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Poetry Manuscripts
Finding Aids for Manuscripts at Individual Repositories
Guide to the Walt Whitman Poetry Manuscripts in the Manuscripts Department, Houghton Library, Harvard University
Original records created by the Manuscripts Department, Houghton Library, Harvard University; revised and expanded by the Walt Whitman Archive and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. Encoded Archival Description completed through the assistance of the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the University of Nebraska Research Council, and the Institute for Museum and Library Services.
Title: Walt Whitman Poetry Manuscripts in the Manuscripts Department, Houghton Library, Harvard University
Collection Number: N/A
Creator:
Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892
Repository: Houghton Library
Abstract:
This electronic finding aid was created from the original catalog records obtained by The Walt Whitman Archive. The original papers and catalog records are held in the Manuscripts Department, Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Scope and Content:
The Manuscripts Department, Houghton Library at Harvard University holds several Whitman items, including letters, photographs, notes, books, and drafts of prose and poetry. For this electronic finding aid, only those items deemed poetry manuscripts are described at the item-level.
Biographical Information:
For additional biographical information, see
"Walt Whitman," by Ed Folsom and Kenneth M. Price, and the
chronology of Whitman's Life.
Subjects: Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892;
Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892--Manuscripts;
Poets, American--19th century;
Series Description and Item Lists
Whitman Archive ID: har.00003
Repository Manuscript ID: Autograph File
Title: "Bardic symbols"
Date: about 1860
Physical Description: 3 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Partial late draft, with minor revisions, of "Bardic Symbols," first published in the April 1860 issue of the Atlantic Monthly. The poem was later revised and published under the title "As I Ebb'd with the Ocean of Life." Two of the manuscript leaves are stored with a letter to the editor, James Russell Lowell, dated October 2, 1861; the other leaf is stored separately.
Item: 2
Repository Manuscript ID: bMS Am 1343 (546)
Title: "Grand is the seen"
Date: about 1891
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
An unsigned draft of "Grand Is the Seen," a poem first published in 1891. Accompanying this manuscript is an autographed photograph of Whitman dated 1886.
Item: 3
Repository Manuscript ID: MS Lowell 15
Title: "Passage to India"
Date: about 1870
Physical Description: 21 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28
Complete draft, with extensive revisions, of "Passage to India," a poem published first in 1871. Some of the passages have been cut from letterpress proofs. Bound with letter to Andrew and Thomas Rome, dated 15 March 1870.
Item: 4
Repository Manuscript ID: bMS Am 1545 (1)
Title: "Spain"
Date: 16 March 1873
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
An unsigned draft of the poem "Spain," which was published first in 1873. The poem was later titled "Spain, 1873-74."
Restrictions on Original Materials: Please consult with repository.
Preferred Citation: To identify this finding aid as a source, see the Archive's "Conditions of Use" page.
Repository Contact Information:
Houghton Library
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138