Walt Whitman Archive – Scribal Documents – The Walt Whitman Archive.
The Walt Whitman Archive has recently added over 1,000 transcribed documents to its collection of the documents Whitman produced while working as a clerk in the Attorney General’s office, 1865–1873.
The Whitman Archive also provides a good defense of its decision to include these non-literary materials in its remit:
It could be argued that these documents are not “authored” by Whitman and so should be excluded. Actually, the Whitman Archive includes an edition but it is also much more than an edition. The Archive is a digital thematic research collection, and we provide an array of information beyond what was traditionally found in print editions in order to shed light on the life and career of one of the most innovative American writers. … In one sense or another, he was a creator of all of these documents. And all of the content went through his mind and fingertips.
The Whitman Archive remains essential reading for any researcher interested in digital editions, as well as for scholars of American literature.
