Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Whitman, Sarah Helen, 1803-1878
- Abstract:
- The Whitman mss., 1846-1878, consist of correspondence of Mrs. Sarah Helen (Power) Whitman, 1803-1878.
- Extent:
- 255 item(s)
- Language:
- Materials are mostly in English .
- Preferred citation:
[Item], Whitman mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
Background
- Biographical / Historical:
Whitman was born in Providence, Rhode Island and became a poet, transcendentalist, and Spiritualist. She was an admirer of Ralph Waldo Emerson and frequenter of the intellectual social circles of her era, like that of her friend Margaret Fuller. It was in this environment that Whitman met the poet and author Edgar Allan Poe, with whom she had a controversial love affair. Whitman and Poe were engaged to be married in 1848, but the relationship dissolved. Poe died not long after, in 1849. Whitman went on to publish a collection of poems, Hours of Life, in 1853, as well as a defense of Poe, Edgar Allan Poe and His Critics, in 1860. Nearly all of the correspondence in the collection concerns Whitman's relationship with Poe.
- Scope and Content:
Correspondents include: Mrs. Anne Charlotte (Lynch) Botta, William Hand Browne, Joseph Rhodes Buchanan, Franklin Burdge, Mrs. Maria (Poe) Clemm, George William Curtis, James Wood Davidson, Eugene Lemoine Didier, George Washington Eveleth, James Thomas Fields, William Fearing Gill, Rufus Wilmot Griswold, Mrs. Mary Elizabeth (Moore) Hewitt, Marie L. Houghten, John Henry Ingram, Thomas Carstairs Latto, Edgar M. Levan, W. J. McClellan, John Neal, John Owen, Sara Sigourney Rice, Sarah Elizabeth Robins, Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes (Prince) Smith, Richard Henry Stoddard, John William Weidemeyer. Two letters of the collection, Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman to John Neal, November 11, 1874, and Neal's reply, November 13, 1874, about L'Affaire "Musiad" have been published by David Randall in The J. K. Lilly Collection of Edgar A. Poe, Bloomington, Indiana, 1964, pages 49 and 50 (see: Lilly PS2628 .R187).
- Acquisition information:
- Acquired from the library of Josiah Kirby Lilly, Jr., Indianapolis, Indiana.
- Processing information:
Processed by Staff.
Completed in 2013
- Arrangement:
Materials are arranged chronologically.
- Physical location:
- Lilly - Vault 2
Indexed Terms
- Subjects:
- Poets, American--Correspondence
Spiritualism.
Spiritualism --American influences.
Transcendentalism.
Transcendentalism (New England). - Names:
- Whitman, Sarah Helen, 1803-1878 --Correspondence.
Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849 --Correspondence.
Griswold, Rufus W. (Rufus Wilmot), 1815-1857 --Correspondence.
Didier, Eugene Lemoine, 1838-1913 --Correspondence.
Gill, William Fearing, 1844-1917 --Correspondence.
Lilly, Josiah Kirby, 1893-1966, former owner.
Online content
Access
- RESTRICTIONS:
-
This collection is open for research.
Many collections are housed offsite; retrieval requires advance notice. Please make an appointment a minimum of one week in advance of your visit.
- TERMS OF ACCESS:
-
Photography and digitization may be restricted for some collections. Copyright restrictions may apply. Before publishing, researchers are responsible for securing permission from all applicable rights holders, then filling out the Permission to Publish form.
- PREFERRED CITATION:
-
[Item], Whitman mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
-
1200 East Seventh StreetBloomington, Indiana 47405-5500, USA
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- CONTACT:
-
(812) 855-2452liblilly@iu.edu