Exhibition at The New York Public Library Commemorates 150th Anniversary of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass

Dozens of Rare Whitman Books, Manuscripts, and Photographs on Display Beginning September 9

Portrait daguerreotype of Walt Whitman, 1853 or 1854 [Gabriel Harrison?]. Rare Books Division, Oscar Lion Collection; The New York Public Library.

To honor the 150th anniversary of the first publication of Walt Whitman's masterpiece of American poetry, Leaves of Grass , a new exhibition at The New York Public Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Library will feature dozens of rare Whitman-related materials. "I Am With You": Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (1855-2005) presents an impressive selection of rare first editions, photographs, Whitman-annotated proof copies, manuscripts, and correspondence, providing viewers a rich portrait of Whitman's creative process as well as a look at the poem's enduring literary influence. The exhibition is on view from September 9, 2005 through January 8, 2006 in the Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Gallery, located on the first floor of the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Admission is free. In conjunction with the exhibition, the Library will host a series of free curatorial talks and film screenings on Whitman, as well as publish an exhibition catalog by the curator that places Whitman's masterpiece in its literary and historical context.

The materials on display are drawn primarily from The New York Public Library's Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, though other Library divisions have loaned significant items for the exhibition. "The original publication of Leaves of Grass was a transformative moment in the history of American, and indeed, world literature," said Isaac Gewirtz, curator of the Berg Collection and curator of the current exhibition. "This milestone anniversary could not be allowed to pass without the Library's Berg Collection acknowledging its arrival with at least some of the numerous manuscripts, rare books, photographs, and other materials that distinguish the Library's Whitman holdings. The exhibition seeks to highlight not only the intriguing textual history of the poem, which Whitman continually revised throughout his life, but also Whitman's influence on later writers. His most obvious literary heirs, the Beats, are represented in the exhibition by materials from Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg."

"With I Am With You, the Library celebrates the extraordinary holdings of the Berg Collection, the Library's rich trove of English and American literary artifacts," said David Ferriero, Director and CEO of the Research Libraries at The NYPL. "Among the many treasures of the Collection are extensive Whitman-related books and manuscripts, an important resource for students and scholars of the greatest poet in American literature."

The exhibition's title is drawn from the poem "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," which, along with "Song of Myself," "I Sing the Body Electric," and "Song of the Open Road," and many other poems, are represented in the openings of the copies of Leaves of Grass on display. Imagining himself as a sympathetic companion of future readers of his great poem, Whitman writes, "I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many generations hence,/ I project myself, also I return - I am with you, and know how it is." The wide variety of Whitman-related materials on display will further reinforce for visitors the immediacy of the "good, gray poet's" enduring literary presence.

Walt Whitman/Richard Maurice Bucke. "Analysis of Leaves of Grass." Autograph manuscript, [1883]. Unknown to several generations of readers was Whitman's active role in shaping Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke's 1883 biography of him, which included an analysis of Leaves of Grass . Shown is a page written entirely in Whitman's hand, in which he notes that British critics and readers appreciated his poetry much more than those in the United States. © The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature; The New York Public Library.

Complemented by materials from the Library's Rare Books Division, the Photography Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, and the George Arents Collection, the items on display represent a unique display of Whitman-related materials. All of the textually significant editions of Leaves of Grass that were published in Whitman's lifetime and several separate collections of poetry that Whitman later incorporated into his longer poem are on display. The exhibition includes a copy of the first edition, published at Whitman's expense by his friends Andrew and James Rome in Brooklyn, from which title page Whitman notably withheld his name. The volume was not entirely without attribution, however; Whitman included as frontispiece an engraved self-portrait in shirt-sleeves and also refers to himself by name in the text.

"I Am With You" also provides a window into the poet's creative process by including several of the Berg Collection's more than one hundred Whitman manuscripts and manuscript fragments. Included among the manuscripts on display are pages containing texts for the poems "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" and "I Saw in Louisiana a Live Oak Growing" from the "Calamus" cluster, which Whitman devoted to the celebration of the "manly love of comrades" and which most scholars have interpreted as a evidence of Whitman's homosexuality. Whitman's blue-wrapper copy of the 1860-61 edition of Leaves of Grass (known as the "Blue Book"), which he used as the proof copy for the preparation of his 1867 edition, is an example of the extent to which he revised his great poem over the course of his life.

Further complementing the exhibition are a daguerreotype of Whitman and one of his letters, which help illuminate the life and times of the poet. The daguerreotype that is displayed, dating from 1853 or 1854, is the only extant copy. Also included are images central to the themes of the poem, including photographs of Abraham Lincoln and of a Civil War hospital; of the Wyoming mountains and plains, of which Whitman would write without having visited; and of a Brooklyn ferry, of the kind he would have ridden in "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry". Finally, an 1864 photograph of the New York baseball team, the New York Knickerbockers, provides a visual complement to Whitman's often-expressed love of the American game, as he, apparently, was the first to call it. The exhibition's single piece of Whitman correspondence (one of hundreds in the Berg Collection), addressed to his mother, provides further context for the Civil War portions of his poem. In a tone that is characteristically both matter-of-fact and deeply compassionate, Whitman writes of how he has nursed a young, critically ill soldier out of mortal danger, and includes a poignant portrait of Lincoln, whom he regularly saw riding through the streets of Washington, and for whom he felt enormous respect and sympathy. Highlighting Whitman's influence on the Beats is the second of three typescript drafts of Jack Kerouac's On The Road and the first edition of Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems.

