Born May 31, 1819, in West Hills, Long Island, Walt Whitman spent his early life working variously as an office boy, school teacher, compositor, reporter, and editor. Growing up in Brooklyn, he received only six years of formal education and took his first job at age 11. He was 21 before his first success as a writer, and between 1843 and 1846 wrote articles for several New York City papers. He become editor of the
In 1848 Whitman spent three months working at the
In 1862 Whitman's brother was wounded at Fredericksburg and Whitman traveled to his aid. Finding him with minor wounds, Whitman settled in Washington, DC, where he tended wounded soldiers and worked for the army paymaster. In 1864 he took a position at the Interior Department, and in 1865 published
Whitman lost his job in 1865, but was soon offered work by the U. S. Attorney General. New editions of
Whitman published a reprint of
Meyerson, Joel.
Handwritten manuscripts, fragments, notes, proofs, galleys, clippings, monographs, correspondence, drawings, photographs, and memorabilia document the life and work of Walt Whitman and include information about Whitman created and collected by several of his early admirers and devotees. The collection is organized into four series: I. Works, 1846-1913, undated (2 boxes), II. Correspondence, 1863-1892, undated (1 box), III. Works and Correspondence by Others, 1863-1956, undated (3 boxes), and IV. Images and Checks, 1875-1887, undated (1 folder)
The earliest dated material consists of tearsheets of
Many of the manuscripts and letters are in fragile condition and access to individual items may be limited while they undergo conservation treatment. All Whitman items are handwritten unless otherwise indicated. Additional Whitman material is located in the Ransom Center's vertical files, art collection, photography collection, and personal effects.
Works are arranged alphabetically by title or first line. Many of the poems included in
Other materials in the series include one-page printed proofs of individual poems, clippings of published articles, and galley proofs. Of note is an 1876 edition of
Some works have correspondence or other works glued or written on the verso.
Cross references are provided in the folder list. Two headings:
Whitman's correspondence is divided into two subseries, outgoing and incoming, both arranged alphabetically. Outgoing correspondence consists primarily of handwritten letters. Also present are postcards and facsimiles of handwritten letters. Of note among letters to James Osgood is a list of changes demanded in
Incoming correspondence includes a Civil War era pass issued to Whitman by the US Army, a typed transcription of a letter from Ralph Waldo Emerson, and letters from Whitman's brother George and sister Hannah. The greatest number of letters come from Whitman's mother and include numerous originals as well as typed transcriptions.
Outgoing and incoming letters between Whitman and Alfred, Lord Tennyson are bound with materials for Whitman's work
The largest of the three series consists primarily of correspondence about
Whitman written to Gustave Percival Wiksell. Wiksell was president of the
Boston chapter of the Whitman Fellowship founded by Whitman friend and
biographer Horace Traubel. The correspondence and other Whitman materials
collected by Wiksell were later acquired and added to by fellow Whitman
collector John G. Moore, providing the bulk of the materials in this series.
Arrangement is alphabetical, generally by name of correspondent or author,
but with some topical headings, such as
Notable among the Wiksell correspondents are Louis Brandeis, George Washington Carver, Calvin Coolidge, Charles Coughlin, Eugene Debs, Alf Landon, and William Douglas O'Connor. Correspondence to Whitman scholar Milton Hindus includes letters from Dorothy Pound and William Carlos Williams.
In addition to Wiksell and Hindus, other Whitman scholars and admirers represented in the series include Leon Bazalgette, John Burroughs, Richard M. Bucke, John G. Moore, William Douglas O'Connor, and Horace Traubel.
The smallest series in the collection contains one folder of clippings, etchings, engravings, and photocopies of Whitman images. Also included are three checks written by Whitman.
Much of the collection was acquired in the mid-1950s as part of the T. E. Hanley Library and supplemented by the 1959 purchase of the John G. Moore Collection and later acquisitions of individual items. Also included are numerous page proofs acquired with the Charles E. Feinberg Collection.
Open for research.
Condition note: Many of the manuscripts and letters are in fragile condition and access to individual items may be limited while they undergo conservation treatment.
Stephen Mielke, 2003
Additional Whitman material is located in the Ransom Center's vertical files, art collection, photography collection, and personal effects.
Bound monographs by Whitman have been cataloged separately and can be accessed through the University of Texas at Austin Library's online catalog.