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Creator
Traubel, Horace, 1858-1919
Call number
Berg Coll MSS 188325
Physical description
0.1 linear feet (1 volume)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Scrapbook of Horace Traubel about conversations with Walt Whitman, Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library
Repository
Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature
Access to materials
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Horace Traubel (1858-1919) was an American writer, publisher, editor, and literary executor and biographer of the American poet Walt Whitman. His scrapbook, dating from 1888 to 1917, consists of autograph notes from his conversations with Walt Whitman, as well as a laid-in letter, dated 1917, by his friend William Gable.

Biographical/historical information

Horace Traubel (1858-1919) was an American poet, publisher, editor, writer, and literary executor and biographer of the American poet Walt Whitman. Traubel was born and raised in Camden, New Jersey. He first met Whitman when the poet moved to Camden, New Jersey in 1873.

In 1880, Traubel founded the literary journal The Conservator. The journal never attained mass readership and was financially supported by Traubel's friend William Gable.

Traubel began visiting Whitman almost daily in the mid-1880s and started recording their conversations in March 1888. After Whitman died in 1892, Traubel published three volumes of their conversations titled With Walt Whitman in Camden from 1906 to 1914.

Traubel died in Ontario, Canada in 1919. He left behind six unpublished manuscripts of With Walt Whitman in Camden. These volumes were published subsequently from 1953 to 1996.

Scope and arrangement

The scrapbook of Horace Traubel, dating from 1888 to 1917, holds Traubel's autograph notes of conversations with Walt Whitman and a laid-in letter by William Gable.

Traubel's notes from his conversations with Whitman date from 1888 to 1889 and are pasted into the scrapbook. There is an inscription in the inside front cover of the scrapbook in Traubel's hand. The inscription, dated 1910, explains the contents of the book and presents the scrapbook as a Christmas present to Gable. The book also holds a 1917 laid-in autograph letter in Gable's hand.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of Susan Jaffe Tane, 2023.

Processing information

Processed by Amy Lau in 2025.

Separated material

This item was donated by Susan Jaffe Tane in 2023 alongside manuscripts and a journal of or about Walt Whitman (Berg Coll MSS 188323 and Berg Coll MSS 188324) and an Edgar Allan Poe manuscript fragment (Berg Coll MSS 188322), which have been described separately.

Using the collection

Location

Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Third Floor, Room 320