Inventory of the Trent Collection of Whitmaniana, 1841-1947, bulk 1845-1849, 1854-1857, and 1864-1892
[top]Descriptive Summary
TitleTrent Collection of Whitmaniana, 1841-1947, bulk 1845-1849, 1854-1857, and 1864-1892
Creator
Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892
Extent
ca. 40 Linear Feet
ca. 650 Items
Repository
ca. 650 Items
Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University
Language
English.
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Administrative Information
Access RestrictionsCollection is open for research.
[However, patrons must sign the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.
Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library to use this collection.
Use Restrictions
The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Trent Collection of Whitmaniana, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.
Provenance
The bulk of Duke University's Walt Whitman holdings were acquired through a series of substantial donations made by Dr. and Mrs. Josiah C. Trent, from whom the Trent Collection of Whitmaniana takes its name. Much of the Trent material was originally gathered by Richard Maurice Bucke, Whitman's friend and literary executor, who sold manuscript versions of his biography of Whitman, along with his collection of unpublished letters and Whitman's personal papers and books, in London in 1935. The next year, Jacob Schwartz offered for sale in New York a large portion of the Whitman holdings that had belonged to Bucke, and many of the items listed in the catalogue of this sale were a part of the original donation made to Duke by Dr. and Mrs. Trent in 1942. The Trent family made several important additions to their initial bequest in the years following the establishment of the collection, but Duke University does not expect its Whitman manuscript holdings to expand at any time in the near future.
Processing Information
Processed by Melissa Delbridge and Daniel Breen. Completed October 29, 2003
Finding aid encoded by Michael Shumate and Elizabeth Arnold.
Finding aid revised by Christine Kirkham and Paolo Mangiafico, December 2006. Encoding updated by Jill Katte, December 2007.
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
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Biographical Note
| 1819 May 31 | Born Walter Whitman in West Hills, Huntington Township, N.Y. to Walter and Louisa (VanVelsor) Whitman |
| 1823 | Whitman family moved to Brooklyn |
| 1825-1830 | Attended Brooklyn public schools |
| 1830-1831 | Worked as office boy for lawyer and doctor |
| 1831-1832 | Printing apprentice for Long Island Patriot |
| 1832-1835 | Worked as compositor for Long Island Star |
| 1836-1838 | Taught school on Long Island |
| 1838-1839 | Worked on two newspapers, Long Islander and Long Island Democrat |
| 1840 | Campaigned for Martin Van Buren |
| 1840-1841 | Taught school on Long Island |
| 1841 | Moved to New York City; worked as compositor for The New World |
| 1842-1845 | Worked for and contributed to various newspapers in New York City |
| 1845-1846 | Returned to Brooklyn and worked for Evening Star |
| 1846-1848 | Edited Brooklyn's Daily Eagle |
| 1848 | Left Daily Eagle, went to New Orleans to edit Daily Crescent. Resigned and returned to Brooklyn. |
| 1848-1849 | Founded and edited Weekly Freeman, a "free-soil" newspaper |
| 1849-1854 | Operated printing office, bookstore, and house building business and did freelance journalism |
| 1855 | Copyrighted first edition of Leaves of Grass |
| 1855-1856 | Wrote for Life Illustrated; published second edition of Leaves of Grass |
| 1857-1860 | Edited Brooklyn Daily Times |
| 1860 | Published third edition of Leaves of Grass |
| 1861-1862 | Wrote freelance journalism; visited soldiers in New York Hospital; visited wounded brother in Fredericksburg |
| 1863-1864 | Moved to Washington, D.C.; worked as clerk in Army Paymaster's Office; visited military hospitals; returned to Brooklyn for 6 months in 1864 |
| 1865 | Returned to Washington, D.C. and worked as clerk in Indian Bureau of Department of the Interior; began and suspended printing of Drum-Taps; discharged by Secretary James Harlan for writing "obscene" poetry; transferred to clerkship in Attorney General's Office; again published Drum-Taps and Sequel; began relationship with Peter Doyle |
| 1866 | William D. O'Connor published The Good Gray Poet, a defense co-written by Whitman in response to Whitman's firing by Harlan |
| 1867 | 4th edition of Leaves of Grass published |
| 1868 | Poems of Walt Whitman published in London |
| 1870 | 5th edition of Leaves of Grass published |
| 1873 | Suffered paralytic stroke; mother died on May 23rd; moved in with brother George in Camden, N.J. |
| 1874 | Discharged from his position in Washington, D.C. |
| 1876 | Published Centennial edition of Leaves of Grass and Two Rivulets, and Memoranda During the War; befriended Harry Stafford |
| 1879 | Gave first Lincoln lecture in New York |
| 1882 | Publicity concerning the suppression of Leaves of Grass in Boston resulted in unprecedented sales |
| 1888 | Suffered a second paralytic stroke; made will naming Richard Maurice Bucke, Thomas Harned, and Horace Traubel literary executors |
| 1889 | 70th birthday commemorated in Camden's Compliment to Walt Whitman |
| 1892 | Died March 26th; buried in Harleigh Cemetery, Camden, N.J. |
Collection Overview
The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana incorporates material spanning the dates 1841-1947, with the bulk of the material dated 1845-1849, 1854-1857, and 1864-1892. The virtual reorganization of the collection, based upon that devised by Ellen F. Frey in A Bibliography of Walt Whitman (Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1945), divides it into six series: Correspondence, Writings, Clippings, Material About or Relating to Whitman, Portraits, and Miscellany.
