P. Reinhalter & Co. to Walt Whitman, 27 April 1891
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P. Reinhalter & Co.
Granite Monuments
Vaults and Statuary Work.
Works at West Quincy, Mass.
Office
18 South Broad Street.
Philadelphia, Pa.
April 27' 1891
Walt Whitman Esq.
Camden N.J.
Dear Sir
Having taken advantage of the good weather this last few weeks gave us a chance in making a very good start on your work at the Harleigh Cemetery, we have the work over half done, now we would like very much to have you come out and see how we are progressing providing your time and your health permitts you to do so. Mr. Moore1 will call for you and take you out at any time if you be kind enough to drop us a note to the effect or if you wish to have us call at your house, we certainly wish you to see it hoping to hear from you soon we remain
Yours very truly P. Reinhalter & Co. J. E. R.
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Correspondent:
P. Reinhalter & Co. of
Philadelphia built Whitman's tomb—an elaborate granite tomb of the poet's
design— in Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, New Jersey. The tomb cost
$4,000. Whitman covered a portion of these costs with money that his Boston
friends had raised so that the poet could purchase a summer cottage; the
remaining balance was paid by Whitman's literary executor, Thomas Harned. For
more information on the cemetery and Whitman's tomb, see See Geoffrey M. Still,
"Harleigh Cemetery," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. Mr. Moore is likely Ralph Moore, who along with J. E. Reinhalter, a designer from P. Reinhalter & Co., had called on Whitman on July 11, 1890, to discuss Whitman's burial vault (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). [back]