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Dickinson College
Founded 1783
Carlisle Pa
Apr 22 18761
Mr. Walt Whitman.
Dear Sir,
The Belles Lettres Society of Dickinson College2 request me to extend to you an
invitation to act as poet before the Literary societies on the evening of June 27th. This being the centennial
year3 and expecting a large number of visitors, we are desirous of making the exercises of
special interest and therefore extend to you this invitation hoping it will be convenient for you to accept.
Yours truly,
J. M. Green.
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Invitation from Dickinson College Carlisle Pa. for June 27 '76 JM Green
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Correspondent:
James Monroe Green (b. 1851), a native of New Jersey, entered Dickinson College but left before graduation
to accept a position at a Long Branch high school as a principal. He later became President of the National
Educational Association and the principal of state schools in Trenton. For more information, see
"Green, James, Monroe," The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (New York: James T. White & Company, 1906), 13:516.
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Mr. Walt Whitman | Camden, | New Jersey. It is
postmarked: Washington | AP 24 | [illegible]. [back]
- 2. The Belles Lettres Literary
Society (est. 1786) is the oldest student organization at Dickinson College and
one of the oldest literary societies in the country. Belles Lettres is the
parent organization of Dickinson's literary magazine, The
Dickinson Review. [back]
- 3. In 1876, the National Centennial commemorated the
100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The
Centennial was marked by celebrations across the United States, not the least of
which was the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, which ran from May to
November 1876 with approximately 10 million visitors in a seven-month
period. [back]