Additionally, the Library's Celeste Bartos Education Center will present a new series of curatorial talks, allowing Library visitors to gain rare "behind-the-scenes" insights from the curators responsible for putting together NYPL exhibitions. Isaac Gewirtz, curator of I Am With You, will deliver a talk on the textual evolution of Leaves of Grass and will trace its profound influence on the Beats. The talk is scheduled for September 29 and November 29 at 12:30 p.m. and October 25 and December 12 at 6:00 p.m. in the Library's South Court Auditorium. Reservations are required and can be made by sending an email to training@nypl.org or calling (212) 930-0284. Kicking off the Library's programming will be a lecture on Whitman and Leaves of Grass by renowned scholar Harold Bloom on Monday, September 12 at 7:00 p.m. This ticketed event is hosted by LIVE FROM THE NYPL, the Library's series of public programs. More information is available at http://www.nypl.org/live. Finally, a screening of "Walt Whitman", an episode of PBS's Voices and Visions and featuring contemporary poets and Whitman biographers such as Allen Ginsberg, Galway Kinnell, and Donald Hall, will be shown in the South Court screening room Tuesdays at 3:30 p.m. throughout the duration of the exhibition.

"I Am With You," an illustrated companion volume written by Isaac Gewirtz, features an essay on Whitman's poetry, a checklist of the exhibition, and suggestions for further reading. Published by The New York Public Library, the volume is available in paperback ($14.95) at The Library Shop (www.thelibraryshop.org).

"I Am With You": Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (1855-2005) is on view September 9, 2005 through January 8, 2006, at The New York Public Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Library in the Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Gallery on the first floor. Exhibition hours are Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.; closed Mondays, national holidays, and Saturday, December 24 and Sunday, December 11. Admission is free. For more information about exhibitions at The New York Public Library, the public may call 212-869-8089 or visit the Library's website at www.nypl.org.

Lastly, The New York Public Library, in conjunction with the Library of Congress, has been a primary contributor to an Institute of Museum and Library Services-funded effort, called The Virtual Archive of Walt Whitman Manuscripts, to digitize selected manuscripts of Walt Whitman. Completing the work in Spring 2005, the Library has provided nearly 1400 captures representing Whitman's annotated copy of Leaves of Grass, his own edited proof sheets, and manuscript fragments salvaged by admirers.

Support for The New York Public Library's Exhibitions Progarm has been provided by Pinewood Foundation and by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III.

###

About The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library was created in 1895 with the consolidation of the private libraries of John Jacob Astor and James Lenox with the Samuel Jones Tilden Trust. The Library provides free and open access to its physical and electronic collections and information, as well as to its services. It comprises four research centers - the Humanities and Social Sciences Library; The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; and the Science, Industry and Business Library - and 85 Branch Libraries in Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Research and circulating collections combined total more than 50 million items, including materials for the visually impaired. In addition, each year the Library presents thousands of exhibitions and public programs, which include classes in technology, literacy, and English as a second language. The Library serves some 13 million patrons who come through its doors annually and another 13 million users internationally, who access collections and services through the NYPL website, http://www.nypl.org.

About the Humanities and Social Sciences Library
Housed in the magnificent Beaux-Arts landmark building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, the Humanities and Social Sciences Library is renowned for collecting, preserving and making freely accessible to the public an astounding range of documents charting human history and cultural expression. Counted among its literary treasures, for example, are the first Gutenberg Bible to come to the New World; Shakespeare's first folio; a copy of the first printed book in North America, the so-called Bay Psalm Book; the manuscripts of George Washington's Farewell Address; and Thomas Jefferson's handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence.

About the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection
The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature was established at The New York Public Library on October 11, 1940. A gift of Albert Berg (1872-1950) in memory of his brother Henry (1858-1938), eminent physicians at Mt. Sinai Hospital, it included some 3,500 volumes of rare editions of English and American literature, as well as an endowment for the collection's housing and development. Subsequent large purchases by Albert Berg and purchases made possible by his bequest have increased the collection's size to 30,000 rare books and 2,000 linear feet of literary manuscripts and archives, including journals, diaries, correspondence, and photographs, representing the work and lives of more than 400 authors. Printed books date from William Caxton's 1480 edition of the Chronicles of England to the present day, and the manuscripts encompass an almost equally long period, though the most extensive manuscript holdings date from the period 1820-1980. Among the many notable authors included are Charles Dickens, Henry James, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, and Saul Bellow. The Berg is also home to the archives of Vladimir Nabokov, Jack Kerouac, Terry Southern, and Kenneth Koch, and many other important writers and poets.

Also on Exhibit:

The four research libraries of The New York Public Library (The Humanities and Social Sciences Library, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and The Science, Industry & Business Library) offer a broad range of exhibitions including the following:

Treasured Maps: Celebrating the Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, on view beginning September 9 at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.

The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at The New York Public Library, on view beginning October 21 at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.

A Community of Artists: 50 Years of the Public Theater, on view through October 15 in the Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 40 Lincoln Plaza.

Opt In to Advertising's New Age, on view beginning September 27, 2005 in Healy Hall at SIBL, 188 Madison Avenue.

Malcolm X: A Search for Truth, on view through December 31, 2005 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard .

This release is available on the Library's website at www.nypl.org/press.

###

Contact:   Tim Farrell 212.704.8600

tf:08.24.05:nypl004.1