Taking a Page Out of Whitman’s Scrapbook
Deconstructing and Reconstructing the Poet’s Composition Process
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23436996 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kevin Mcmullen (University of Nebraska–Lincoln, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Pages | 94-115 |
| Publication date | 2024-02-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Oxford Handbook of Walt Whitman (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192894847.013.4 |
| OpenAlex | W4392082130 |
| ISBN | 9780192894847 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 1 |
This essay details the process of digitally reassembling a scrapbook compiled by Walt Whitman in the mid- to late 1850s. Over 1,000 pages long, and comprising sections from textbooks, magazines, newspaper clippings, and handwritten manuscripts, this artifact was organized around a central theme: the world’s cultural geography. Whitman’s reasons for creating the scrapbook are unclear and obscured even further by the fact that the document is significantly different from its original form as he compiled it; in the 1930s, more than one hundred manuscript pages were excised by a collector and sold at auction as separate items. The essay discusses how the scrapbook contributed to Whitman’s published work, shedding light on the complex interplay of the poet’s reading, note-taking, and writing processes. It concludes by exploring how Whitman’s practice of scrapbooking, as well as his self-education in world history and geography, mirrors and encapsulates his poetic oeuvre and its intentions.
Art · Computer Science · Digital Humanities and Scholarship · Historical and Literary Studies · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · History
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |