The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Laura Lyon White to Walt Whitman, 29 January 1891
Date: January 29, 1891
Whitman Archive ID: loc.04638
Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Blake Bronson-Bartlett, Ian Faith, Andrew David King, and Stephanie Blalock
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January 29th 18911
My dear Sir
If there is a wounding word in the "Overland" article in which I speak of you, I trust it may be pardoned one who admiringly reads your writings, and who fancies she feels their spirit
Sincerely Yours
Laura Lyon White
1616 Clay St
San Francisco
Cal.
Correspondent:
Laura Lyon White
(1839–1916) was a writer, suffragist, and conservationist. Together with
Clara Bradley Burdette, White founded the California Federation of Women's Clubs
(CFWC) in 1900 to promote social and environmental activism. The CFWC was
instrumental in the protection of California's redwood trees, as well as raising
awareness of women's issues throughout the state. In her short story "The
Colonel, at Home, in Sonoma County," appearing in the February 1891 issue of Overland Monthly, White's titular character reads from
Whitman's "Song of Myself" to the displeasure of the narrator (vol. 17 no. 98
[February 1891], 200–208). White was a regular contributor to Overland Monthly. For more information, see Cameron
Binkley, "A Cult of Beauty: The Public Life and Civic Work of Laura Lyon White"
(California History 83.2 [January 2005],
40–61).
Notes:
1. Whitman has drawn a diagonal line in ink through the text of this letter. [back]