Literary Tourism and Louis L'Amour
by Arthur Greenberg

A recent Newsweek Travel Tip noted a growing international trend toward tourism focused on literary sites, and its potential connection to baby boomers' having more available time to travel in retirement and being interested in literature-themed trips. Already, various tour packages are offered to historic sites related to authors such as Tom Sawyer, Jane Austen, Henry James, and Flannery O'Connor. Several web sites (The Literary Traveler and The Hours, for example) have begun providing searchable databases of literary sites and tour offerings. This literary-focused outgrowth of the cultural and heritage tourism trend seems destined to grow and could be an increasing focus of cultural facility development in general.

An example is a recently completed a feasibility study AMS conducted for an Interpretive Center devoted to the life and work of world-renowned author Louis L'Amour, a native of Jamestown, North Dakota. Not only would the project contribute to the City of Jamestown's downtown revitalization efforts and the state of North Dakota's tourism development activities, but the possibility of locating the center in the historic library building in which Mr. L'Amour spent his early teenage years acquiring his love for reading, and ultimately writing, is truly an exceptional opportunity, not only for the relevance of the site's correlation to literature and reading, but also for its concrete connection to Mr. L'Amour's past and development as a writer.

In Louis L'Amour's autobiography, Education of a Wandering Man, he writes:

''Our library was a gift to the town by Alfred Dickey and was named for him. Certainly no gift ever presented to a community was more appreciated, and especially so by me. The foundation of my education was laid there, and I learned not only how to use a library but what unexpected riches may lie hidden away on dusty shelves. That library was the first of many in my life, and I spent hours there, dipping into book after book, completing many.''

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The Alfred Dickey Public Library in downtown Jamestown

The study concluded that a center dedicated to the life and work of an author of Mr. L'Amour's stature, with an extensive international reputation and following, is a worthy and reasonable endeavor. The project is envisioned as an interpretive center with collections and exhibits, hosting around 40,000 visitors annually, and providing on-going programming related to literacy and writing, focusing on Mr. L'Amour's influence on American literature and the lore of the West. A number of educational partnerships are proposed with local and regional school districts and institutions of higher learning across the U.S. Discussions are currently underway with the late author's family and public officials representing the State of North Dakota and local Jamestown community.

Within the universe of best-selling authors, Louis L'Amour is at the top of the pyramid. His publisher for more than 50 years, Bantam Books (an imprint of Random House), has noted that ''Louis L'Amour is our most important franchise author'' with well over 300 million books in print, and all 120-plus titles still being published today, surpassing popular Random House authors Danielle Steele and John Grisham. There are dozens of author-related museums and attractions located throughout the U.S. -- sites devoted to the lives of Steinbeck, Twain, Margaret Mitchell, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Poe, Sandburg, Melville, Longfellow, Fitzgerald, Whitman, Thoreau, Hemingway, and many others. It follows that a Center devoted to Mr. L'Amour is a viable and fitting project, and given his global reach (particularly in Europe and Japan) and loyal following, it is expected to be well-attended by local and international tourists.

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