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Date
1882
Place
Philadelphia
Photographer
Potter and Co.
Note
In 1889, he described this photo as having "a shipmastery, country-storekeepers sort of swagger."
Date
1882
Place
Philadelphia
Photographer
Potter and Co.
Note
George C. Potter, who took an early 1870s photograph of Whitman in Washington, had moved to Philadelphia by this time. This and the following photograph bear some resemblance in posture and expression to an 1880 Gutekunst photograph. One day Horace Traubel saw one of these three photos in a glass case in front of the Potter and Co. studio on Chestnut St., and mistook it for the Gutekunst; WW corrected him: "there is another with which it gets confused. The Gutekunst picture is good: the other is not: the other I think was made by Potter, around on Chestnut Street—used to be there." Then after a pause: "Have you ever remarked the difference? The Potter picture is startling but it is not good—it don't hit me."
Date
Probably 1876
Place
Philadelphia
Photographer
Jacob Spieler at the Charles H. Spieler Studio
Note
Whitman wrote on a package containing this and the previous photo, "some good ones (may-be the best I have of all or any)." Whitman described the photo as "Spieler's 3/4 face, open neck, the 'Lear'," and the name "Lear photo" has persisted (Whitman's friend Mary Costelloe gave it that name, and Whitman and his friends approved). Whitman's dress here echoes his "nightshirt" dress in the Gardner portraits nearly twenty years earlier. In 1888 Samuel Hollyer, who over thirty years earlier had made the famous 1854 engraving of the daguerreotype that served as the frontispiece for the 1855 <i>Leaves,
Date
Probably 1876
Place
Philadelphia
Photographer
Jacob Spieler at the Charles H. Spieler Studio
Note
These are two of three photographs taken by Jacob Spieler as studies for Sidney H. Morse's bust of Whitman. On September 7, Morse paid a week's rent for an "extemporized studio" at 1223 Chestnut St. in Philadelphia. Morse later wrote: "One part of the preliminary business was the visit to a photographer. [Whitman] knew of one who could be 'bossed.' He climbed the flights easily enough, but the heat under the skylight was oppressive. He doffed his coat and sat in his shirt sleeves. A profile of him taken at that sitting shows him looking very old." The Spieler Studio was at 722 Chestnut—and is entered in the <i>Daybooks and Notebooks
Date
1877?
Place
Philadelphia
Photographer
W. Curtis Taylor of Broadbent & Taylor
Note
Most known copies of this photograph are identified as taken by "Phillips & Taylor," the studio of Philadelphia photographers Henry C. Phillips and W. Curtis Taylor; however, on October 5, 1877, Whitman notes sending an admirer copies of "Broadbent & Taylor's photos"—evidence that the photograph was taken while Taylor was still in partnership with Samuel Broadbent (<i>DBN
Date
Around 1880
Place
Philadelphia
Photographer
Frederick Gutekunst
Date
Summer 1880
Place
Philadelphia
Photographer
Edy Brothers
Date
1880
Place
Philadelphia
Photographer
Frederick Gutekunst
Note
Obviously from the same sitting as another Gutekunst photograph (Saunders #80). Looking at this photograph, Whitman said, "how weak! how sizzled out! I like it, passably: but it is not one of the best. Perhaps . . . there is enough of me to survive even the worst ordeal: I hope so. . . ."
Date
1880
Place
Philadelphia
Photographer
Frederick Gutekunst
Note
This photograph appears in 1889 <i>Leaves
Date
Early to mid-1880s
Place
Philadelphia
Photographer
Thomas Eakins
Note
This photo group is part of Eakins's "naked series" and is labeled simply "Old man, seven photographs." The model bears a striking resemblance to Whitman; for a plausible case that this may be a photo of Whitman "undisguised and naked," see Ed Folsom, "Walt Whitman's 'Calamus' Photographs" in Betsy Erkkila and Jay Grossman, <i>Breaking Bounds: Whitman and American Cultural Studies
Date
1889
Place
Philadelphia
Photographer
Frederick Gutekunst
Note
This is one of four photographs from Whitman's 1889 Frederick Gutekunst sitting.
Date
1889
Place
Philadelphia
Photographer
Frederick Gutekunst
Note
This is another photo from the 1889 Gutekunst sitting, and clearly a candidate for the photo Whitman said was "destined for the fire."
Date
1889
Place
Philadelphia
Photographer
Frederick Gutekunst
Note
Whitman commented that the photos from this sitting were all successful, "in fact would be considered very fine—in their smoothification—the quality that never pleases me." But this may be the pose that Whitman disliked and joked with Horace Traubel about: "it is destined for the fire—irrevocably: look at the formal pose—the expression, too, a damnable one!" On the Library of Congress copy, Traubel has written, "Except for the photograph taken by Eakins-O'Donovan. . . . in Walt's own room in November 1891, the Gutekunst sittings, of which this is one result, were the last secured from him by a photographer.
