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Walt Whitman to Peter Bolger, [29 May 1884]

About This Item

  • Title: Walt Whitman to Peter Bolger, [29 May 1884]
  • Date: May 29, 1884
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.04980
  • Source: Draft letter in 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.

    Notes for this letter were created by Whitman Archive staff and/or were derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller, 6 vols. (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), and supplemented or updated by Whitman Archive staff.
  • Contributors to digital file: Stefan Schöberlein Kyle Barton Nicole Gray
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to Peter Bolger, [29 May 1884]." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 09 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.04980.xml (TEI)
 loc_jyc.00049_large.jpg My Dear Bolger

Here is an article I have reeled off for you if you want it

your telegram recd yesterday too late. [cut away] for the paper [cut away]1

 loc_jyc.00050_large.jpg

Correspondent:
Peter Bolger (1852–1929) was a reporter for the Philadelphia Times and, later, for the Philadelphia Register. According to a notation in Whitman's Commonplace Book, the poet met Bolger in December 1878.

Notes

  • 1. This draft letter has been crossed out, and the paper is torn, leaving much of the letter missing. On the back, Whitman wrote a series of notes about adding portraits to Leaves of Grass and Specimen Days. Edwin Haviland Miller bases the date of the letter on a transcript in Stan V. Henkel's Catalog (February 26, 1912). He summarizes the content of the letter as follows: "WW sent a publicity release entitled 'Walt Whitman's Birthday,' referring to his sixty-fifth anniversary, for insertion in the Philadelphia Times on Saturday, May 31." [back]
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