The Walt Whitman Archive
Resources
Finding Aids for Manuscripts at Individual Repositories
Guide to the Walt Whitman Poetry Manuscripts in
The Thomas Biggs Harned Collection from the Library of Congress
Original finding aid completed by the Library of Congress; 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 Thomas Biggs Harned Collection from the Library of Congress
Collection Number: N/A
Creator:
Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892
Collector:
Harned, Thomas Biggs
Repository:
Manuscripts Division, The Library of Congress
Abstract:This machine-readable finding aid was created, in part, from digital images of
the original manuscripts obtained by The Walt Whitman
Archive. The original papers and the finding aid completed by Michael
McElderry are held at the Library of Congress.
Scope and Content:
The Thomas Biggs Harned Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman spans the period
1842-1937, with most of the items dated from
1855-1892. The collection consists of Whitman's
correspondence, poetry and prose manuscripts, notes and notebooks, proofs and
offprints, printed matter, and miscellaneous supplementary items. A detailed
description of the Harned Collection has been published in the Library of Congress
publication Walt Whitman: A Catalog
(1955), which contains an introductory essay on significant Whitman
collectors and their collections and an annotated bibliographic listing of Whitman
items then located among the collections of various divisions within the Library.
Walt Whitman's papers were divided among his three literary executors, Richard M. Bucke, Thomas Biggs Harned, and
Horace L. Traubel. Of these, only Harned's
collection remains largely intact, the integrity of the other collections having
been lost through dispersal. Whitman's personal habits were such that he wrote and
collected his notes in a casual and unsystematic manner, entrusting his thoughts to
scraps of paper, be it the back of a used envelope or the verso of a letter. His
notebooks contain an equal number of random jottings, some no more than bits and
pieces of paper sewn together to form a small notebook. These notes and notebooks
include names and addresses, trial titles, trial lines of poetry and prose pieces,
diary and hospital notes, pencil sketches and drawings, drafts of poems and essays,
autobiographical and personal notes, printing and publishing notes, and
miscellaneous notes on a wide range of subjects such as history, geography,
politics, and ethnology.
Poems and prose writings in the Manuscripts series vary in form from tentative
outlines to final drafts. This material often shows the extensive revision
characteristic of Whitman's composition. Related notes and notebook entries add
details helpful for textual analysis of the poems. Whitman's practice of drafting
letters, notes, and literary works on the back of incoming letters necessitates the
identification of verso items in order to provide full documentation.
James R. Osgood printed the
Boston edition of Leaves of
Grass (1881-1882), which
was withdrawn from publication after being censored by local authorities.
Correspondence between Osgood and
Whitman about this edition is contained in the collection, as are letters exchanged
with T. W. Rolleston concerning
German and Russian translations. Other correspondents include Anne Burrows Gilchrist, Thomas Biggs
Harned, William Sloane Kennedy,
James M. Scovel, J. M. Stoddart, and Benjamin Holt Ticknor.
Whitman had been greatly moved by Abraham Lincoln, who symbolized
for him the best in the American national character and who inspired some of his
greatest poetry. He lectured extensively on Lincoln, and in a series of lectures given between 1879
and 1890, he recalled details of Lincoln's life and death and sketched an intimate profile based on
personal reminiscence. The Lincoln Material series contains a thematic grouping of
various types of manuscripts and printed matter concerning these lectures and
related topics.
The Proofs and Offprints series includes copies of Whitman's prose and poetry.
Whitman often revised his writings after having them set in type, and several of the
proofs in this series contain either corrections to the text or notations for the
printer.
In 1942, a group of Whitman notebooks from the Harned collection, along
with other national treasures, were evacuated from Washington, D.C., for safekeeping
during World War II. Upon the return of the material from storage in
1944, it was discovered that ten Whitman notebooks and a cardboard
butterfly were missing. In 1995, the Library regained custody of four
of these notebooks and the butterfly, but six notebooks remain unaccounted for.
The recovered items relate to Whitman's early career as a journalist and poet and
include notes on perception and the senses, names and addresses, diary notes, drafts
of Civil War poems, and observations made in Washington, D.C.,
during the Civil War. Whitman also used the notebooks to record the public's
reaction to and acceptance of his poetry. The earliest notebook in the collection,
written between 1847 and 1854, was among the four
recovered and contains drafts of one of Whitman's most famous poems,
"Song of Myself."
Other notebooks contain notes
Whitman made while working as a nurse in Civil War hospitals in Washington, 1862-1864. The cardboard butterfly is thought to be
the same Whitman wired on his finger in a photograph that was published as the
frontispiece for the 1889 birthday edition of Leaves of Grass.