Date
1889
Place
Philadelphia
Photographer
Frederick Gutekunst
Note
In his daybook, Whitman recorded on 6 August 1889 that he "went over in a carriage to Gutekunst's, Philadelphia & had photo: sittings." This and three other photographs are the results. Horace Traubel records on the back of a Library of Congress copy of one of these photographs that except for the photographs taken by Eakins and his assistants in Whitman's room in 1891, these were the last photographs taken of Whitman by a professional photographer, and certainly they were the last studio portraits. Whitman thought Gutekunst was "on top of the heap" as far as photographers went, and considered this photo "a first-rater—one of the best, anyhow." Whitman described the photograph when he received twelve copies from Gutekunst as "big, seated, 3/4 length no hat—head of cane in right hand—good pict's." Whitman inscribed this photograph: "My 71st year arrives: the fifteen past months nearly all illness or half illness—until a tolerable day (Aug: 6 1889) & convoy'd by Mr. B [Geoffrey Buckwalter, Camden teacher and Whitman's friend, who insisted on the photos] and Ed: W [Ed Wilkins, Whitman's nurse] I have been carriaged across to Philadelphia (how sunny & fresh & good look'd the river, the people, the vehicles, & Market & Arch streets!) & have sat for this photo: wh- satisfies me." Some of Whitman's friends did not like it as much as Whitman, but Whitman recalled that Dr. Bucke "counts that the best picture yet—says that is the picture which will go down to the future." John Burroughs also was taken with it: "Gracious! That's tremendous! He looks Titanic! It's the very best I have yet seen of him. It shows power, mass, penetration,—everything. I like it too because it shows his head. He will persist in keeping his hat on and hiding the grand dome of his head. The portrait shows his body too. I don't like the way so many artists belittle their sitters' bodies." Whitman liked the rough natural quality of the portrait: "Nowadays photographers have a trick of what they call 'touching up' their work—smoothing out the irregularities, wrinkles, and what they consider defects in a person's face—but, at my special request, that has not been interfered with in any way, and, on the whole, I consider it a good picture." Jeannette Gilder, writing in <i>The Critic
Date
1888
Place
Philadelphia
Photographer
Unknown, perhaps Francis Williams
Note
Back of Library of Congress copy identifies this as "Family of Francis Williams, ca. 1888," taken at the Williams' house in Germantown, Philadelphia. Mrs. Williams' face has been scratched out, and the Williams children are Aubrey (in front of Whitman), Marguerite (behind Whitman), and Churchill (with gun). Francis Howard Williams was a playwright and poet, and Whitman recalled "how splendidly the Williamses have always received me in their home," which he considered as "a sort of asylum."
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Work Type
[Musical Instrument, Wind, Flugelhorns, Flugelhorn]
Production Place
[Philadelphia, North America, United States of America]
Work Type
[Musical Instrument, Wind, Flugelhorns, Flugelhorn]
Author
[Hunter, C.M., Pleasant Hill Land Association]
Note
Road Tax Receipt.
Author
[Hunter, C.M., Pleasant Hill Land Association]
Note
Notification sent to buyers by the Association 's secretary Lawrence Bur.
Author
[Hunter, C.M., Pleasant Hill Land Association]
Note
Notification sent to buyers by the Association 's secretary Lawrence Bur. "You are hereby notified that the premium bid by you on your lots ... will be due and payable at the office of Secretary ... "
Author
[Hunter, C.M., Pleasant Hill Land Association]
Note
Terms and condition of sale indicated in eight articles in this document.
Author
[Hunter, C.M., Pleasant Hill Land Association]
Note
Terms and condition of sale indicated in eight articles in this document.
Author
[Hunter, C.M., Pleasant Hill Land Association]
Note
Terms and condition of sale indicated in eight articles in this document.
Author
[Hunter, C.M., Pleasant Hill Land Association]
Note
Receipt book.
Author
[Hunter, C.M., Pleasant Hill Land Association]
Note
Receipt book.
Author
[Hunter, C.M., Pleasant Hill Land Association]
Note
Certificate includes the lot number, date of purchase, and price of lots.
Author
[Hunter, C.M., Pleasant Hill Land Association]
Note
Map is from Hunter's city atlas adapted to show the lots for sale. A complete record of the purchase of four lots from the Pleasant Hill Land Association by Mr. W.H. Schober in 1887, with a record of installment payments made through 1889, at which time Mr. Schober is given his deed. Schober has marked his lots on the map, as well as another four adjoining lots that were purchased by a friend. This gives some insight into late 19th century urban subdivision methods. The subdivision can be located on J.L. Smith's Driving Map of Philadelphia and Vicinity of 1882, between Linden and Convent Roads on the Delaware River north of the 23rd Ward. Map is folded into dark brown cloth covers 15x10 with "Pleasant Hill Land Association ... " printed in black, and name "W.H. Schober", address "478 N. 5th St.", and number of lots "Four" handwritten in pen on a paste down beige label.
Author
[Hunter, C.M., Pleasant Hill Land Association]
Note
Terms and condition of sale indicated in eight articles in this document.
Author
[Hunter, C.M., Pleasant Hill Land Association]
Note
Map is from Hunter's city atlas adapted to show the lots for sale. A complete record of the purchase of four lots from the Pleasant Hill Land Association by Mr. W.H. Schober in 1887, with a record of installment payments made through 1889, at which time Mr. Schober is given his deed. Schober has marked his lots on the map, as well as another four adjoining lots that were purchased by a friend. This gives some insight into late 19th century urban subdivision methods. The subdivision can be located on J.L. Smith's Driving Map of Philadelphia and Vicinity of 1882, between Linden and Convent Roads on the Delaware River north of the 23rd Ward. Map is folded into dark brown cloth covers 15x10 with "Pleasant Hill Land Association ... " printed in black, and name "W.H. Schober", address "478 N. 5th St.", and number of lots "Four" handwritten in pen on a paste down beige label.
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