Correspondence is separated into two subseries: "Letters To or About Walt Whitman," and "Letters From or By Walt Whitman." Most of Whitman's letters in the collection were written between 1880 and 1891. The Clippings Series lists both large groups of clippings collected and annotated by Whitman, and clippings Whitman took from complete or nearly complete articles. Whenever possible, these have been dated according to the periodical in which the articles originally appeared. Material About or Relating to Whitman is comprised of four subseries that catalog manuscript versions of Richard Maurice Bucke's biography of Whitman, other manuscript material written mostly by Whitman's friends, and books, pamphlets, and periodicals about Whitman's life and work, most of which date between the late nineteenth century and the end of World War II. The Portraits Series includes formal photographic and painted portraits, etchings, engravings, and sketches, both of Whitman and of other subjects, including George Sand, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Whitman's brother George. The Miscellany consists of ephemera related to Whitman's life and career as a poet. Two scrapbooks, a leaflet of receipts, book wrappers for the first edition of Leaves of Grass, and documents relating to the Whitman fund are listed among this series' eclectic contents.
By far the largest series in the collection, the Writings Series contains manuscript and printed versions of poetry and prose dating from Whitman's career in journalism up through the mid-1940s. It is divided into seven subseries: Manuscript Poems (1855-1882 and undated); Manuscript Prose (1852-1891 and undated); Proofs (1874-1891 and undated); Poems Set to Music (1901-1933); Books and Periodicals Containing Contributions by Whitman (1841-1924); Editions of Whitman's Writings (1855-1944); and Bibliographies and Catalogs (1922-1943). The first subseries, "Manuscript Poems," is further subdivided into categories intended to define three separate levels of poetic composition: manuscript versions of poems that appear in at least one edition of Leaves of Grass, manuscript versions of poems not published in Leaves of Grass, and verse fragments and outlines. The researcher is advised to consult the NYU Collected Writings of Walt Whitman, particularly Harold W. Blodgett and Sculley Bradley, eds., Leaves of Grass: A Comprehensive Reader's Edition (New York: NYUP, 1965), pp. 585-706, for publication of previously uncollected material. Although older, Oscar Lovell Triggs, ed., Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, vol. 3 of 10 (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1902) and Clarence Gohdes and Rollo G. Silver, eds., Faint Clews and Indirections: Manuscripts of Walt Whitman and His Family (Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1949) are also helpful, the former particularly when used alongside Frey's Bibliography.
The Manuscript Prose Subseries in the Writings Series is further divided into seven categories. The first three are comprised of manuscript versions of stories, prefaces, and essays and lectures, respectively. Four less distinct subheadings follow. "Notes on Literature" represents an almost exact transliteration of Frey's category of the same name, however it should be noted that this category does not, at the time of writing, list all of Trent's holdings in Whitman's literary-critical manuscripts. Some literary criticism is contained in "Autobiographical Manuscripts" and "Whitman on His Own Writings," along with more purely impressionistic self-reflection. "Miscellany" should also be consulted, as it brings together in an unsystematic way Whitman's notes on travel, reading, and education as well as a scattering of notes on poetry and different forms of literary production.
The last five subseries of the Writings Series bring together various published versions of Whitman's writing. Annotated proofs of his poetry and prose are identified in the finding aid, and cross-references are included between the Proofs Subseries and the Books and Periodicals Containing Contributions by Whitman Subseries in instances where the Trent Collection lists both a proof and a published version of a poem or article among its headings. The Books and Periodicals Containing Contributions by Whitman Subseries and the Bibliographies and Catalogs Subseries are nearly comprehensive surveys of pre-World War II editions of Whitman's writing and of Whitman bibliographies. The Poems Set to Music Subseries catalogs a number of Whitman's poems that were given musical settings, mostly in the first two decades of the twentieth century. See Bella C. Landauer, Leaves of Music by Walt Whitman, call number Trent I-9, for full bibliographic information on these pieces.
Many monographs by and about Walt Whitman and housed in the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library have been cataloged individually. These can be found by searching the Duke online catalog.
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Subject Headings
These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.
- Trent, Josiah C. (Josiah Charles), 1914-
- Bucke, Richard Maurice, 1837-1902.
- Frey, Ellen Frances. Catalogue of the Whitman collection in the Duke University Library, 1945: t.p. (Ellen Frances Frey)
- Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892. Portraits.
- Sand, George, 1804-1876. Portraits.
- Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894. Portraits.
- Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892. Leaves of grass.
- American literature--19th century.
- Poets, American--19th century.
- Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892.
- Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892—Manuscripts.
- Poets, American--19th century.
Detailed Description of Collection
Correspondence Series, 1860-1922 and undated
Letters to and from friends, family members, editors, publishers, and soldiers Whitman met during his time as a nurse in military hospitals in and around Washington, D. C. primarily during the Civil War. However, correspondence is dated both during and after the war.
Correspondence to or about Whitman subseries, 1860-1922 and undated (bulk 1860-1892)
Includes letters from friends, family members, and soldiers. Many of the letters have been bound into various scrapbooks and collections of other Whitman papers, and it is advisable to consult the reference archivist with regard to the physical provenance of the material before requesting correspondence in bulk. Listed alphabetically by author.
