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Catalog of the Walt Whitman Literary Manuscripts in the Walt Whitman Papers, General and Literary Manuscripts, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Original records created by the Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; revised and expanded by the Walt Whitman Archive and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, based on information from Manuscripts Department, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Encoded Archival Description completed with the assistance of the National Endowment for the Humanities.




Individual items at this repository

  • Whitman Archive Title: [Land of the potent-large!]
  • Whitman Archive ID: unc.00001
  • Folder: 1
  • Date: undated
  • Genre: poetry
  • Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2
  • Content: This manuscript includes a fragment of a poem, approximately seven lines, that is possibly from an early draft of "As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free," a poem Whitman originally wrote for the June 1872 Dartmouth College commencement exercises. This poem was later revised and published as "Thou Mother with Thy Equal Brood," Leaves of Grass (1881–1882).

  • Whitman Archive Title: Paumanok
  • Whitman Archive ID: unc.00002
  • Folder: 3
  • Date: about 1888
  • Genre: poetry
  • Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2
  • Content: This is a manuscript draft of the poem, "Paumanok," which was first published in the New York Herald on February 29, 1888. Reprinted in the "Sands at Seventy" annex to Leaves of Grass (1888).

  • Whitman Archive Title: A font of type
  • Whitman Archive ID: unc.00003
  • Folder: 5
  • Date: about 1888
  • Genre: poetry
  • Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2
  • Content: This is a manuscript draft of the poem, "A Font of Type," which was first published in November Boughs in 1888.

  • Whitman Archive Title: My Canary Bird
  • Whitman Archive ID: unc.00004
  • Folder: 6
  • Date: about 1888
  • Genre: poetry
  • Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2
  • Content: This is a manuscript draft of the poem, "My Canary Bird," which was first published in the New York Herald on March 2, 1888. Reprinted in the "Sands at Seventy" annex to Leaves of Grass (1888).

  • Whitman Archive Title: Out of May's shows selected
  • Whitman Archive ID: unc.00005
  • Folder: 7
  • Date: about 1888
  • Genre: poetry
  • Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2
  • Content: This is a manuscript draft of the poem, "Out of May's Shows Selected," which was first published in the New York Herald on May 10, 1888. Reprinted in the "Sands at Seventy" annex to Leaves of Grass (1888).

  • Whitman Archive Title: With husky-haughty lips, O sea
  • Whitman Archive ID: unc.00010
  • Folder: 8
  • Date: about 1884
  • Genre: poetry
  • Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2
  • Content: This is a manuscript draft of the poem, "With Husky-Haughty Lips, O Sea!," which was first published in Harper's Monthly in March 1884. Reprinted in the "Sands at Seventy" annex to Leaves of Grass (1888).

  • Whitman Archive Title: True Conquerors
  • Whitman Archive ID: unc.00006
  • Folder: 9
  • Date: about 1888
  • Genre: poetry
  • Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2
  • Content: This is a manuscript draft of the poem, "True Conquerors," which was first published in the New York Herald on February 15, 1888. Revised and reprinted in the "Sands at Seventy" annex to Leaves of Grass (1888).

  • Whitman Archive Title: The United States to Old World Critics
  • Whitman Archive ID: unc.00007
  • Folder: 10
  • Date: about 1888
  • Genre: poetry
  • Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2
  • Content: This is a manuscript draft of the poem, "The United States to Old World Critics," which was first published in the New York Herald on May 8, 1888. Reprinted in the "Sands at Seventy" annex to Leaves of Grass (1888).

  • Whitman Archive Title: While not the past forgetting
  • Whitman Archive ID: unc.00008
  • Folder: 11
  • Date: about 1888
  • Genre: poetry
  • Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2
  • Content: This is a manuscript draft of the poem, "While Not the Past Forgetting." Whitman claimed that the poem was published on May 30, 1888, though no copy of such a version has yet been located. The poem was published in November Boughs in 1888.

  • Whitman Archive Title: an evening lull
  • Whitman Archive ID: unc.00009
  • Folder: 13
  • Date: about 1888
  • Genre: poetry
  • Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2
  • Content: This is a manuscript draft of the poem, "An Evening Lull," which was first published in November Boughs in 1888.

  • Whitman Archive Title: [for Elias Hicks]
  • Whitman Archive ID: unc.00011
  • Folder: 11
  • Date: 1883-1888
  • Genre: prose
  • Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2
  • Content: This manuscript contains a passage that would appear within the essay"Notes (Such as They Are) Founded on Elias Hicks"in November Boughs in 1888.

  • Whitman Archive Title: Then my mother hastening
  • Whitman Archive ID: unc.00012
  • Folder: 17
  • Date: 1883-1888
  • Genre: prose
  • Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2
  • Content: This manuscript contains a passage that would appear in "Notes (Such as They Are) Founded on Elias Hicks"in November Boughs in 1888, which was a prefatory note for the essay "Elias Hicks."

  • Whitman Archive Title: The two songs on this page are
  • Whitman Archive ID: unc.00014
  • Folder: 14
  • Date: June 19, 1888
  • Genre: prose, poetry
  • Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2
  • Content: This manuscript contains the footnote for poems "Now Precedent Songs, Farewell" and "An Evening Lull," first published in "Sands at Seventy," an annex of November Boughs in 1888. According to Horace Traubel, the footnote was written by Whitman on 19 June 1888 ( With Walt Whitman in Camden [Boston: Small, Maynard, 1906] 1:353).

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