Archive Planned for Walt Whitman Manuscripts

Two University of Nebraska faculty members have received a $245,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for a two year project that will create a virtual archive of Walt Whitman manuscripts. The project will be an effort to create a finding aid for the estimated 70,000 Walt Whitman manuscripts located in over 60 institutions.

The project will not begin officially until November 1, but there is already a project prototype available at http://www.whitmanarch ive.org/manuscripts/ . Here you'll find a short list of poetry manuscripts, as well as finding aids for about 28 different institutions. Unfortunately every time I tried to link to one the connection timed out. Bear in mind that this is only a beginning -- the project will provide access to digital images of approximately 4,300 poetry drafts.

As long as you're at the Whitman archive site, check out the rest of it, including reviews, a huge bibliography, and a brief selection of criticism. You can read more about the grant at http://www.unl.e du/pr/2002/1002/101602anews.html .

Posted to Humanities-Literature