AN ACADEMIC IN AMERICA

A Professor and a Pilgrim

Is the purpose of the archive really just to complete a specific task, or is it more to take in the aura?

By THOMAS H. BENTON

Ten years ago I was permitted to run my hand through the beard of Walt Whitman.

I was assembling an exhibition on his life and works at Harvard University's Houghton Library, and one of the most remarkable...

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