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Catalogs of Manuscripts at Individual Repositories

Catalog of 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 with the assistance of the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the University of Nebraska Research Council, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.


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 catalog 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 catalog, 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



Whitman Archive Title: Bardic Symbols
Whitman Archive ID: har.00003
Repository ID: Autograph File
Date: about 1860
Genre: poetry
Physical Description: 3 leaves, handwritten
View images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Content: This is a 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.



Whitman Archive Title: Grand is the Seen
Whitman Archive ID: har.00001
Repository ID: bMS Am 1343 (546)
Date: about 1891
Genre: poetry
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View images: 1 | 2
Content: This is an unsigned draft of "Grand Is the Seen," a poem first published in Good-Bye My Fancy (1891). Good-Bye My Fancy was then included as the second annex to the Deathbed edition of Leaves of Grass (1891-92).



Whitman Archive Title: Passage to India
Whitman Archive ID: har.00004
Repository ID: MS Lowell 15
Date: about 1870
Genre: poetry
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
Content: A complete draft, with extensive revisions, of "Passage to India," a poem first published in 1871 in a small volume of the same name. "Passage to India" was later included as a supplement to the 1871 edition of Leaves of Grass. This particular draft includes passages cut from letterpress proofs and is bound with a letter to Andrew and Thomas Rome, dated 15 March 1870. Most of the verso images are unavailable.



Whitman Archive Title: Spain
Whitman Archive ID: har.00002
Repository ID: bMS Am 1545 (1)
Date: March 16, 1873
Genre: poetry
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View images: 1 | 2
Content: This is an unsigned draft of the poem "Spain," which was first published in 1873. The poem was later titled "Spain, 1873-74."




Restrictions on Original Materials: Please consult with repository.

Preferred Citation:  To identify this catalog as a source, see the Archive's "Conditions of Use" page.


Repository Contact Information:

Houghton Library
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138


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Distributed under a Creative Commons License. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price, editors.