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Walt Whitman’s 200th Birthday Celebration

The year 2019 marks the 200th Anniversary of the birth of America’s “Poet of Democracy”, Walt Whitman with a year- long celebration of special events and programming at various institutions throughout the Camden and Philadelphia metropolitan area along with partner organizations in New York City and around the country.

The Walt Whitman House Historic Site and the Walt Whitman Association are excited to announce that preparations are underway for special festivities highlighted by our customary birthday celebration for Walt! This year's celebration will be held on the Camden campus of Rutgers University on Wednesday May 29th at 5pm.  The event will include a presentation of awards for the winners of the Walt Whitman Association's Annual High School Poetry Contest as well the opening of a special exhibit to highlight the 200th Anniversary.  The exhibit, “Democratic Vistas: Whitman Body and Soul,” hosted by the Rutgers Stedman Gallery will be an introspective look at contemporary art relating to the life and work of Walt Whitman. The exhibition will include work by a variety of artists from all over the country, reflecting on his view of a changing America and dreams for an egalitarian society. "Democratic Vistas: Whitman, Body and Soul" at the Rutgers Stedman Gallery. 

The Walt Whitman House will be presenting special “Legacy” tours of the poet’s historic Mickle Street home that focus on the work that Whitman created while living in Camden, as well as the history of Camden in relation to the historic site.  It was here on May 31, 1891 that 33 guests gathered on the first floor of the home for Whitman’s 72nd birthday.  This was to be the old poet’s last before his passing the following year on March 26, 1892 – just two months before his 73rd birthday. Come for a visit and learn about how his friends and admirers decided to keep the birthday tradition alive with “Walt Whitman” birthday celebrations throughout the years to the present.  

Additionally, we are partnering with various organizations in Philadelphia and New York, including The University of Pennsylvania and the Walt Whitman Initiative in New York City. You can find out more about these programs at Whitman at 200 and Walt Whitman Initiative.

Walt Whitman in Mickle Street
When asked why he chose Camden as his home, Whitman replied, "Camden was originally an accident, but I shall never be sorry I was left over in Camden, It has brought me blessed returns." Join us for a tour of Walt Whitman's home in Camden on Mickle Street (today's Mickle/Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard). Here we will explore the great writer's last residence, discuss everyday life and share the thoughts of the many visitors who came to see the aging poet in his final years. Admission is free. Call 856-964-5383 for tour times and to schedule a visit.
*Please Note: Tour times and availability are subject to change. Please call ahead to confirm site hours and tour availability. (856) 964-5383.

Previous Events:
Song of Myself Marathon
In partnership with Rutgers University-Camden Whitman Studies Program and the Walt Whitman Association, the Walt Whitman House will be offering special tours all day for participants of a “Song of Myself Marathon” to be held on the Rutgers Campus in the Stedman Gallery on Thursday November 13th at 4pm.
Bursting onto the literary scene in July of 1855 with his first edition of “Leaves of Grass”, readers were introduced to the iconic poetic masterpiece, “Song of Myself” - a celebration of the importance of the individual in light of the new American Democracy.  Whitman’s poem introduced the world to a new poetic form while casting off the intellectual chains of the Old World.  With Song of Myself, Whitman started a poetic journey that continues to unfold today.  Come join us!
Contact the Whitman studies program at 856-225-6306 if you wish to participate in the reading.  For further information on tours of the Walt Whitman House, call 856-964-5383

 

Song of the Open Road: New Jersey and the Automobile
Image courtesy of the
Library of Congress

A foot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me…
O highway I travel…You express me better than I can express myself…
The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine…
All seems beautiful to me…     “Song of the open Road” by Walt Whitman

 

No words better capture the essence of what the open road, and the automobile, has meant to Americans expressing their freedom than these. Walt Whitman, the “Poet of Democracy”, may not have had the opportunity to own an automobile, passing on at the dawn of its invention, but certainly sang the praises of American ingenuity and technology that heralded the Automotive Age of the 20th Century.

New Jersey’s love affair with the automobile has been timeless. Think of all those favorite pastimes that would not have been possible without it: cruising the Circuit, stoplight racing, drives to the shore, mountains, or just simply through the countryside, road trips with stops at a diner, ice cream stand, or hamburger joint, the drive in movie, the list goes on and on.

Another great New Jersey writer, Bruce Springsteen, carried on the romanticism of the open road first put forth by Walt Whitman in many of his songs such as “Thunder Road”, “Night”, and “Born To Run”. In some of his other songs such as “The Promise”, “Racing In the Street”, and “Used Cars”, the automobile is both literal and symbolic for the opportunity it allows but also for the reality it represents. Both artists knew, and wrote to, the longings of the common man in pursuit of the American Dream.

 

…Well, the night’s busting open
These two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back, heaven’s waiting on down the tracks
Oh come take my hand
We’re riding out tonight to case the promised land…
“Thunder Road” by Bruce Springsteen


Image courtesy of Eric Meola

The “Song of the Open Road” exhibition presents the automobile as it drives down the highways of New Jersey and consists of vintage vehicles as well as a variety of displays that represent the impact that the automobile has had on the great Garden State. The story of the automobile’s important connection to art, culture, technological innovation, and life itself will be told not only by the machines, but by the men and women who are the caretakers of these important artifacts of history.

