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Newspaper Editing

Whitman served as the editor of a number of newspapers during his life, beginning with the Long Islander in 1838 and concluding with his tenure at the Brooklyn Daily Times in the late 1850s. As editor, Whitman was responsible for managerial and editorial decisions related to the papers' content and production, in addition to the writing of editorials. For these periods then, the entire newspaper can be viewed as the product of Whitman's labor. This section currently contains page images of the New York Aurora from the period Whitman served as editor—roughly one month in the spring of 1842—as well as an introduction that discusses Whitman's role at the paper and provides historical context to his editorial tenure. We also link to the Brooklyn Public Library's images of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, a paper that Whitman edited from March 1846 through January 1848. We hope to soon make images of the Daily Eagle available through our own interface. In the future we also hope to add material from the other papers for which Whitman served as editor. While the exact extent of Whitman's influence and contributions to these publications remains unclear, in making page images of such rare newspapers available, we hope to encourage scholarship illuminating these matters.

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