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The Walt Whitman Archive

St. Louis, March 28th 1869

I am anxious to obtain through you whatever copies of Engineering reports that you can send me without too much trouble. Particularly would I like to get the "Memoir on Foundations in Compressible soils by Rich Delafield" ²   lately publish[ed] by the Light House Bd.

Such reports are of great use as they show what has been done, and particularly would any report on such a subject be useful to me just now  Mr Davis ³   is associated with me here, and when you can duplicate the copies we would both be thankful

I must beg pardon for my wholesale style of asking for these things—but being away from all advising engineers and when books on the subject cannot well be had (not worth much when had) I am forced to secure as best I can the records of the experience of others

Please give my best regards to your wife—hoping that you are all well and again asking pardon for the trouble I may give you I remain

Yours very truly Thos J Whitman

The text presented here is derived from Dennis Berthold and Kenneth Price, eds., Dear Brother Walt: The Letters of Thomas Jefferson Whitman (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1984). For a detailed description of discrepancies between this electronic edition and the print source, see our statement of editorial policy .

The manuscript of this letter, dated March 28, 1869, is held in the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature at the New York Public Library.

For more information on the letters of Thomas Jefferson Whitman, see Dennis Berthold and Kenneth Price's introduction to the print edition.

1.  See Letter from Thomas Jefferson Whitman to William Douglas O'Connor, 16 March 1865.  (Back)

2.  See Letter from Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Walt Whitman, 25 March 1869.  (Back)

3.  See Letter from Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Walt Whitman, 22 September 1863.  (Back)

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