Search >> Ruggles, Edward Dr. (1817-1867)

Physician, Artist.

Dr. Edward Ruggles was a friend of the Whitman family who was an "eccentric physician and painter in Brooklyn" (G. W. Allen 323). Ruggles earned his medical degree at Bowdoin College sometime around 1840. At some point, he gave up his medical career and devoted himself to painting. His "cabinet pictures" were known as "Ruggle Gems" and they "were greatly in demand at the time of his death, though apparently other artists were contemptuous of them. Many thought him eccentric, and apparently some found him unpleasant: ’For the shams and phariseeisms of life he had no sympathy and not much charity; and he did not hesitate to say what he thought for fear of consequences. To say things which run counter to common prejudices is not to court popularity; and it may be that Dr. Ruggles sometimes gained disfavor by such a course without securing any compensating advantage’" (G. W. Allen 323-24). Gay Allen suggests that "[h]e sounds very much in some ways like Walt Whitman himself" (380).

A. L. Rawson describes Ruggles as a friend of Ada Clare, which does not place him at Pfaff’s proper, but does suggest that he spent time at Clare’s 42nd Street home where many Bohemians were known to gather (103).

References & Biographical Resources

Allen, Gay Wilson. The Solitary Singer: A Critical Biography of Walt Whitman. New York: MacMillan, 1955. [more about this work]

This might refer to Dr. Edward Ruggles, a friend of the Whitman family who was an "eccentric physician and painter in Brooklyn." Jeff Whitman proposed to Whitman to work with Ruggles and John Swinton to aid in obtaining a prisoner release for George Whitman (323).

Dr. Ruggles died in 1867, and was a friend of the Whitman family.

Allen claims that "He sounds very much in some ways like Walt Whitman himself" (380). [pages: 323,324,380]

Figaro [Clapp, Henry Jr.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton." New York Saturday Press. 10 Feb. 1866: 88-89. [more about this work]

In a notice after his postscript, Figaro notes that "Ruggles' Gems" are scheduled to be exhibited (89). [pages: 89]

Rawson, A. L. "A Bygone Bohemia." Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly. 1896. 96-107. [more about this work]

A member of Clare's coterie of Bohemians. He is a "gem painter" (103). [pages: 103]

Whitman, Walt. Letter to Louisa Van Velsor Whitman. 1863. 165-166. [more about this work]

Whitman, Walt. Letter to Louisa Van Velsor Whitman. 1863. 87-90. [more about this work]