Alternative Form Available: Electronic Access to Individual Items A selection of Berg manuscript items is available through Major Authors Online: Walt Whitman, an electronic resource available in Room 316 of the Humanities and Social Sciences Library (Fifth Avenue & 42nd Street). Items from the Berg Collection are listed below. Whitman, Walt. As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free. Whitman, Walt. The Dead Emperor. Whitman, Walt. A Death-Sonnet for Custer. Whitman, Walt. Go, said his Soul to a Poet. Whitman, Walt. I Saw in Louisiana a Live Oak Growing. Whitman, Walt. Song of the Universal. Whitman, Walt. To Those Who've Fail'd. Whitman, Walt. Warble for Lilac-Time. Whitman, Walt. Whitman's Advertisement Regarding A Child's Reminiscence. Preferred citation: [Identification of item], Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library Requests for reproduction and/or permission to quote must be made in writing to the Curator and be accompanied by Estate permission. Language of the Material: English Sponsor note: Digitization was made possible by a lead gift from The Polonsky Foundation. Related Materials: Other Sources The Oscar Lion Collection in The New York Public Library's Rare Book Division has a significant collection of Walt Whitman manuscripts, books, pamphlets and portraits. Other libraries that house Whitman material include the Annenberg Rare Book & Manuscript Library at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Virginia's Alderman Library. The largest collection, including materials assembled by Charles E. Feinberg, is at the Library of Congress. Creator History Walt Whitman was born May 31, 1819 on Long Island, one of seven children, and died March 26, 1892 in Camden, New Jersey. His family moved to Brooklyn when he was four years old. When he was thirteen he began work at the liberal Long Island Patriot, the beginning of his long involvement with journalism that included founding and running his own paper. Later in life, he worked as a teacher, a printer, a government clerk, and as a volunteer nurse to sick and wounded Civil War soldiers. 1842 Published a commissioned temperance novel in the November 23 supplement to the New World, entitled Franklin Evans; or the Inebriate . NYPL is one of only four institutions known to have the supplement. 1855 First edition of Leaves of Grass published to mixed reviews. 1855 Father died. Whitman assumed responsibility for his family. 1856 Second edition of Leaves of Grass brought out. 1860 Third edition of Leaves of Grass was published. 1862-1864 Whitman traveled to Fredericksburg, Virginia, in search of his brother George who had been listed among the soldiers wounded there. During the five days of his successful search for his brother, he became so overwhelmed by the suffering he saw that he remained, visiting and caring for sick and wounded soldiers as an unofficial nurse in Washington, D.C. and on the front. Supporting himself with a job at the Army Paymaster's Office, Whitman nursed wounded soldiers after work. In addition to volunteering his time, he collected money to augment his personal contributions for the purchase of fruit, biscuits, tobacco, milk, paper and stamps for the