The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Talcott Williams to Walt Whitman, 5 December 1890
Date: December 5, 1890
Whitman Archive ID: loc.04881
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.
Editorial note: The annotation, "T. Williams," is in the hand of Horace Traubel.
Contributors to digital file: Cristin Noonan, Amanda J. Axley, Marie Ernster, and Stephanie Blalock
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Dec 5, '90.
My dear Mr. Whitman
I am expecting to bring Prof Royce1 of Cambridge over next Sunday, 7th inst. at about 1130 to see you. You may remember I spoke of him before when I was over. He is a metaphysician.
Cordially yours
Talcott Williams
Correspondent:
Talcott Williams
(1849–1928) was associated with the New York Sun
and World as well as the Springfield Republican before he became the editor of the Philadelphia Press in 1879. His newspaper vigorously defended Whitman
in news articles and editorials after the Boston censorship of 1882. For more
information about Williams, see Philip W. Leon, "Williams, Talcott (1849–1928)," Walt Whitman:
An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes:
1. Professor Royce is the American idealist philosopher Josiah Royce (1855–1916), who was born in California and received degrees from the University of California and Johns Hopkins University. Royce wrote numerous philosophical works, including The Religious Aspects of Philosophy (1885) and The Spirit of Modern Philosophy (1892), as well as a historical work, California: A Study of American Character (1886). He accepted a position at Harvard University in 1882, and he remained there, serving as the Alford Professor of natural religion, moral philosophy, and civil polity until his death in 1916. For more on Royce, see his obituary, "Death of Prof. Josiah Royce," in the September 22, 1916, issue of The Harvard Crimsom. [back]