Learn The Origins Of 'Wardy Forty' Exhibit At Bronxville Library

BRONXVILLE, N.Y. -- Bronxville Public Library will present a talk by photographer Phillip Buehler and Woody Gunthrie's granddaughter Anna Canoni, who will speak Sunday, Sept 21, at 2:30 p.m., on how Guthrie inspired his exhibit "Wardy Forty,"

Greystone Park Hospital Ward 40, known as "Wardy Forty" to Woody Gunthrie.
Photo Credit: *Contributed*

Stairways at "Wardy Forty."
Photo Credit: *Contributed*

Hallway and hospital rooms at "Wardy Forty."
Photo Credit: *Contributed*

by Alesha Hanson

08/28/2014 5:00 a.m.

Guthrie's "Wardy Forty" tells the part of Guthrie's life that has, until now, been unknown to most people. Folksinger, songwriter and political activist, Guthrie spent his last years in hospitals suffering from Huntington's disease, a degenerative neurological disorder. He was a patient at Greystone Park Hospital in New Jersey from 1956 until 1961 and lived in Ward 40, calling it, "Wardy Forty.” It is here that the then-unknown Bob Dylan first met Guthrie and the torch was passed to a new generation. These years are brought to life through an intricate layering of contemporary photographs of the now-abandoned hospital, intimate family snapshots, personal recollections of Guthrie's friends, alongside his previously unpublished writings and personal medical records. "Wardy Forty" is a 10-year collaboration between the artist and Guthrie's daughter Nora, designer Steven Brower and the Woody Guthrie Archives, and arrived just in time to help preservationists fight plans to demolish this historic hospital.

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