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Walt Whitman and the Body


July 26, 2017 – October 28, 2017

This exhibition of manuscripts, photographs, and printed works showcases Walt Whitman’s musings about the human body in context of his life and the world he lived in.  Whitman’s poetry frequently examined the connection of the physical with the spiritual, and he often used physical descriptions of himself as part of his own mythologization.  The exhibit will examine Whitman's interest in health theories and fads of the time and how he was influenced by the time he spent comforting Civil War soldiers in hospitals.


This exhibition was sponsored in part by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.