Biographical Information:
Thomas
Harned was a prominent lawyer in Camden, New
Jersey, where Whitman lived in his final decades. He was a close friend
of Whitman's and one of three literary executors named in Whitman's will.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
Item: 1
Boxes: 1
Folder: Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00078
Title: "Leave-taking Words"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, 23.5 x 13.5 cm, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
The page appears to be a draft of a title page for a manuscript titled "Leave-taking Words" or "Last Ripples (A Prelude to Passage to India)." At the bottom of the page are four lines from the end of "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," first published as "A Child's Reminiscence" in 1859. The lines from the poem are cleanly written, suggesting that they were meant to serve as an epigraph for Whitman's manuscript. "Passage to India" was published first in 1871. On the verso is a draft of a stanza of "Eidólons," first published in 1876.
Item: 2
Boxes: 1
Folder: Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00079
Title: "Out of A Hundred Years"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf
View Images: 1
A scrap of paper with an underlined title written across the top reading "Out of A Hundred Years" and subtitled "in Prose and Verse Melanged." In the top margin is written "?Vistas."
Item: 3
Boxes: 1
Folder: A March in the Ranks Hard Prest
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00080
Title: "[Surgeons operating]"
Date: about 1865
Physical Description: 1 leaf, 21 x 16.5 cm, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
A clean, late draft of lines published in the poem "A March in the Ranks Hard-Prest, and the Road Unknown," first published in 1865. On the verso are prose notes about various corps of Civil War soldiers.
Item: 4
Boxes: 1
Folder: Prayer of Columbus
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00081
Title: "[Again with latest breath]"
Date: about 1874
Physical Description: 1 leaf, 16 x 13.5 cm, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Early draft of lines from "Prayer of Columbus," first published in 1874. On the verso is a draft of Whitman's prose introduction to the poem.
Item: 5
Boxes: 1
Folder: As Consequent, etc.
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00082
Title: "[some threading Ohio's]"
Date: 1881
Physical Description: 1 leaf, 13 x 14.5 cm, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
A draft of lines of "As Consequent, Etc.," first published in the 1881 edition of Leaves of Grass. On the verso in a letter from the Camden and Atlantic Railroad dated January 25, 1881.
Item: 6
Boxes: 1
Folder: A Clear Midnight
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00083
Title: "A starry midnight"
Date: about 1881
Physical Description: 1 leaf, 21 x 13 cm, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
A draft of a poem entitled "A starry midnight," published as "A Clear Midnight" in 1881. At the top is a note in blue pencil that reads "?for end of poems"
Item: 7
Boxes: 1
Folder: Thou Orb Aloft Full-Dazzling
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00084
Title: "Thou Orb Aloft"
Date: about 1881
Physical Description: 2 leaves, 11 x 19 to 23 x 19 cm, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
A two-page draft of the poem published first in 1881 as "A Summer Invocation," then published later that year with the title "Thou Orb Aloft Full-Dazzling."
Item: 8
Boxes: 1
Folder: You Lingering Sparse Leaves of Me
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00359
Title: "Sparse, wintry little leaves"
Date: about 1887
Physical Description: 1 leaf, 23.5 x 15 cm, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
A draft of a poem entitled "Sparse, wintry, little leaves." The poem was later revised and published as "You Lingering Sparse Leaves of Me" in 1887.
Item: 9
Boxes: 1
Folder: Glad the Jaunts for the Known
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00360
Title: "[To-Day at the peak]"
Date: about 1888
Physical Description: 1 leaf, 28 x 21 cm, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Draft of one or possibly two poems beginning "To-Day at the peak" and "Glad the jaunts for the known." Lines from this manuscript were published posthumously as "[Glad the Jaunts for the Known]." On the verso is a letter, dated January, 1888, from James G. Bennett, editor of the New York Herald.
Item: 10
Boxes: 1
Folder: A Song for Sweet Water
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00361
Title: "A Song for Sweet Water"
Date: July, 1890
Physical Description: 1 leaf, 28 x 21.5 cm, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Notes and trial lines for a poem to commemorate "the new water works" entitled "A Song for Sweet Water," subtitled "Pure, general sweet water." A note at the bottom of the document gives the date as July, 1890.
Item: 11
Boxes: 1
Folder: For us Two, Reader Dear
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00362
Title: "For us two, reader dear"
Date: about 1890
Physical Description: 1 leaf, 22.5 x 17.5 cm, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
A draft of the poem "For Us Two, Reader Dear," first published in 1891. Also on the leaf is a letter to Whitman dated June 4, 1890 from Mrs. Noble T. Biddle.