Bucke, Richard Maurice
III [display]:
To Reuben Farwell (Typescript), 1898 Oct. 14
III-5:
To W. D. O'Connor, 1880 July 1
To Walt Whitman, 1888 Aug. 17
To Walt Whitman, 1889 Jan. 18
To Editor of Scribner's Monthly, undated
Burroughs, Julian
III-9:
To Bayard Wyman, undated
Chainey, George
III-5:
To W. D. O'Connor, 1882 July 11
Includes two clippings on Massachusetts controversy over Leaves of Grass.
To W. D. O'Connor, 1882 July 30
Davenport, William E.
III-5:
To Dr. William Roscoe Thayer, 1921 Nov. 26
To Dr. William Roscoe Thayer, 1922 Jan. 8
To Dr. William Roscoe Thayer, 1922 Apr. 10
Doyle, Peter
III-5:
To Walt Whitman 1868 Sept. 21
Farwell, Reuben
III-5 [III display]:
To Walt Whitman, 1864 Apr. 30
To Walt Whitman, 1864 May 5
To Walt Whitman, 1864 May 10
To Walt Whitman, 1864 June 8
To Walt Whitman, 1864 Oct. 2
To Walt Whitman, 1864 Nov. 7
To Walt Whitman, 1864 Nov. 21
To Walt Whitman, [1865?] June 16
To Walt Whitman, 1875 Feb. 11
To Walt Whitman, 1875 Mar. 5
To Walt Whitman, 1875 Aug. 16
Hay, John
Common Room :
To "Charlie," 1861 Aug. 2
Includes a picture of Hay.
Heyde, Charles L.
III-5:
To Louisa Whitman, 1868 Dec.
To Louisa Whitman, 1852-1873
(8 letters)
To Walt Whitman, 1860-1892
(67 letters)
Heyde, Hannah Whitman
III-5:
To Louisa Whitman, undated
(6 letters)
Four of these letters are written as additions to those by her husband listed above.
To Walt Whitman, undated
Holmes, Oliver Wendell
III-5: [II display]:
To unidentified recipient, 1890 Feb. 18
Includes an autographed photograph of Holmes, Cf. Portraits of Others Subseries
Hugo, Victor
III-5:
To Arthur Monnanteuil, 1868 July 7
Walt Whitman's translation of Hugo's letter, with a signed photograph of Whitman, Cf. Portraits of Whitman Subseries
Price, Abby H.
III-5:
To Louisa Whitman, undated
Price, Helen E.
III-5:
To Louisa Whitman, 1872 Oct. 13
To Louisa Whitman, 1872 Nov. 24
To Louisa Whitman, 1873 Jan. 1
To Louisa Whitman, 1873 Jan. 31
To Louisa Whitman, 1873 Feb. 9
To Louisa Whitman, [1873?],
"Saturday"
To Louisa Whitman, 1873 Mar. 27
Stansberry, William
II-9:
To Walt Whitman, 1873 Dec. 9
To Walt Whitman, 1874 May 12
To Walt Whitman, 1874 June 28
To Walt Whitman, 1875 July 21
To Walt Whitman from Stansberry's wife, 1874 July 15
Van Nostrand, Mary Whitman
III-5:
To Louisa Whitman, [1875?] Feb. 16
To Walt Whitman, 1875 Feb. 16
Whitman, George
III-5:
To Louisa Whitman, 1861-1865
(46 letters)
To Walt Whitman, 1861-1865
(8 letters)
To Thomas Jefferson Whitman, undated
Whitman, Louisa
III-5:
To Walt Whitman, 1860-1873
(142 letters)
Whitman, Thomas Jefferson
III-5:
To Walt Whitman, undated
Correspondence from or by Whitman Subseries, 1861-1891
Contains letters by friends and family members, editors, publishers, and soldiers. As with the Correspondence to or about Whitman Subseries, many letters in this subseries are bound with other material and the reference archivist should be contacted before correspondence is requested in bulk. Most of Whitman's letters in the Trent Collection date from 1880 to 1891. Listed alphabetically by recipient.
Bradley, Tom
III-9:
1880 Dec. 17
1881 Mar. 17
1883 Sept. 5
Bucke, Richard Maurice
II-9:
1892 Jan. 27
Burroughs, John
III-9:
1868 Oct. 22 [?]
III-1:
1878 July 5
II-9:
1885 June 23
Burroughs, John and Ursula
II-9:
1875 Mar. 2
Carpenter, Edward
1877 Oct. 5
Includes two pictures of Whitman, Cf. Portraits of Whitman Subseries
1877 Nov. 27
1885 Aug. 5
1888 Feb. 15
Contemporary Club, Executive Committee
II-9:
1888 Feb. 15
Cox, George
II-9:
1887 June 14
Dowden, Edward
II-9:
1876 Mar. 4
Doyle, Peter
II-9:
1877 July 2
1880 July 24
Dec. 20
Edmunds, J. M., Postmaster
II-9:
Nov. 17
Eldridge, Charley
II-9:
1873 July 7
1884 May 7
Harper's Magazine
II-9 (1 display):
To Editor, 1873 Nov. 2
To Foreman in the Composing Room, 1873 Dec. 15
Johnson, R. U.
