Walt Whitman in Wheeling

September 15, 2026
12:00pm - 1:00pm

Few people would associate the poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892) with West Virginia, yet in 1848 he briefly crossed the Appalachian mountains and visited the Wheeling on his way to New Orleans, writing about the city for a southern newspaper. Dr. Stefan Schöberlein (Texas A&M University–Central Texas), will present Whitman’s writings about Wheeling and West Virgina, and discuss the city’s role as an important hub for Northern travelers in route to the major cities of the South. He will also introduce the captain of the steamboat that carried not only Whitman down the Ohio, but also President Zachary Taylor: Wheeling’s own Samuel Mason, now buried at Greenwood Cemetery.

Stefan Schöberlein is an Associate Professor of English and the Dr. Marc Nigliazzo Faculty Fellow of Humanities at Texas A&M University—Central Texas, an Associate Editor of the "Walt Whitman Quarterly Review," as well as a Contributing Editor for the Walt Whitman Archive, where he focuses mostly on Whitman's journalism. Stefan is the co-editor of "The Oxford Handbook of Walt Whitman" (Oxford University Press, 2024), the author of "Writing the Brain: Material Minds and Literature, 1800–1880" (Oxford University Press, 2023), and the co-author of "Whitman’s Southern Sojourn: Rediscovering the Poet in New Orleans, 1848" (University of Iowa Press, 2025).

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"Lunch With Books" is the library’s flagship program for adult patrons. These lunchtime programs feature authors, poets, musicians, historians, and more every Tuesday at noon. Bring lunch (to your computer), feed your brain!