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Walt Whitman to Executive Committee Contemporary Club, 15 February 1888

About This Item

  • Title: Walt Whitman to Executive Committee Contemporary Club, 15 February 1888
  • Date: February 15, 1888
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.01311
  • 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.

    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: Ryan Furlong Ian Faith Stefan Schöberlein Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to Executive Committee Contemporary Club, 15 February 1888." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 21 January 2026. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.01311.xml (TEI)
 loc.01311.001_large.jpg Feb: 15 '881 To Executive Committee Contemporary Club:

I propose the name of Thomas B Harned,2 Counsellor at Law, of this city, for membership in the club.

Walt Whitman Camden NJ Feb 15 '88  loc.01311.002_large.jpg

Correspondent:
The Contemporary Club was a Philadelphia literary circle established in 1886 by the essayist Agnes Repplier. In 1887, Whitman gave a reading of "The Mystic Trumpeter" and "A Voice from the Sea" at the club.

Notes

  • 1. This letter is composed of a thinner material than Whitman normally writes on during this period. Thus, the ink on the recto seeps through to the verso side. [back]
  • 2. Thomas Biggs Harned (1851–1921) was one of Whitman's literary executors. Harned was a lawyer in Philadelphia and, having married Augusta Anna Traubel (1856–1914), was Horace Traubel's brother-in-law. For more on him, see Dena Mattausch, "Harned, Thomas Biggs (1851–1921)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). For more on his relationship with Whitman, see Thomas Biggs Harned, Memoirs of Thomas B. Harned, Walt Whitman's Friend and Literary Executor, ed. Peter Van Egmond (Hartford: Transcendental Books, 1972). [back]
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