Edgar Allan Poe: Rhode Island

Join us for our SIXTH Annual Remembrance of Sarah Helen Whitman, held downstairs in The Providence Athenaeum Reading Room.

Most remembered today for her engagement to Edgar Allan Poe, Sarah Helen Whitman (1803-1878) was more than the muse of a literary icon; she was a respected poet, literary critic, and essayist in her own right. Her influence even extended beyond her pen and into the social reform movements of her day. She was a champion of women’s rights, abolition, and animal welfare. Whitman was also drawn to the mid-nineteenth-century Spiritualist movement and became an active medium. After attending séances in Providence during the 1850s, she began hosting them in her own home, eventually earning recognition as both a practitioner and respected authority on Spiritualism. Sarah Helen Whitman was once one of Providence’s most beloved and respected figures, but has faded, to some degree, into obscurity. This ceremony literally resurrects Mrs. Whitman so you can hear—from her own lips—her life and works.

Reprising her role as Mrs. Whitman, Catherine Beyer Hurst (providenceonfoot.com) will be gracing the podium with her charming and thoughtful recitations of Whitman’s life and letters.

Also joining us as our guest-poet is Mary Robles. Mary is from El Paso, Texas. Her poetry has appeared in AGNI, The Adroit Journal, Huizache, and Strange Horizons, among others, and is forthcoming at June Road Press, River River Books, and The National Poetry Review. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in English and Creative Writing at The University of Rhode Island where she serves as Poetry Editor for The Ocean State Review.

Hosting this event is Levi Lionel Leland, founder of this website and A Walking Tour of Poe’s Providence, author of Simon & Schuster’s Edgar Allan Poe: The Master of the Macabre, and distant cousin of Whitman herself. Levi has made it his life’s mission to champion Whitman’s overlooked legacy alongside Poe’s, and this annual program is one of many ways in which he does so.

This event is FREE and all are welcome!

The Spirit of Sarah Helen Whitman LIVES!

Note: When you enter the Athenaeum, you’ll want to check-in at the visitor’s center (to your left). Tell them you’re there for the Sarah Helen Whitman event and they will waive the $5 weekend admission fee. However, we ask that you to consider a donation to the Athenaeum for this free event, so what’s $5 to experience one of the most beautiful and historic libraries in the country? Give ’em $10!