Call Number:

Print Collection 45

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

1.25 linear feet (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

E. Sculley Bradley collection of printed material relating to Walt Whitman, 1892-1982, Print Coll. 45, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

Date:

1892-1982 (inclusive)

Creator:

Bradley, Sculley

Form:

Articles, Poetry, Publications (documents), Exhibition catalogs, and Newsletters

Abstract:

Edward Sculley Bradley (1897-1987) was a scholar, author, educator, and administrator at the University of Pennsylvania. Bradley was considered an international expert on American poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892), editing several important editions of the poet's Leaves of Grass. He was also a general editor and contributed to the 14-volume Collected Writings of Walt Whitman from 1961 to 1984, and was a trustee of the Walt Whitman Foundation. He was instrumental in Penn acquiring numerous important literary collections, including the Walt Whitman collection. This collection of articles, books, journals, essays, newsletters, exhibition information, catalogs, pamphlets, and publications of the Walt Whitman Fellowship (including event information and papers) was compiled by Bradley.

Edward Sculley Bradley (1897-1987) (also known as E. Sculley Bradley and Sculley Bradley) was a scholar, author, educator, and administrator at the University of Pennsylvania. Born in Philadelphia to Stephen Edward Bradley and Annette Evelyn Palmer, he received a B.A. in 1919, M.A. in 1921, and Ph.D. in 1925-- all from the University of Pennsylvania. Bradley began his teaching career at Penn as an instructor of English, from 1919 to 1926. He was assistant professor from 1926 to 1937, associate professor from 1937 to 1940 and professor from 1940 to 1967. He served as vice provost of undergraduate education from 1956 to 1963. Bradley held several visiting professorships: at Duke University during the summers of 1932, 1937, and 1941; at Northwestern University in 1938; and at the University Southern California in 1940. He served as lecturer at the Ogontz School from 1926 to 1932; at Rosemont College from 1930 to 1933; at Upton School Drama in Philadelphia from 1930 to 1934; and at the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College in 1945.

Bradley was a prolific writer and editor, serving as assistant literature editor of the Philadelphia Record from 1930 to 1931 and editor of the General Magazine and History Chronicle in Philadelphia from 1945 to 1956. He published biographies of literary figures George Henry Boker and Henry Charles Lea, as well as several editions of the important and popular anthology, The American Tradition in Literature. He also published editions of works by Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Walt Whitman. Bradley was considered an international expert on Whitman, editing several important editions of the poet's Leaves of Grass, including the 1949 Rinehart edition, the Comprehensive Reader's Edition in 1965, a Norton Critical Edition in 1973 and A Textual Variorum in 1980. He was also a general editor and contributed to the 14-volume Collected Writings of Walt Whitman from 1961 to 1984.

While at Penn, Bradley maintained a long association with many important writers of his day. He was instrumental in the University acquiring numerous important literary collections, including the Walt Whitman collection, the James T. Farrell papers, the William Carlos Williams research collection, the George H. Boker papers, the Henry Charles Lea papers, and the Theodore Dreiser papers. He was a trustee of the Walt Whitman Foundation, and a member of the Franklin Inn Club, the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, Phi Beta Kappa, Delta Sigma Rho, and Alpha Chi Rho. He was a fellow of the Society of American Studies and the American Association of University Professors, and chairman of the American Literature Group of the Modern Language Association from 1937 to 1938. He was a member of the Society of Friends and was a founding member of Chestnut Hill Monthly Meeting, and served on the board of Germantown Friends School and Friends Hospital. He married Marguerite C. Bradley and had two daughters, Deborah B. Oberholtzer and Alison B. Wilhelm.

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) published his groundbreaking work Leaves of Grass in 1855. Leaves of Grass, introduced an innovative poetic style that shocked many of his contemporaries, who were accustomed to the metrical regularities and often moralistic themes of poets such as Longfellow and Whittier. During the Civil War, Whitman worked as a clerk in Washington, DC, and visited soldiers during his spare time, dressing wounds and giving solace to the injured-- experiences which led to the poems in his 1865 publication, Drum-Taps (Poetry Foundation). His work has been enormously influential and he is regarded as one of America's greatest poets, alongside Emily Dickinson. Whitman died on March 26, 1892 in Camden, New Jersey.

Works Cited

Poetry Foundation. (n.d.). "Walt Whitman biography." Retrieved on October 26, 2017 from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/walt-whitman

This collection of articles, books, journals, essays, newsletters, exhibition information, catalogs, pamphlets, and publications of the Walt Whitman Fellowship (including event information and papers), was compiled by Edward Sculley Bradley (1897-1987) (also known as E. Sculley Bradley and Sculley Bradley), who was a scholar, author, educator, and administrator at the University of Pennsylvania.

Series I: Articles, books, journals, and newsletters, 1892-1982, contains publications about Walt Whitman, by E. Sculley Bradley, and others. Publications include the Long-Islander (1959-1965, both originals and reprographic copies), the Walt Whitman Foundation Bulletin (1950-1955), and the Walt Whitman Newsletter (1955 January-December). This series is arranged alphabetically by title.

Series II: Exhibitions, events, catalogs, and pamphlets, 1927-1965, primarily contains exhibition publications and holdings catalogs by such institutions as the Detroit Public Library, Nassau Community College, the New York Public Library, and the University of Pennsylvania. This series is arranged alphabetically by title of exhibit, event, catalog, or pamphlet.

Series III: Walt Whitman Fellowship, event information and papers, 1895-1957 [bulk: 1897-1918], contains papers and proceedings for the Walt Whitman Fellowship, from the first year to the twenty-fourth year. The Walt Whitman Fellowship was founded in 1894 by Horace Traubel (1858–1919) "to promote Whitman's literary traditions and to perpetuate the annual birthday celebration [on Whitman's date of birth, May 31]" and, with Traubel's leadership, there were branches in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Boston, as well as in Canada and England (The Whitman Association). Please note that meeting years cross year timespans-- for instance, the second year met in both 1895 and 1896-- and papers for the eleventh year and the sixteenth year are missing.

Works Cited:

The Whitman Association. "About." (n.d.). Retrieved on October 19, 2017 from http://thewaltwhitmanassociation.org/about