1884 Aug. 4
Kennedy, William Sloane
I-8:
1881 Dec. 21
1886 Aug. 5
1887 Feb. 21
1887 Mar. 1
1887 June 13
1887 July 13
1887 Sept. 14
II-9:
1887 Oct. 4
I-8:
1887 Nov. 17
1888 January 10
1888 Mar. 26
1888 May 7
1888 Sept. 1
1888 Oct. 19
1889 Jan. 5
II-9:
1889 Feb. 14
1889 Oct. 13
1889 Oct. 17
1890 Jan. 27
1890 Feb. 10
1890 Apr. 1
Includes a photograph of Whitman, a ticket to his lecture on Lincoln at Madison Square Theater, 1887 14 Apr., and a clipping from the Philadelphia Press, 1887 16 Apr. describing the lecture. For other material on this lecture, Cf. Miscellany Series; for the photographs, Cf. Portraits of Whitman Subseries
1890 Apr. 11
1890 June 18
1890 Aug. 4
1890 Dec. 29
I-8:
1881-1889
(77 postcards)
"McGuire"
II-9:
1872 May 2
O'Connor, William D.
II-9:
1868 Oct. 4
Rolleston, T. W. H.
I-4:
1880 Dec. 2
Russell, Dr. LeBaron [?]
I-9:
1864 Feb.
Ryder, Jr., Anson
II-9:
1866 Dec. 14
Stansberry, William
II-9:
1874 May 20
Stilwell, Julia Elizabeth
II-9:
1863 Oct. 21
Stoddart, J. M.
II-9:
1890 Apr. 24
Includes proof copy of "To the Sun-Set Breeze," Cf. Poems Set to Music Subseries
Swinton, John
II-9:
1865 Feb. 3
Includes a letter from General Grant's staff
Tilton, J. W.
II-9:
1889 Jan. 6
Tottie, Oscar
I-2:
July 26
Trowbridge, J. T. [?]
II-9:
1870 [?] Sept. 24
Trubner and Company
II-9:
1873 Dec. 21
1878 Oct. 1 [?]
Van Wyck, Samuel
II-9:
1879 May 28
Waters, George
II-9:
1878 Nov. 10
Whitman, George
II-9:
1861 July 12
Whitman, Louisa
II-9:
1866 June 26
1866 June 29
1867 Mar. 19
1867 Mar. 26
1867 Apr. 16
1867 Apr. 30
1868 June 6
1868 July 10
1868 Aug. 24
1868 Aug. 30
1868 Nov. 24
1872 Aug. 22
1872 Aug. 27
1872 Oct. 15
1872 [?] Nov. 14
1873 Jan. 17
Whitman, Thomas Jefferson
II-9:
1867 Apr. 29
Wilkins, Edward
II-9:
1889 Dec. 31
1890 Mar. 20
1890 Apr. 29
1890 Dec. 24
1891 Sept. 30
Letters to Unidentified Recipients
II-9:
1889 Oct. 7
1891 May 8
Writings Series, 1841-1944 and undated
Consists of manuscript drafts and revisions of Whitman's poetry and prose as well as proofs and published versions of his work from his early career in journalism up through the end of his life. The categorization of the manuscript material is necessarily inexact, and it is recommended that the researcher consult Ellen F. Frey's A Bibliography of Walt Whitman, Being a Catalog of the Trent Collection of Duke University, for detailed descriptions of the manuscript fragments. A copy of Frey's Bibliography is available from the reference staff upon request. The Writings Series also contains published versions of certain of Whitman's poems that were set to music by several different composers. For a comprehensive guide to these works, see Frey or see Bella C. Landauer, Leaves of Music by Walt Whitman, call number Trent I-9.
Manuscript Poems Subseries, ca. 1855 and undated
Manuscript drafts and revisions of poems appearing in successive editions of Leaves of Grass and poems not published during Whitman's lifetime or not intended for Leaves of Grass.
Leaves of Grass
Manuscript fragments are labeled "draft portions" if they constitute early drafts or revisions of a poem appearing in any of the editions of Leaves of Grass published during Whitman's lifetime. Fragments are labeled "draft outlines" if Frey suggests that they represent "ideas" treated in Leaves of Grass. Listed alphabetically by title.
MS 4to 14:
"By Blue Ontario's Shore"
(Autograph MS, draft of 1856 version, portion)
MS 4to 20:
"Carols Closing Sixty-Nine"
(Autograph MS, title suggestions for
"Sands at Seventy"
)
MS 4to 9:
"Faces"
(Autograph MS, draft portions)
MS 4to 10:
"Great are the myths..."
(Autograph MS)
MS 4to 11:
"You lusty and graceflu youth!"
(draft portions)
MS 4to 195:
"In Paths Untrodden"
(Autograph MS, draft portions)
MS 19:
Leaves of Grass (Table of Contents, 1881-1882 edition, with instructions to the printer)
I-1:
Leaves of Grass (Autograph MS and printed pages, printer's copy for portions of 1881-1882 edition)
I.
"Inscriptions"
II.
"Song of Myself"
(Pages 1-23)
II.
"Song of Myself"
(Pages 24-48)
II.
