Walt Whitman by Frank P. Harned, ca. 1887

One of the most striking of the late photographs of Whitman, this one was likely taken by Frank P. Harned, the brother of Whitman’s close friend and one of his literary executors, Thomas Harned, who took another photograph (zzz.00096) in the same setting and probably in the same session, circa 1887. Notice the covered window and curtain backdrop, as well as the identical positioning of the same objects on the shelf below the window, where, in this photo, one of Whitman’s omnipresent notebooks is visible, along with his tea cup and his pen.

Whitman’s only comment to Horace Traubel about Harned’s photos indicated that he “has not seemed to like Frank Harned’s pictures.” When asked why, Whitman responded, “I don’t know why—never do. I have feelings about things, nothing more” (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Wednesday, July 4, 1888). Whitman may have on that occasion been talking about Frank Harned’s attempts to photograph Sidney Morse’s then-recently completed bust of Whitman, photos that Whitman found “weak, defective, futile,” “totally a fizzle” (Monday, June 10, 1889).

Despite whatever reservations Whitman may have had about Frank Harned as a photographer, this image of Whitman is a powerful one—both in the intimacy of the domestic details (including the just visible clutter on the floor around his rocking chair) and in the majesty of the poet’s head in a profile shot that anticipates the much more familiar late profile photos by Thomas Eakins and Samuel Murray taken the year before Whitman’s death (zzz.00129, zzz.00126, zzz.00123).

This previously unrecorded photograph of Whitman sitting in his rocking chair in his Mickle Street home in Camden, New Jersey, was recently added to the Kendall Reed Collection. Notes on the back of the photograph indicate it was originally part of the Frank J. and Harriet Sprague Collection of Whitman materials.

For more information on Frank Harned, see "Notes on Whitman's Photographers."