School. He later attended Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. He then attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut for his Master of Arts and teaching degrees. It was there that he met his future wife, Nancy. Bauer moved to Texas in 1956, where he served for a brief time in the US Air Force as an airman administering psychological testing. From Texas he returned to Connecticut, where he taught high school in the town of Woodbury until 1961. In 1961 he attended the University of North Carolina to earn a PhD. Bauer moved to New Brunswick in 1965 to work at the University of New Brunswick as professor of 18th-Century Literature. Bauer got his start writing when he joined the Tuesday Night Group, where members would share literary creations. Frequently published in a variety of literary magazines and journals over the next decade, particularly The Fiddlehead, Bauer’s first book of poetry, Cornet Music for Plupy Shute, was published by New Brunswick Poetry Chapbooks in 1968.  He created the character of roadside merchant Everett Coogler. First published in the Canada First anthology for new Canadian poets, the Coogler poems would later find their own collection in 1971 with the publication of Everett Coogler.  In 1978, The Terrible Word was published. Bauer’s next published work was prose. A Family Album (1979) contains six short stories. Four years later, his third and final collection, Unsnarling String, was released. Bauer retired from UNB in 1994, and died in Fredericton, NB on 12 June 2010.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Fredericton

Archival Material

• Bill and Nancy Bauer fonds
  ⌄
  Location

  University of New Brunswick Archives & Special Collections

  Website/Catalogue Record

  View Archival Record

  Retrieval Number

  MG L 39

  Date Range of Material

  1949-2018

  Extent

  4.3 m textual records
  56 photographs ; 12.5 x 17.5 cm and smaller
  120 slides
  15 computer disks
  12 posters

  Scope and Content Note

  Fonds consists of published and unpublished manuscripts and typescripts written by Nancy Bauer, correspondence, and material created by Bauer as a member of various New Brunswick arts organizations.