Quercus Turns 30

This year marks the 30th successive year of publishing Quercus, the St. Ambrose University journal of literary and creative art.

And although three decades is quite an achievement, what's more is that the range of contributors spans 76 years – from Ralph G. Smith ‘47 to current junior Daniel Daley, Class of 2023. For Carl Herzig, PhD, English Professor and faculty advisor of Quercus since its inception in 1992, quality and inclusion has always been a point of pride for this publication – and three decades later nothing's changed.

The 2021 issue (pdf)  is a carefully curated digital collection of creative written and visual art chosen from hundreds of previously published pieces over the years. Of those, about an equal amount are visual art and the other half written pieces.

Herzig started teaching writing and literature at St. Ambrose in 1990, and added creative writing and professional writing to his courseload. Based on his vision of publishing a creative art journal, Herzig created a creative arts course in Fall 1991.

"During class, we discussed how to look at artwork and creative writing," Herzig said. "How can we discern? What can we look for? How can we get deeper into the craft beyond our personal tastes?"

In doing so, during the 16-week course, students read and critiqued their fill of poetry, short stories, and visual art which included designing and assembling the completed journal.

"At that time," Herzig recalled, "creative writing was taught once every other year and that was it. There were writers, though – students and staff, and faculty and alums. It was a way to publish their works and celebrate them, but also develop what was already a creative culture at St. Ambrose."

Eerily similar to the very first year of publication, the 2021 issue – all 296 pages of it – also lacked money for printing.

"The first year, there was no funding for this," Herzig said with a chuckle.

But he got by, and about a dozen academic departments "donated" money from their budgets to cover printing costs with a local, alum-owned independent press.

Thirty years ago, publishing anything for widespread public access wasn't easy. Desktop computer publishing was gaining ground over lightboard layout and production, and the internet super highway that we know today was more like a back country gravel road: you could use it, but only a few people knew how.

Seemingly light-years later: the University stores Quercus as a multi-megabit digital file that can be shared with anyone from Davenport to Taiwan and every place in between. For artists – budding and well-seasoned – it's a grand opportunity.

In that first issue – all 72 pages of it – there wasn't any artwork included, just creative writing. Former SAU Art Professor and frequent Quercus contributor Les Bell '72 drew an oakleaf for the cover art and a simple acorn for the back cover. (Quercus is the Latin word for the oak genus.) Successive years included art pieces, and "from then on, we were able to build on that format and learned as we went," Herzig said.

Included in that format was who could submit creative art to the journal. It was decided that every entry submitted to the editorial board wouldn't have a name attached; Herzig wanted anonymity to remove bias so that their judgements were based on the work alone.

And would the journal allow only works from SAU students, which is the custom of other higher education literary journals?

"Even from the beginning, I thought it important to include the entire SAU community," Herzig said. All SAU employees – from housekeepers to vice presidents – as well as members of the Board of Trustees, alumni, and students are eligible to submit their creative work. "Quercus stands out in that way from larger collegiate publications."

In a typical year, Herzig and the editorial board invited contributors to the Quercus Reading and Art Show where they read aloud their works and displayed art pieces. The campus community was invited to this informal reception that celebrated the production of another successful journal and the end of another academic year. Since that wasn't possible due to public health recommendations, Herzig said he is looking forward to Spring 2022.

So, what's next for Quercus?

"I wish I knew," Herzig said. "It's worked for 30 years. And even though I'm always a little nervous, every year it sort of happens."