Literature Scholars Rejoice

Researchers at the National Archives recently discovered a treasure trove of handwritten documents--penned by no other than Walt Whitman when the poet was a lowly government clerk. From the middle of the Civil War through 1875, he worked in various government offices and left behind more than 3000 documents--primarily copies of official correspondence that, as a clerk, he was charged with reproducing. No Xerox machines or word processing in those days! Many, though, are now being digitized and can be viewed on the National Archives site.

And you thought government documents were boring!