"Song of Myself"
(Pages 49-72)
III.
"Children of Adam"
IV.
"Song of the Exposition "
V.
"Song of the Redwood"
VI.
"A Song for Occupations"
VII.
"Birds of Passage"
VIII.
"Broadway Pageant"
IX.
"By Blue Ontario's Shore"
X.
"Autumn Rivulets (Pages 1-26)"
X.
"Autumn Rivulets (Pages 27-53)"
XI.
"To Think of Time"
XII.
"Whispers of Heavenly Death"
XIII.
"From Noon to Starry Night"
MS 12mo 15:
"THE Poem (?One grand, eclipsing poem Poem of Materials)"
(Autograph MS, draft portions of "Starting from Paumanok" and "Mediums")
II-5 17:
"Outlines for a Tomb"
(Autograph MS, draft outline)
II-5 21:
"Pictures"
(Autograph MS, draft outline)
MS 4to 22:
"Theme for piece poem An opera"
(Autograph MS, draft portions of
"Proud Music of the Storm"
and
"The Mystic Trumpeter"
)
MS 4to 23:
"Proud Music of the Storm"
(Autograph MS, draft outline and corrections)
MS 4to 1:
"Song of Myself"
(Autograph MS, draft portions), including
"Unnamed Lands"
MS 2:
"Song of Myself"
(Autograph MS, draft portions)
" To be at all - ..."
MS 3:
"Song of Myself"
(Autograph MS, draft outlines)
" It is no miracle now..."
MS 4to 4:
"Song of Myself"
(Autograph MS, draft portions)
"Light and air!"
MS 4to 6:
"Song of Myself"
(Autograph MS, draft portions)
"Bibles, traditions, and formulas..."
MS 4to 7:
"Song of Myself"
(Autograph MS, draft portions)
"My Spirit sped back..."
II-7 201:
"Song of Myself"
(Autograph MS, draft outlines)
"There is no word in any tongue"
II-5 12:
"Song of the Broad-Axe"
(Autograph MS, draft outline)
MS 18:
"Song of the Redwood Tree"
(Autograph MS, draft portions)
MS 4to 8:
"A Song for Occupations"
(Autograph MS, draft outline)
MS 4to 194:
"A Song of Joys"
(Autograph MS, draft outline)
MS 4to 193:
"A Song of the Rolling Earth"
(Autograph MS, draft outline)
MS 4to 16:
"Proem These are the sights that I have absorbed in Manhattan Island"
(Draft outline, draft portions, possibly for use in "Starting from Paumanok")
MS 13:
"This Compost"
(Autograph MS, draft portions)
MS 4to 5:
"I know as well as you that Bibles are divine revelations"
(Autograph MS, draft portions of
"Who Learns My Lesson Complete?"
)
Poems Not Appearing in Leaves of Grass
Listed alphabetically by headings.
MS 4to 24:
"All Hands Round"
II-7 200:
"I am not content now..."
MS 4to 25:
"I am that halfgrown angry boy..."
II-5 26:
"Poem of Existence"
MS 12mo 27:
"Remembrances I plant American ground with"
MS 4to 202:
"Scantlings"
MS 4to 28:
"Thought"
Notes for Poems
Listed alphabetically by headings.
MS 2o 29:
Autograph MSS
"[Fragments and Ideas for Poems] (Frey's heading)"
MS 2o 30:
Autograph MSS
"[Notes for Poems] (Frey's heading)"
MS 2o 31:
Autograph MSS
"[Outlines for Poems] (Frey's heading)"
MS 4to 32:
Autograph MSS
"[Preliminary Studies for Poems] (Frey's heading)"
MS 2o 33:
Autograph MSS
"[Suggestions for Poems] (Frey's heading)"
Manuscript Prose Subseries, 1852-1891 and undated
Includes manuscript drafts and revisions of stories, prefaces, essays, lectures, Whitman's commentary on his own literary work and on that by other authors, autobiographical material, and a section of miscellany that consists of notes made on various subjects, the most prominent among them being travel and intellectual history. The fragments in each group are listed alphabetically by headings.
Stories
Listed alphabetically by headings or titles.
MS 4to 191:
"Distinctness every syllable"
(Autograph MS, draft portion)
MS 56:
"Of a summer evening a boy fell asleep"
(Autograph MS, complete draft)
MS 2o 38:
"This singular young man was unnoted for any strong qualities"
(Autograph MS, complete draft)
Prefaces
Listed alphabetically by headings.
MS 2o 47:
"Camden - Phila April 8, '84"
(Autograph MS, draft of preface to unpublished edition of Whitman's works)
MS 4to 62:
"Eidolons Preface Two Rivulets"
(Autograph MS, draft of preface to Two Rivulets, 1876)
MS 12mo 58:
"For Dem Vistas"
(Autograph MS, draft of preface to Democratic Vistas )
MS 4to 63:
"The name of this tells much of the story..."
(Autograph MS, draft of preface [?])
MS 4to 69:
"(Of the great poet) (Finally) For preface"
(Autograph MS, draft of introduction to [?])
MS 50:
"Struggling steadily to the front..."
(Autograph MS, draft of prefatory notes to
"Song of the Exposition,"
appearing in Two Rivulets )
Essays, Lectures, and Notes
Listed alphabetically by headings.
