As From the Catbird Seat readers are no doubt aware from the recent string of Walt Whitman posts we’ve featured, the Library is in the middle of a season-long celebration of the 200th anniversary of Walt Whitman’s birthday. As part of this celebration, the Library has launched several new online Whitman-related initiatives and resources, including:
- a “Walt Whitman at 200” crowdsourcing campaign through which volunteers can transcribe several thousand pages of Whitman’s writings and papers; and
- a new Walt Whitman resource guide through which users can identify and access Whitman materials located on the Library’s website.
As part of the online component to our Whitman Bicentennial programming, I’m pleased to announce that our Researcher and Reference Services Division is sponsoring a free webinar on Thursday, May 30, exploring the Library’s digitized Walt Whitman collections. For anyone who can’t visit the Library in person to attend our on-campus Whitman events, this live, online program offers a wonderful opportunity to participate in our Whitman festivities from afar. A description of the webinar, along with information on how to register and join, follows below. We hope you’ll join us for what’s sure to be a fascinating look into the Library’s extensive Whitman collections—the largest in the world.
Webinar: Happy Birthday Walt!: Digitized Walt Whitman Collections from the Manuscript Division
May 2019 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of poet Walt Whitman, who revolutionized the style and content of American poetry with his 1855 publication of the first edition of Leaves of Grass. Whitman was also a journalist, printer, publisher, orator and prose writer. The Library of Congress holds the largest group of Whitman-related special collection materials anywhere in the world, including printed matter, rare books, photographs, and manuscript materials. In this webinar Manuscript Division historian Barbara Bair highlights the content and research use of three digitized manuscript collections: the Walt Whitman Collection of miscellaneous manuscripts; the Charles Feinberg collection of Walt Whitman Papers; and the Thomas Harned collection of Walt Whitman Papers, and highlights programs celebrating Whitman’s birthday at the Library of Congress.
Date: Thursday, May 30
Time: 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT
Registration: Register via Eventrbrite
Orientations are held in real time via webinar software. Confirmation and log on instructions will be sent via email. Please read the Library of Congress Comment and Posting Policy.
Technical Requirements: Participants must have access to an Internet-connected computer or device with speakers or headphones. There is also a telephone option for listening to audio.
ADA: Request ADA accommodations five days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or [email protected]. Registration for the program is also required.