Item: 12
Boxes: 1
Folder: Grand is the Seen
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00363
Title: "Grand is the seen"
Date: about 1891
Physical Description: 1 leaf, 12.5 x 20.5 cm, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
A draft of the poem "Grand is the Seen," first published in 1891. On the verso is the end of a letter from R. Rooke Morgau.
Item: 13
Boxes: 1
Folder: L.of G.'s Purport
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00364
Title: "L. of G.'s Purport"
Date: about 1891
Physical Description: 1 leaf
View Images: 1 | 2
A draft of the first two lines of "L. of G.'s Purport," first published in 1891.
Item: 14
Boxes: 1
Folder: L. of G.'s Purport
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00365
Title: "This Journey"
Date: about 1891
Physical Description: 1 leaf
View Images: 1 | 2
A draft entitled "This Journey" (the manuscript suggests Whitman was also considering the title "My Task" ), later incorporated as lines 6, 7, 8, and 9 in "L. of G.'s Purport," first published in 1891. Also on the leaf is an undated, cancelled letter.
Item: 15
Boxes: 1
Folder: L. of G.'s Purport
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00366
Title: "This journey"
Date: about 1891
Physical Description: 1 leaf
View Images: 1 | 2
Two drafts of a poem entitled "This journey." The lines were later incorporated as lines 6, 7, 8, and 9 in "L. of G.'s Purport," first published in 1891. On the verso are notes about "Payments to Mrs. White" between 1871 and 1874.
Item: 16
Boxes: 1
Folder: America! Thee formulating
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00621
Title: "America! thee formulating"
Date: about 1881
Physical Description: 1 leaf, 13 x 20.5 cm, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
A draft of a poem entitled "America! thee formulating." The lines were incorporated as lines 90 and 91 in the poem "Thy Mother with Thy Equal Brood," first published in 1881. On the verso are lines that appears to be a trial titles: "Voices at Early Candle-Light" and "Hurry-Notes."
Item: 17
Boxes: 1
Folder: Gossip at Dusk
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00367
Title: "Gossip at Dusk"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 3 leaves, 4 x 14 to 20 x 12.5 cm, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Drafts of lines entitled "Gossip at Dusk." The relationship to Whitman's published work is unknown.
Item: 18
Boxes: 1
Folder: Maize-Tassels
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00368
Title: "Maize-Tassels"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, 14.5 x 13.5 cm, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
A draft of a poem entitled "Maize-Tassels." Written at the top of the manuscript is the note, "White Horse notes." The relationship of this manuscript to Whitman's published work is unknown.
Item: 19
Boxes: 1
Folder: The Strong Right Hand
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00369
Title: "[the strong right]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, 20.5 x 12.5 cm, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
A couple of trial lines for an unknown poem, beginning "the strong right hand." The relationship of these lines to Whitman's published work is unknown.
Item: 20
Boxes: 1
Folder: Untitled and Unidentified
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00370
Title: "[Light]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf
View Images: 1 | 2
A draft of lines beginning "Light/ Lives, water, light/ and darkness." The relationship of these lines to Whitman's published work is unknown.
Item: 21
Boxes: 1
Folder: Untitled and Unidentified
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00375
Title: "[all birth and growth]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 2 leaves
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Two scraps of paper held together with draft lines bearing an unknown relationship to Whitman's published work.
Item: 22
Boxes: 1
Folder: Untitled and Unidentified
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00371
Title: "[Like the young eagle]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 3 leaves
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Three scraps of paper held together with draft lines bearing an unknown relationship to Whitman's published work.
Item: 23
Boxes: 1
Folder: on slavery
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00372
Title: "[How will it do for figure?]"
Date: about 1856
Physical Description: 1 leaf
View Images: 1 | 2
Notes and draft lines of a work concerning slavery. The relationship of these lines to Whitman's published work is unknown. On the verso is a page from the November, 1856 Christian Examiner.
Item: 24
Boxes: 1
Folder: war and hospital notes and memoranda
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00373
Title: "[Farewell my brethren]"
Date: about 1873
Physical Description: 3 leaves
View Images: 1 | 2
Held together with two other scraps of paper is a cancelled draft of lines from "Song of the Redwood Tree," first published in 1873.
Item: 25
Boxes: 2
Folder: Undated, trial titles
Whitman Archive ID: loc.373
Title: "Trial Titles"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 3 leaves
View Images: 1 | 2
Several scraps of paper with various trial titles and notes. The scraps are not necessarily related to one another, except that they all appear to be ideas for titles.
