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The Library of Congress houses the largest archival collection of Walt Whitman materials in the world. As part of the Library's mission to make its resources available and useful to the American public, the Library has digitized a number of these materials and has also created an array of online secondary sources that highlight Whitman's life and work. This guide compiles the many Whitman resources spread throughout the Library's website. In addition, it provides links to external websites on Walt Whitman, and a selected bibliography of publications about Whitman and his writings.
In partnership with the Library's Manuscript Division, the Library's By the People crowdsourcing project allows volunteers to transcribe or review pages from the latest Walt Whitman addition from the Thomas B. Harned collection. This addition includes drafts of Whitman's poetry, notebooks with details of his work in Civil War-era hospitals, and correspondence to and from friends. Volunteers have already completed over 900 pages but there are still 1,300+ pages that need someone to start transcribing.
If you enjoy reviewing transcriptions, then head over to the General Correspondence and Miscellany projects. Both have 3,000+ pages in need of review and contain a fascinating mix of all sorts of things, from letters, financial records, Whitman's birthday invitations to train tickets!
