Image ID: AYDO

Library of Congress says: Walt Whitman, as an elderly man, full-length portrait, seated in rocking chair, facing front.

Walt Whitman Archive says: Dr. William Reeder was a Philadelphia physician and admirer of Whitman. On May 24, 1891, Horace Traubel recorded Reeder’s visit the previous night, when he took “flash pictures in front and back bedrooms” (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Sunday, May 24, 1891). Of Reeder himself, Whitman remarked: “I liked him—felt that he attracted me—he has a clear, transparent nature—that subtle best thing in a young man, dear to me beyond speech” (Monday, April 27, 1891). In 1891, Reeder took photos of the poet’s tomb at Camden’s Harleigh Cemetery. Whitman appreciated the photographer’s talent, telling Traubel that Reeder was “quite an artist,” and that he possessed “taste” and a “good eye!” (Wednesday, July 8, 1891).

Saunders no. 115.