Sep. 3, 2014:  On Sunday, September 21, at 2:30 pm, the Bronxville Public Library will present a talk by photographer Phillip Buehler and Anna Canoni, Woody Guthrie's granddaughter, about the inspiration for the book Wardy Forty.

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 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hospital, intimate family snapshots, and personal recollections of Guthrie's friends, alongside his previously unpublished writings and personal medical records.

Wardy Forty is a ten-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.

About the Author: Like a time traveler returning from the past, Buehler brings endangered history into the present via photography and extensive archival research. A pioneer exploring modern ruins, he rowed to then-abandoned Ellis Island in 1974 when he was just seventeen and has since photographed dozens of abandoned places around the world.

Pictured here: The remains of a hallway in the hospital where Woody Guthrie was a patient for several years toward the end of his life.

Photo by Phillip Buehler