Today in History–May 31–the Library of Congress features writer Walt Whitman, born on this day in 1819. Whitman was a journalist, essayist, and poet whose poems written after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln cast him into the national spotlight. Learn more this American literary icon by visiting the Today in History section, then click the links below to discover more Whitman primary sources and teaching resources.
Collections
- Thomas Biggs Harned Collection of Walt Whitman Papers
- Walt Whitman Papers in the Charles E. Feinberg Collection
- Walt Whitman Papers (Miscellaneous Manuscript Collection)
Primary source sets
- Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass: Revising Himself (online exhibition)
- Walt Whitman primary source set (Pinterest board)
- Walt Whitman image set
- Walt Whitman sheet music
- Books by and about Walt Whitman
- Letter, Ralph Waldo Emerson to Walt Whitman extolling Whitman’s poetry, 21 July 1855
- Historical newspaper articles about Walt Whitman
Teaching resources
- Learning from the Source: Mourning Lincoln & the Art of Tribute (music, poetry & sculpture)
- O Captain! My Captain! (version by version)
- Learning from the Source: Putting Loss into Words (Whitman poetry)
- Celebrating Ourselves through Whitman’s “Song of Myself” From the Catbird Seat blog May 23, 2019
- The Power of Pairing Poems: Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes From the Catbird Seat blog March 23, 2016
- The Process of Discovery: How a New Walt Whitman Poem was Found at the Library of Congress From the Catbird Seat May 27, 2015
- Reconstructing a Civil War Battle from a Poet’s Letter Home Teaching with the Library of Congress June 27, 2017
- Walt Whitman’s War Work: Primary Sources in the English Classroom From the Catbird Seat October 23, 2014
- Walt Whitman’s Wartime Experience: Using Primary Sources to Offer Context From the Catbird Seat March 1, 2017
- Walt Whitman at 200 crowdsourcing transcription project
Commentaries
- “America’s Declarations, Purposes and Actions in War What Walt Whitman Predicted in Writings of Sixty Years Ago They Would Be When Test Came” The Ogden Standard, September 28, 1918
- Arthur Sze reads and discusses Walt Whitman’s “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”
- Celebrating Walt Whitman’s 200th Birthday [in song] In The Muse blog May 8, 2019
- Commentary on “I Hear America Singing”
- Inquiring Minds: How a New Walt Whitman Poem was Found at the Library of Congress Library of Congress Blog June 11, 2015
- J.D. McClatchy reads and discusses Walt Whitman’s “Drum-Taps”
- “Peacefully at Rest: Death of Walt Whitman the Aged Poet” The Evening Bulletin, March 28, 1892
- “Personal Recollections of Walt Whitman” The Washington Times, October 05, 1902
- Reading Whitman Library of Congress Medium April 25, 2017
- “Song of Himself” Walt Whitman Biographer Speaks at Library Library of Congress Information Bulletin May 1999
- Walt Whitman brief bio Civil War in America
- “Walt Whitman: Citizen Poet” In the Muse blog post June 4, 2019
- Whitman’s Future-Founding Poetry streaming webcast 2011/12/15
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