MS 12mo 61:
"America needs her own poems,..."
(Autograph MS, possibly a draft of a lecture commenting on 1855 preface to Leaves of Grass )
MS 12mo 60:
"Canada lecture"
(Autograph MS, partly published in Diary in Canada, p. 72)
MS 57:
"for Ottawa lecture"
(Autograph MS, draft outline)
MS 64:
"Founding a new American Religion (? No Religion)"
(Autograph MS, draft outline)
II-5 42:
"It is no doubt impossible to say anything not already said..."
(Autograph MS, draft of a lecture on public education)
MS 65:
"It is said, perhaps rather quizzically by one of my friends..."
(Autograph MS, draft outline of a lecture on Canada)
MS 66:
"Italian Singers in America"
(Autograph MS, draft paragraph on the contralto Alboni)
MS 4to 44:
"Materialism"
(Autograph MS, draft of lecture/essay on evolution)
MS 4to 36:
"The mob, the trial of Warren Hastings, the death-bed of Robert Burns"
(Autograph MS, draft portion of an essay on Elias Hicks)
MS 2o 37:
"The Old World (Europe and Asia) is the region of the poetry of the past"
(Autograph MS, draft portion of the last paragraph of
"Shakespeare for America"
)
II-5 41:
"Our own account of this poem, 'the German Iliad'"
(Autograph MS, draft of an essay of the Niebelungenlied and a translation of part of the poem)
MS 4to 45:
"? outset of lecture"
(Autograph MS, draft outline on preparation for study)
II-5 39:
"Rel."
(Autograph MS, draft outline for a lecture on religion)
MS 48:
"Sculpture"
(Autograph MS, lecture/essay on the Greeks)
II-5 40:
"Slavery - the Slaveholders - The Constitution..."
(Autograph MS, draft portions of antislavery speeches)
MS 54:
"Spring of '59 - read Dante's 'Inferno'"
(Autograph MS, draft of essay on Dante)
MS 2o 43:
"Wants"
(Autograph MS, draft portions of an essay on labor advertisements)
MS 4to 49:
"A Word About Tennyson"
(Autograph MS, printer's copy for Whitman's Tennyson essay in the Critic, Jan. 1, 1887)
Notes on Literature
Listed alphabetically by headings or first lines.
II-5 101:
"[Miscellaneous Notes, Chiefly Literary] (in Frey)"
(Autograph MSS)
II-5 102:
"[Notes on Literature] (in Frey)"
(Autograph MSS)
MS 4to 73:
"1855 - I have looked over Gerald Massey's Poems..."
(Autograph MS, notes on Massey)
MS 4to 99:
"But Though so loving, so singing, so dwelling on the past"
(Autograph MS, fragmentary remarks on a poet, probably Tennyson [in Frey])
MS 12mo 92:
"Diderot (Dennis Diderot)"
(Autograph MS, outline of Diderot's career)
MS 4to 74:
"Dr. Priestly (or Priestley)"
(Autograph MS, notes on Priestley)
MS 4to 72:
"Dryden 1631 to 1701"
(Autograph MS, impressions of Dryden)
MS 91:
"Edmund Spenser"
(Autograph MS, outline of Spencer's career)
MS 4to 86:
"Even now Jasmund, the people's poet,..."
(Autograph MS, notes on Jasmin, Pythagoras, Ossian, Zoroaster, and Greek history and literature)
MS 4to 76:
"Frances Wright"
(Autograph MS, notes on Wright's life)
MS 93:
"Frederick Schlegel 1772 - 1829"
(Autograph MS, note on the life and philosophy of Schlegel)
MS 4to 80:
"Goethe - from about 1750 to 1832"
(Autograph MS, notes on Goethe)
MS 4to 81:
"Goethe's Complete Works, last complete edition of his own revision"
(Autograph MS, notes on Goethe)
MS 4to 85:
"He is a precursor, in some sort of great differences"
(Autograph MS, notes on Swedenborg)
MS 90:
"His earliest printed plays 1597 Romeo and Juliet"
(Autograph MS, notes on the life and work of Shakespeare)
MS 94:
"The Iliad, The Bible (? & The Eschylean tragedies)"
(Autograph MS, notes on the Iliad and the Bible)
MS 79:
"J. J. Rousseau"
(Autograph MS, biographical sketch of Rousseau)
MS 4to 82:
"(Jean Paul) Friedrich Richter"
(Autograph MS, notes on the life and style of Richter)
MS 78:
"Lafontaine, born about 1621 lived 73 years - (1694)"
(Autograph MS, notes on Lafontaine's career)
MS 4to 77:
"Louis 14th born 1638 - died 1715 Corneille"
(Autograph MS, notes on the drama of Louis XIV's age)
MS 4to 84:
"Memory - ..."
