> Event: Now Through July
Walt Whitman: Camden's Good Grey Poet
Exhibit Opens at Camden County Historical Society
CAMDEN, N.J. -- From now through the end of July, the Camden County Historical Society hosts "Walt Whitman: Camden's Good Grey Poet," an exhibit dedicated to Whitman's life and works at its headquarters at 1900 Park Blvd. in Camden.
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The new exhibit features many rare items from the Society's extensive Whitman collection.
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The Society's headquarters is also located just one block from Harleigh Cemetery, the site of Whitman's massive stone tomb.
Exhibit hours
The Good Grey Poet exhibit is open Wednesday through Friday afternoons, and every Sunday afternoon, at the Camden County Historical Society.
The exhibit is a treasure trove for anyone interested in Walt Whitman. Along with using its own extensive collection of Whitman artifacts, the Society has partnered with the Walt Whitman House in Camden for this special display. That historic site administered by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
Eakins portrait
The Society's exhibit includes a copy of the 1887-88 Thomas Eakins portrait, on loan from the Walt Whitman House, along with Eakins' sketches and life sittings used as studies. Describing Eakins, Whitman said, "I never knew of but one artist, and this is Tom Eakins, who could resist the temptation to see what they think ought to be rather than what is."
Also on display are rare and early editions of Whitman books, including an 1882 self-bound, self-published "Author's Edition" of Leaves of Grass released after the book was banned in Boston. A 1904 edition of Song of Myself was published by Roycrofters, an Arts-and-Crafts community devoted to the production of beautiful books printed on handmade paper. There is also a 1930 copy of Salut Au Monde! from Leaves of Grass designed by Czech artist Vojtech Preissig, printed on handmade paper, illustrated with tri-color linoleum cuts.
Local Whitman sites
A map of Whitman sites throughout Camden County includes the Walt Whitman House on Mickle Blvd., his self-designed tomb in Harleigh, and the Whitman Stafford Farmhouse in Laurel Springs, where Whitman spent his summers from 1876 until 1882, exercising at Laurel Lake to regain his health following a stroke and editing his major work, Leaves of Grass.
Reminders of the many Whitman legacies include the Walt Whitman Bridge, a commemorative coin and an example of cigar-box art produced for Camden tobacconist F. Hartmann & Sons, who sold a Walt Whitman brand Cuban cigar.
Write your own poem
Finally, visitors are encouraged to write their own poem in the free-verse style of Walt Whitman, whose uninhibited ideas of poetry, relying on strong images and conversational speech patterns, forever changed modern verse.
For more information, call the Society at 856-964-3333.
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