An Integrated Guide to Walt Whitman's Literary Manuscripts

FAIN: PW-51082-12

University of Nebraska, Lincoln (Lincoln, NE 68503-2427)
Kenneth Price (Project Director: July 2011 to April 2016)

Creation of finding guides to Walt Whitman's prose manuscripts held at more than 70 repositories together with images of the documents. The project would also develop an integrated guide that relates each manuscript to the work to which it contributed.

The Walt Whitman Archive (whitmanarchive.org) seeks a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to create item-level finding guides to Walt Whitman's prose manuscripts, which are held at more than seventy individual repositories. The finding guides will be written in Encoded Archival Description (EAD) format, and we will associate with each description high-quality digital images of the manuscript material. These individual guides, linked to digital images, will then be dynamically joined in an integrated guide, using a system of identification that relates each prose manuscript to the conceptual "work" to which it contributed. When joined with the Archive's similarly implemented, award-winning guides to Whitman's poetry manuscripts, the EAD records created for Whitman's prose manuscripts in this project will provide unprecedented documentation of and access to the literary manuscripts of a major literary figure.

Associated Products

"The Integrated Catalog of Walt Whitman’s Literary Manuscripts." (Article)
Title: "The Integrated Catalog of Walt Whitman’s Literary Manuscripts."
Author: Kevin McMullen
Abstract: The Integrated Catalog of Walt Whitman’s Literary Manuscripts, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, provides item-level descriptions and images of more than 500 of Whitman's prose manuscripts. Building on the work earlier work of the Archive's Integrated Guide to Whitman's Poetry Manuscripts, this new iteration offers unprecedented access to early versions of Whitman’s writings and sheds light on the creative process behind his prose, a much neglected batch of material deserving of further study. Each item-level entry provides a title, composition date, genre, repository location information, physical characteristics, and a description of the textual content of the manuscript.
Year: 2015
Primary URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.13008/0737-0679.2194
Access Model: open access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Walt Whitman Quarterly Review
Publisher: University of Iowa

"Project Showcase Presentation on The Walt Whitman Archive" (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: "Project Showcase Presentation on The Walt Whitman Archive"
Author: Kenneth M. Price and Nicole Gray
Abstract: The Walt Whitman Archive aims to foster the poet’s catalytic presence in contemporary culture by making his vast work freely accessible to scholars, students, and general readers. Our site is built using non-proprietary technologies and a Creative Commons license that allows free re-use of our work. Last month the Whitman Archive was accessed by 36,000 unique users from more than 150 countries on six continents. With NEH funding, we are making the first systematic attempt to document the entirety of Whitman's prose writings. Our project includes descriptions and facsimile images of over 500 items.
Date: 05/28/15
Conference Name: The Digital Antiquarian

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