Special thanks go out to our participating exhibitors and contributors:

Antique Automobile Club of America (www.aaca.org)
The Antique Automobile Club of America, established in 1935, is the oldest, and largest, organization in the world dedicated to the preservation, restoration, and maintenance of automobiles and automotive history.

Antique Automobile Club of America Library and Research Center (www.aacalibrary.org)
The Antique Automobile Club of America Library and Research center, established in 1977, is a world renowned resource for the collectible vehicle community. It continues to set the standard in celebrating, collecting, preserving, and sharing automotive legacy and has grown into one of the leading scholarly automotive facilities in the world.

Antique Automobile Club of America Museum (www.aacamuseum.org)
The Antique Automobile Club of America Museum, a proud affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is a world-class automotive experience. The museum is dedicated to the preservation and presentation of vintage automobiles and their vast history. Located in Hershey, PA the museum displays motorcycles, buses, and trucks, in addition to automobiles, from the 1890s through the 1980s.

Flemington Speedway Historical Society (www.flemingtonspeedwayhistoricalsociety.com)
Flemington Speedway, with its origins as a 19th Century Fairgrounds horse track, hosted its first automobile race in 1915. When it had closed in 2000 it was one of the oldest operating motor racing tracks in the nation. Flemington Speedway was a place for heroes, where ordinary people did some extraordinary things. The Historical Society was founded with the purpose of preserving, protecting, and documenting the Flemington Fairgrounds and Speedway.

Hinchliffe Stadium Midget Car Racing (www.facebook.com/groups/127240140633682/)
Hinchliffe Stadium, located above the Great Falls in Patterson, was constructed in the early 1930s. Also known as City Stadium, the facility was best known for hosting Negro League Baseball. Through the years other athletic events such as football, boxing, and track and field would be held there. Auto racing, a popular pastime since the early 1900s, grew in popularity in the post war years and was among the most well attended events at the Stadium.

Mahwah Museum (www.mahwahmuseum.org)
Mahwah Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant, when opened in 1955, was the largest auto plant in the nation. The first car rolled off of the assembly line on July 16 and would be followed by approximately six million more over the next twenty five years. The last car to roll off of the assembly line did so on June 20, 1980. The plant’s closing is referenced in the first line of Bruce Springsteen’s song, “Johnny 99”.

Mid Jersey Region Antique Automobile Club of America (www.midjerseyregionaaca.org)
The Mid-Jersey Region of the AACA has been in existence for over 45 years and is centered in Crosswicks. Its mission is the preservation of and education through, the automobile. The organization participates in shows and displays to raise awareness and funds for scholarships to students attending the Automotive Training Center, located in Warminster, PA.

New Jersey Antique Automobile Club of America (www.njaaca.org)
The New Jersey Region of the AACA was established in 1951 and has members throughout northern and central New Jersey. Its mission is the appreciation of the automobile through presentation and this is accomplished by way of parades, tours, car shows, and exhibitions that the organization participates in.

New Jersey Turnpike Authority (www.state.nj.us/turnpike/)
The New Jersey Turnpike Authority oversees and maintains the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike. The Parkway, which opened for traffic in 1954, is the longest highway in the state, at 172 miles, and the busiest toll road in the nation. The Turnpike, which opened for traffic in 1951, connects the metropolitan areas of New York and Philadelphia, a length of 122 miles, and is one of the most iconic highways in the nation.

Vintage Automobile Museum of New Jersey (www.vintageautomuseum.org)
The Vintage Automobile Museum of New Jersey was established in 2002 with the purpose of providing an educational and entertaining family attraction while preserving and sharing an automotive heritage that encouraged and shaped the growth of New Jersey and the nation. The museum, located in Point Pleasant, exhibits a wide variety of automobiles and automobilia of different eras and purposes.

Wall Stadium Speedway (www.wallspeedwayracing.com)
Wall Stadium Speedway, located on Route 34 in Wall, first opened for automobile racing in 1950 and is still operational today. The 1/3 mile, 30 degree high banked banked asphalt oval is one of the oldest paved tracks in the nation and the last in the state. Saturday night racing, with up to seven different classes, is on the schedule from April through September.

Darrel Blaine Ford
Darrel Blaine Ford, a native and lifelong resident of Long Island, New York, is a scholar and champion of Walt Whitman. Celebrating the life of the great poet, it has become his mission to reintroduce the “Good Gray Poet” to the masses and does so by offering first person interpretation by reading Whitman’s poetry to school children as Walt would have done.

The Walt Whitman Association  
The Walt Whitman Association, originally assembled by a group of Whitman friends and supporters during the author’s lifetime in Camden, New Jersey, is the oldest existing society in the world dedicated to the memory of the poet. Its mission is to support the preservation of his home in Camden and to promote the life and legacy of America’s “Great Poet of Democracy”.

Batsto Citizens Committee, Inc.
The Batsto Citizens Committee, Inc. was founded in 1956 to aid the State of New Jersey in its development of Batsto Village as a historic site. Its purpose is to advise, assist, and promote the restoration and interpretation of the historical and natural aspects of Batsto Village. Reorganized in 1997, the Committee lends whatever assistance it can to the administration of Wharton State Forest and representatives of the State Park Service.

 


 

 

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