(Autograph MS, notes on the life of Plutarch preceded by a quotation from Locke)
III-3 #5 c. 1:
"The Nibelungen"
(Autograph MS, notes on the Nibelungenlied, mounted on inside front board of Voices from the Press )
MS 12mo 89:
"Oliver Goldsmith"
(Autograph MS, biographical sketch of Goldsmith)
MS 117:
"Shakespeare and Walter Scott"
(Autograph MS, notes on writing)
MS 4to 83:
"Schiller - born 1759 - died 1806"
(Autograph MS, notes on Schiller and other German poets)
MS 4to 75:
"Shelley, born 1792 - died 1822 Keats died 1821"
(Autograph MS, notes on Shelley)
MS 4to 100:
"The Social Contract, Or, Principles of Right"
(Autograph MS, copy of extracts from a translation of Rousseau)
MS 71:
"The Song of Hiawatha by H. W. Longfellow"
(Autograph MS, impressions of
"Hiawatha"
)
MS 12mo 95:
"Torquato Tasso"
(Autograph MS, biographical sketch of Tasso)
Autobiographical Manuscripts
Listed alphabetically by headings.
MS 4to 132:
"24 Feb. 1891 In Notes if convenient"
(Autograph MS, paragraph on his health and publishing, request from Mrs. J. S. Harris for his autograph)
MS 4to 130:
"(Elan E. Kelsey)..."
(Autograph MS, notes on Eugene Kelsey, a soldier whom Whitman visited, and on Kelsey's family)
MS 123:
"How I get around at 60 and take notes (No. 1)"
(Autograph MS, copy for the first of six articles sent by Whitman to the Critic 1881-1882, published 1881 Jan. 29)
MS 113:
"In the Revolution,..."
(Autograph MS, notes on Whitman's grandfather Kell Van Velsor and his Grandmother Whitman during the Revolutionary War)
MS 120:
"Isaac Joseph Stephen Jesse (my grandfather)..."
(Autograph MSS, notes on various relatives, especially his grandmother Hannah Brush and great aunt Mrs. Sarah Mead)
MS 122:
"June 2, '74"
(Autograph MS, notes on Dr. Matthew Grier's opinion of Whitman's health)
II-7 197:
"July 31st 1852 - Mr. Scofield owes W.W. ..."
(Autograph MS, memoranda written by Whitman when employed as a contractor)
MS 2o 128:
"Mother's family lived..."
(Autograph MS, notes on Whitman's mother's family, 1850)
MS 2o 133:
"My house and lot 328 Mickle street Camden New Jersey"
(Autograph MS, draft portion of Whitman's will)
MS 12mo 104:
"Nov. 23rd. 62 Portland av. Jesse Whitman..."
(Autograph MS, notes on uncles and his father as contractor)
MS 2o 131:
"Nov. 26 1880 R Worthington..."
(Autograph MS, notes on pirated edition of Leaves of Grass )
MS 12mo 104a:
"Progenitors"
(Autograph MS)
MS 121:
"Specimen Days"
(Autograph MS, notes on his parents)
MS 2o 129:
"Walter Whitman married..."
(Autograph MS, notes toward a family genealogy and portion of a diary of Whitman's trip from New Orleans)
Cf. Richard Maurice Bucke's Biography of Whitman Subseries.
Whitman on His Own Writings
Listed alphabetically by headings.
MS 12mo 116:
"[Three Autograph MSS]"
(Notes on nature, a comment on Specimen Days )
MS 4to 110:
"'81 'Leaves of Grass' finished"
(Autograph MS, diary writing on preparation of the 1881-1882 edition for publication)
MS 4to 109:
"All others have adhered to the principle..."
(Autograph MS, notes on democracy, poetry)
MS 108:
"And so I have put those completed poems..."
(Autograph MS, draft outline)
MS 12mo 127:
"Current Criticism"
(Autograph MS, notes on Burroughs's Notes on Walt Whitman )
MS 124:
"Feb. 25th '57 Dined with Hector Tyndale"
(Autograph MS, notes on criticisms of Leaves of Grass made by Whitman's friends)
MS 12mo 105:
"For criticism L of Grass"
(Autograph MS, notes on Leaves of Grass )
MS 12mo 106:
"For Dr. B's Criticism"
(Autograph MS, notes on Specimen Days )
MS 125:
"Friday April 24, '57. True vista before"
(Autograph MS, notes on education)
II-7 198:
"Leading Characteristic to unite all sects,..."
(Autograph MS, notes on religious and social unity)
MS 4to 204:
"Make the Works"
(Autograph MS, notes on writing)
MS 12mo 107:
"May 13 to 26 '81 Down in the Country"
(Autograph MS, diary entry on preparation of the1881-1882 edition of Leaves of Grass for publication)
MS 126:
"My Poems, when complete, should be... "
(Autograph MS, notes on writing poetry)
MS 4to 134:
"No I do not choose to write a poem on a lady's sparrow, like Catullus"
(Autograph MS, notes on Leaves of Grass )
MS 114:
"No one of the Themes..."
(Autograph MS, draft portions of an essay on Leaves of Grass )
II-5 135:
"Of William Blake & Walt Whitman"
(Autograph MS, comparison of Blake and himself)
MS 4to 206:
"On the other side is the 'barbaric yawp'..."
(Autograph MS, draft portion of essay on the differences between Whitman and other poets)
MS 115 [display]:
"Other poets have formed..."
(Autograph MS, notes on writing poetry)
MS 4to 199:
"Put in a passage in some poem..."
(Autograph MS, notes on translation of his poetry)
MS 4to 136:
"Rules for Composition"
(Autograph MS, notes on writing)
MS 4to 137:
"Sept '81 Copy..."
