Poet at Work: Recovered Notebooks from the Thomas Biggs Harned Walt Whitman Collection

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Go directly to the collection, Poet at Work: Recovered Notebooks from the Thomas Biggs Harned Walt Whitman Collection, in American Memory, or view a Summary of Resources related to the collection.

Although it is a small collection, Walt Whitman Notebooks, 1847-1860s allows for interesting projects that foster a variety of Historical Thinking skills. Working with private journals, students will get a more personal as well as discriminating understanding of history as they consider the perspectives of Civil War soldiers and this unique American poet.

Students can use Whitman's accounts of the 51st regiment of New York or of a hundred-day march to do projects that foster chronological thinking. 51st Regiment: Notebook #94 - pages 97, 99, 101, 103, 106-108, 111, 114, 117, 119, and 120. 100 Day March: Notebook #94 - the top of page 124 and pages 125, 127, 129-131, 135, and 137. Students can make a timeline of the events of one of these accounts. They can also combine it with a timeline of the major events of the war to get a sense of the relationship between national and local events. Searching Civil War

Birds eye view of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia.

Students can use Whitman's notes from his hospital visits to understand what it was like to live at the time of the Civil War, to serve in the army, and to be at an army hospital. Have them read from the following pages and consider the following questions. Then, reading Whitman's post-Civil War writings, students can discuss what influences they see from his experience of visiting the hospitals.

• Notebook #101 - pages 10, 18, and the rest of the notebook.
• Notebook #94 - pages 1-4, 15-18, 20-22, 24, and 32-40.

• What sorts of things did the soldiers request? What would you request today, if you were in a hospital? How many of those things would have been available during the Civil War?
• What was the typical experience of a wounded soldier in an army hospital given the state of medical knowledge and available supplies? How does this experience compare to that of soldiers wounded in later wars?

History, especially the history of culture, is often powerfully illustrated in literature. Whitman's work provides the means for a lesson in analyzing and interpreting literary symbolism. Look at Whitman's journals or other writings and discuss the breadth of Whitman's interests to provide a background. Then, have students generate as many meanings as possible for Whitman's use of grass as a symbol on pages 24-25, and 83 of Notebook #80 and in the title and body of his life's work. Consider what Whitman's use of this symbol might indicate about the culture in which he lived and for which he wrote.

Notebook LC #80 "Earliest" Notebook (Holloway No.1), 1847, page 25.
Walt Whitman Notebooks, 1847-1860s

The journals touch upon different methods of reform, including war, organized reform movements, poetry and prose, and the character and actions of an individual (one example is Whitman's hospital visits). Students can read Whitman's thoughts on these methods in this collection and in other writings. Refer students to pages 35-36, and 110 of Notebook #80 and page 11 of Notebook #86. In discussion, evaluate the uses, goals, and relative and comparative success of each method. Which methods have lasting effects? When do the ends justify the means? Then, have students choose a contemporary issue, be it war, poverty, racism, or materialism, and make an argument for or against the use of a certain reform method for the chosen problem.

Students can use Whitman's notebooks and other resources to research various aspects of the Civil War and to learn to validate their resources. For example, they can browse Notebooks #94 and #101 for Whitman's accounts of battles and hospitals to compare with accounts from other writings. A suggestion of other writings can be found in the Read More About It bibliography for Civil War Photographs, 1861-1865. This collection's images are a resource as well. Searching Civil War across the American Memory collections also brings up countless useful documents including Reminiscences of Pioneer Days in St. Paul, describing various battles and army life, and Crusader and Feminist; Letters of Jane Grey Swisshelm: 1858-1865, recording the experience of a Civil War nurse.

This research process encourages students to determine the evidence for a document's authenticity, authority, and credibility. What does it tell them about the point of view, background, and interests of the author? What point of view can they support from their research?