Collected papers of the Bolton Whitman Fellowship

Catalogue record

Notes

Regarded as the father of American poetry, Walt Whitman (1819-1892) maintained an active correspondence with this obscure group of socialist and ordinary working-class readers. Indeed, once, when the critic Herbert Gilchrist asked Whitman: "It surprises me that you should be so taken with those Bolton folks; they're not famous in England at all," the poet was heard by Horace Traubel to reply: "It surprises you, does it? Well, I've had my bellyful of famous people! Thank God they're just nobody at all, like all people who are worthwhile."
In addition to letters, the papers include photographs and journals of pilgrimages by founding members to Whitman in New Jersey, as well as records of the group's annual celebration of his birthday. So close became the relationship that the friendship between Whitman's inner circle and the group continued long after the poet's death.
These papers comprise the bulk of the archive generated by members of the group. Together with the collection held by the John Rylands University of Manchester Library (ref. R97589) and the Johnston papers (ref. R50031), they form an essential resource for the reader-oriented study of one of the pre-eminent exponents of English-language poetry in the 19th century.
A detailed finding list produced by Dr. Carolyn Masel and staff of the Bolton Archive and Local Studies Service ; preceded by an introduction by Dr Masel (ISBN 1-85117-064-2)