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LILRC is a member of the Empire State Library Network (ESLN)

 

The landing page for WWBA is live!                                                                                                                       

https://nyheritage.org/organizations/walt-whitman-birthplace-association

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Title of Organization: Walt Whitman Birthplace Association 

Address: 246 Old Walt Whitman Road, Huntington Station, NY 11746

 

Phone number: (631) 427-5240

 

Email Address: curator@waltwhitman.org

 

Contact Person Name: Margaret Guardi 

 

Website: https://www.waltwhitman.org/                                                                                                                                                                                                                              About section: In 1819, Walt Whitman, widely recognized as America’s greatest poet, was born in a small farmhouse in the rural Long Island community of West Hills in the town of Huntington. Whitman’s writings are treasured for capturing the nation’s spirit during the nineteenth century and examining some of the era’s most significant events including westward expansion, immigration, slavery, and the Civil War.

Despite Whitman’s national prominence, during the twentieth century his family’s farmhouse in West Hills faced the continual threat of suburban encroachment. In 1949, Walt Whitman Birthplace Association (WWBA) was established to preserve his birthplace. Poets, authors, professors, businesspeople, and concerned citizens were among its founding members. To help raise awareness and funds to protect the farmhouse and its one-acre site, WWBA appealed to Alicia Patterson, then owner and publisher of Long Island’s newspaper Newsday. Patterson featured Whitman and the plight of his farmhouse on the cover of the newspaper and launched a fundraising campaign that inspired students across Long Island to collect pennies, nickels, and dimes for the cause. After three months and with widespread support, the Association purchased the property. Later, in 1957, WWBA was successful in its petition to Governor W. Averell Harriman to designate the birthplace a New York State Historic Site. In 1985, the property was listed on the NYS and National Registers of Historic Places. Today, the site is operated by WWBA in partnership with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP).

https://nyheritage.org/organizations/walt-whitman-birthplace-association  

 

 
This summer our Museum Studies Volunteer Interns completed several projects that enhanced our understanding of the museum collection and of Walt Whitman. 
We are excited to post this writing project by intern Julia Carpio, who discusses one aspect of Whitman’s international Influence, in her essay, Liberty and Individualism: The Effect of Walt Whitman on Three Latin American Poets
In the future we will post more work by our wonderful interns.
 
WWBA owns the reproduction rights to this in any media and credits should be cited to Walt Whitman Birthplace Association.