(Autograph MS, notes on the publication of the 1881-1882 edition of Leaves of Grass )
MS 4to 205:
"Two suggestion points for letter"
(Autograph MS, two passages of self-criticism)
MS 12mo 116:
"3 Autograph MSS"
(Notes on nature, Specimen Days )
Miscellany
Listed alphabetically by headings.
MS 4to 192:
"The Black (The problem of the black)"
(Autograph MS)
MS 52:
"Book-learn'g is good..."
(Autograph MS, notes on education)
MS 4to 196:
"Caution"
(Autograph MS, notes on American literature)
MS 96:
"Egypt..."
(Autograph MS, notes on the "development of man" represented by the Egyptians, Hindus, Greeks, Romans, and Hebrews)
MS 97:
"Egyptian religion... Greek... Hebrew"
(Autograph MS, notes on ancient Egyptian and Greek religion and Judaism)
MS 98:
"The English Masses"
(Autograph MS, notes on English people)
MS 4to 34:
"His idea of God..."
(Autograph MS, notes on Emerson)
MS 2o 53:
"I know well enough that man grows up,..."
(Autograph MS, notes on "the nature of man")
MS 67:
"In metaphysical points,..."
(Autograph MS, notes on Romantic poetry, education)
MS 55:
"It is generally believed in Washington..."
(Autograph MS, draft portions of a letter on exchange of Civil War prisoners)
MS 4to 203:
"It were unworthy a live man to pray or complain"
(Autograph MS, notes on "whining")
MS 118:
"London - 1880 Then about drinking habits"
(Autograph MS, notes on Canada made during his trip there)
Trent South Wall:
"A main part of The greatness of a humanity"
(Autograph MS, notes on the "evolution of humanity")
MS 4to 87:
"Of Insanity"
(Autograph MS, notes on insanity)
II-5 103:
"[Notes on Africa and Asia] (Frey's title)"
(Autograph MSS, notes on Asia and Africa taken from conversations with travelers and from geography and history books)
MS 68:
"[On Poetry] (Frey's heading)"
(Autograph MS, notes on poetry)
MS 51:
"Produce great persons..."
(Autograph MS)
MS 4to 111:
"The RR we go on (Sep 13 '79) from St Louis..."
(Autograph MS, notes on travels in the U.S. in 1848 and 1879)
MS 2o 46:
"Specimen Days Oct 31 '84 Presidential Election"
(Autograph MS, notes for an expanded edition of Leaves of Grass )
MS 4to 112:
"Sunday '79 - Took a slow walk..."
(Autograph MS, notes on New York City)
MS 4to 35:
"Theological inferences... "
(Autograph MS, notes on the Bible and its importance in poetry)
MS 119:
"Visit to NY '78 July 3..."
(Autograph MS, notes on view of New York from the top of the Tribune building)
MS 12mo 59:
"Wednesday 4th March..."
(Autograph MS, notes on the adjournment of Congress, 1863, Mar.)
MS 4to 88:
"The Whale"
(Autograph MS, notes on whales)
MS 4to 70:
"What are inextricable from the British poets are..."
(Autograph MS, notes on British poets)
Proofs Subseries, 1874-1891 and undated
Proofs of poems and articles published during Whitman's lifetime, some with autograph annotation by Whitman. The dates provided are taken both from the periodicals that carried corrected versions of the articles and poems in proof and also from autograph annotations to the proofs themselves. A mark of "P" next to a date indicates that the proof in question has been dated according to the periodical in which it appeared; a mark of "A," conversely, indicates that the proof has been dated by annotation. Where possible, the titles of the periodicals that published finalized versions of Whitman's articles and poems have been included. Listed alphabetically by title or periodical.
III-8, Pr. 10:
"A Carol Closing Sixty Nine,"
undated
III-8, Pr. 1:
"Colonel Ingersoll's Lecture, Liberty and Literature,"
1890 Oct. 21 (A)
Includes a clipping from the New York World from 1890 26 Oct. which reports a conversation between Whitman and Ingersoll.
III-8, Pr. 2:
"The Dead Carlyle,"
Boston Literary World, 1881 Feb. 12 (P)
III-8, Pr. 3:
"The Dead Tenor,"
The Critic, 1884 Nov. 4 (P)
III-8, Pr. 4:
"Death of a Fireman,"
The New Republic, 1874 Nov. 14 (P)
III-8, Pr. 5:
"Halcyon Days,"
undated
Proof copy with corrections, presumably by Whitman
III-8, Pr. 6:
"Have We a National Literature?,"
North American Review, 1891 Mar. (P)
III-8, Pr. 7:
"A Memorandum at a Venture,"
North American Review, 1882 June (A)
I-1:
November Boughs, undated Page proofs, pp. 5-45, preceded by a 4-page review clipped from the Chicago Daily News, 9 Feb. 1889.
I-1:
November Boughs, undated Page proofs, pp. 46-92
I-1:
November Boughs, undated Page proofs, pp. 93-140
III-8, Pr. 9:
"Of That Blithe Throat of Thine,"
Harper's, 1885 Jan. (P)
Cf. Books and Periodicals Containing Contributions by Whitman Subseries .
III-8, Pr. 10:
"Old Age's Lambent Peaks,"
undated
III-8, Pr. 11:
"Patroling Barnegat,"
1880 June 3 (A)