Item: 26
Boxes: 2
Folder: Undated, Miscellaneous notes or reminders
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00622
Title: "Miscellaneous Notes"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 5 leaves
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Various notes Whitman took concerning ideas or suggestions for poems and other work (for example, "Mr. Goodfellow's suggestions for a pastoral poem"). The relationship of these notes to Whitman's published work is unknown.
Item: 27
Boxes: 6
Folder: To the Year 1889
Title: "To the Year 1889"
Date: about 1889
Physical Description: 1 leaf
Images: forthcoming
A proof of the poem "To the Year 1889," first published in 1889, with a note in Whitman's hand about its publication in the Critic. The poem was later published as "To the Pending Year."
Series: 28
Title: Lincoln Material
Date: 1865-1891 and undated
Boxes: 6
Series Description:
Poetry and prose manuscripts, notes and drafts of writings and lectures,
printed matter, letters to Whitman from A.J. Bloor, and
proofs concerned with events surrounding the life and death of Abraham Lincoln.
Item: 1
Box: 6
Folder: Poetry Manuscript, Old Chants
Title:
"Old Chants"
Date: about 1891
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
Images: forthcoming
A draft of the first five lines of the poem
"Old Chants,"
first published in 1891. The draft shows that Whitman also considered the
titles
"An Ancient Ballad Reciting"
and
"An Ancient Song Reciting. The verso is
blank."
Item: 2
Box: 6
Folder: Notebook, 1868-1870
Title:
"Notebook, 1868-1870"
Date: about 1868-1870
Physical Description: 9 leaves, handwritten
Images: forthcoming
A notebook (probably bound by someone other than Whitman), containing
some draft lines (one titled
"Epictetus,"
another
"After an Extract
from Heine's Diary"
) that bear an unknown relationship to
Whitman's published work. Also included are several notes that scholars
have identified as autobiographical comments on Whitman's relationship
with Peter Doyle.
Item: 3
Box: 6
Folder: Lincoln Material Poetry Manuscripts "The Crusades"
[1869?]
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00065
Title:
"[principal personages of the]"
Date: about 1868-1870
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
| 2
One of a number of manuscripts in which Whitman records and develops
ideas for a poem that never emerged about the crusades. In this
particular manuscript, Whitman lists figures such as "Peter the Hermit"
and "The Popes." While Whitman wrote other war poems such as
"Chanting the Square Deific"
and
"Reconciliation"
, and he mentions the
crusades specifically in both his prose works Specimen Days and Democratic
Vistas, a direct link between these manuscript notes and any of
his published works is unclear. The verso contains part of a cancelled
letter between Charles Francis Adams, Minister to England during the
Civil War, and Earl Russell, British Foreign Minister, regarding the
Confederate "steamer Georgia" which
Whitman would have had to copy from another published document. Other
dated materials containing notes on the crusades suggest this manuscript
was likely composed around 1869.
Item: 4
Box: 6
Folder: Lincoln Material Poetry Manuscripts "The Crusades"
[1869?]
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00070
Title:
"For an idea"
Date: about 1868-1870
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
| 2
One of a number of manuscripts in which Whitman records and develops
ideas for a poem that never emerged about the crusades. In this
manuscript, Whitman relates "the Crusades" and "our own great war"
through the observation that great revolutions have "been mainly for an
idea." While Whitman wrote other war poems such as
"Chanting the Square Deific"
and
"Reconciliation"
, and he mentions the
crusades specifically in both his prose works Specimen Days and Democratic
Vistas, a direct link between these manuscript notes and any of
his published works is unclear. The verso contains part of a cancelled
letter about the steamer Georgia between
Charles Francis Adams, Minister to England during the Civil War, and
Earl Russell, British Foreign Minister. Other dated materials containing
notes on the crusades suggest this manuscript was likely composed around
1869.
Item: 5
Box: 6
Folder: Lincoln Material Poetry Manuscripts "The Crusades"
[1869?]
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00066
Title:
"Crusades"
Date: about 1868-1870
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
| 2
One of a number of manuscripts in which Whitman records and develops
ideas for a poem that never emerged about the crusades. This manuscript
bears trial lines for a poem attempting to link the crusades to America.
While other manuscripts and published works share similarities in topic
and idea, a direct link is unknown. The verso contains a cancelled list
of references to letters in the House Executive
Documents, 38th Cong. which correspond to several individual
documents transcribed on the cancelled versos of other crusade
manuscripts also in the Harned collection. Other dated materials
containing notes on the crusades suggest this manuscript was likely
composed around 1869.
Item: 6
Box: 6
Folder: Lincoln Material Poetry Manuscripts "The Crusades"
[1869?]
