O Captain! My Captain! | Whitman Archive

Whitman Archive Title: O Captain! My Captain!
Whitman Archive ID: ihm.00002
Repository: Catalog of the Walt Whitman Literary Manuscripts in the Iowa Historical Museum (Des Moines)
Date: 1889-1890
Genre: poetry
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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Content: A manuscript copy of "O Captain! My Captain!," with a brief handwritten note at the bottom. On June 12, 1890 Whitman sent this copy, along with a letter, to Charles Aldrich, a former Iowa State Representative and the founder of the Iowa State Historical Department. "O Captain! My Captain!" was originally published in the Saturday Press on November 4, 1865 before ultimately being moved to the "Memories of President Lincoln" cluster of Leaves of Grass (1881-82). For a detailed description of Whitman's connection to Aldrich, see Ed Folsom, "Walt Whitman at Iowa," Books at Iowa 39 (November 1983), 17-37.