Content:
This is a note in Whitman's handwriting which names various tribes of people, including "the
Niam-Niams," "the Battas," "the Tonga-Taboos," and "the Aleuts"; also
included in this note is the address of John P. Soule,
a Boston "photographer and publisher." The relationship of this note to
Whitman's published work is unknown. Based on the handwriting, Edward Grier dates the note to the 1850s (
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts
[New York: New York University Press, 1984], 5:1663). The name and address, however, were added later, likely in 1881, when Whitman visited Boston several times, first to deliver a lecture and then to oversee the production of the 1881 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Although Whitman also visited Boston in 1860, John Soule's photography studio did not move to 338 Washington Street, the address that Whitman lists, until the 1870s.
