Hi Everyone -

Please join us for the next in our regular monthly series of free
Department of the Interior Library Park Ranger Speaker Series lectures,
entitled "The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword: Abraham Lincoln and Walt
Whitman," on Tuesday, January 19th from 1:00 - 1:45 pm in the Department of
the Interior Library.

Shortly after the Battle of Fredericksburg, fought principally on December
13, 1862, Walt Whitman, author of Leaves of Grass (1855), would come to
Washington, D.C., in search of his wounded brother Capt. George Whitman. He
would quickly find his brother (who had fortunately suffered only minor
wounds) but his stay in the Nations’ Capital would last the next ten years.
Walt Whitman was profoundly changed by his experiences in Washington during
the American Civil War. In Specimen Days (1892), Walt Whitman would write
that “The real war will never get into the books.” In many ways he would
spend the rest of his life trying to prove himself wrong and attempt to
explain both in poetry and prose what the experience had really been like.

Please join Park Ranger Eric Pominville as he takes a look at famed poet
(and former Interior Department employee) Walt Whitman's experiences in
Washington during the Civil War and how it influenced his later writing.
Ranger Pominville will also examine the impact that President Lincoln, whom
Whitman saw in passing nearly every day during the war, would have on the
young writer and his subsequent works.

All that are interested are invited.  The DOI Library is located in the
Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street, NW, Room 1151 in
Washington.  Space is limited so please contact the Library by phone at
(202) 208-5815 or by e-mail at [log in to unmask] to let us know you will be
coming.    For more information about future DOI Library Park Ranger
Speaker Series programs, we encourage you to visit our Park Ranger Speaker
Series website at http://library.doi.gov/programs/speaker/index.html.

We hope to see you here on January 19th!

George Franchois
Director
U.S. Dept. of the Interior Library
1849 C Street, NW, MS 1151
Washington, DC  20240
[log in to unmask]
Phone: (202) 208-3796
Fax: (202) 208-6773
URL: http://library.doi.gov