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00071
Title:
"[The number of the Crusades is]"
Date: about 1868-1870
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
| 2
One of a number of manuscripts in which Whitman records and develops
ideas for a poem that never emerged about the crusades. This manuscript
contains notes about the time periods and divides between the crusades.
While other manuscripts and published works share similarities in topic
and idea, a direct link is unknown. The verso contains part of a
cancelled letter about the steamer Georgia between Charles Francis Adams, Minister to England
during the Civil War, and Earl Russell, British Foreign Minister. Other
dated materials containing notes on the crusades suggest this manuscript
was likely composed around 1869.
Item: 7
Box: 6
Folder: Lincoln Material Poetry Manuscripts "The Crusades"
[1869?]
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00073
Title:
"North British Review, May 1844"
Date: about 1868-1870
Physical Description: 2 leaves, handwritten
View Images:
1
| 2
| 3
| 4
A copy in Whitman's hand of a review from an 1844 North British Review regarding Michaud's History of the Crusades including several
notes by Whitman suggesting a link to "our own war." The second leaf
contains a continuation of ideas that Whitman notes in the margin might
"open the foregoing" about the sounds of squadrons starting upon their
great campaign. While other manuscripts and published works share
similarities in topic and idea, a direct link is unknown. The versos of
both leaves are blank. Other dated materials containing notes on the
crusades suggest this manuscript was likely composed around 1869.
Item: 8
Box: 6
Folder: Lincoln Material Poetry Manuscripts "The Crusades"
[1869?]
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00085
Title:
"[Peter the Hermit]"
Date: about 1868-1870
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
| 2
One of a number of manuscripts in which Whitman makes notes concerning
the crusades. Another manuscript in the Harned collection, for example,
includes Peter the Hermit listed as one of the "principal personages of
the Crusades." While other manuscripts and published works share
similarities in topic and idea, a direct link is unknown. The verso
contains part of a cancelled letter about the steamer Georgia between Charles Francis Adams,
Minister to England during the Civil War, and Earl Russell, British
Foreign Minister. Other dated materials containing notes on the crusades
suggest this manuscript was likely composed around 1869.
Item: 9
Box: 6
Folder: Lincoln Material Poetry Manuscripts "The Crusades"
[1869?]
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00094
Title:
"[Trace the connection down]"
Date: about 1868-1870
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
| 2
One of a number of manuscripts in which Whitman makes notes linking the
crusades to America. While other manuscripts and published works share
similarities in topic and idea, a direct link is unknown The verso
contains part of a cancelled letter between Charles Francis Adams,
Minister to England during the Civil War, Earl Russell, British Foreign
Minister, and W.H. Seward, Secretary of State. Other dated materials
containing notes on the crusades suggest this manuscript was likely
composed around 1869.
Item: 10
Box: 6
Folder: Lincoln Material Poetry Manuscripts "The Crusades"
[1869?]
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00098
Title:
"[Bring in the cause of]"
Date: about 1868-1870
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
| 2
One of a number of manuscripts in which Whitman makes notes linking the
crusades to a great idea. While other manuscripts and published works
share similarities in topic and idea, a direct link is unknown. The
verso contains cancelled writing about the steamer Georgia. The information is likely from
letters between Charles Francis Adams, Minister to England during the
Civil War, Earl Russell, British Foreign Minister, and W.H. Seward,
Secretary of State concerning the ship and that appear on other crusade
related manuscripts. The verso notes seem to have some connection to
Whitman's recto writing, as he remarks about "maritime spirit" and
"Italian and Spanish navigators." Other dated materials containing notes
on the crusades suggest this manuscript was likely composed around
1869.
Item: 11
Box: 6
Folder: Lincoln Material Poetry Manuscripts "The Crusades"
[1869?]
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00099
Title:
"[My Sir Mr. Whitman]"
Date: 1869
Physical Description: 5 leaves, handwritten
View Images:
1
| 2
| 3
| 4
| 5
| 6
| 7
| 8
| 9
| 10
A letter dated January 21, 1869, from Julius Bing to Whitman.
Bing thanks Whitman for a copy of the Atlantic
Monthly containing
"Proud Music
of the Storm"
and goes on to suggest and outline a poem on
the Crusades. Whitman explored the idea and suggestions in several
unpublished manuscripts. While other manuscripts and published works
share similarities in topic and idea, a direct link is unknown.
Restrictions: None
Preferred Citation: To identify this finding aid as a source, see the Archive's "Conditions of Use" page.
Repository Contact Information:
Manuscripts Division, The Library of Congress
Room LM101, James Madison Building
101 Independence Ave., S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20540-4680
www.loc.gov