I am searching for a cartoon dating from the 1940's depicting two
frowsy, old, women whispering to each other in a library. One confides
to the other, "I would have given myself freely to Walt Whitman". The
cartoonist might have been Helen Hockinson sp.? Hopkinson?????????

The cartoonist you mention is spelt  "Hokinson". I have conducted
various searches using the name "Helen Hokinson", but have not found
any relevant references to "Walt Whitman", so I don't know if she is
the cartoonist of this cartoon or not.

I did a search at www.Cartoonbank.com at came up with 10 cartoons by
Helen Hokinson. The one you want did not come up, but you can see her
10 cartoons here:
http://www.cartoonbank.com/search_results.asp?mscssid=M18323Q19ARL8LJ2F7E21KKQ9AKEBK49&search_type=1&s_keywords=&s_artist=helen&s_caption=&s_id=&s_topic=&s_fromdate=&s_todate=&x=45&y=17

Helen Hokinson published several books of her own cartoons... 
"So You're Going to Buy a Book" in 1931, "My Best Girls" in 1941, and
in 1948 her last book, "When Were You Built?". The Hokinson estate
published: "The Ladies, God Bless Them" in 1950, "There Are Ladies
Present" in 1952, and The Hokinson Festival in 1956.

Hope you find what you're after!

A biography of Hokinson that you may find of interest can be found here...

http://www.mendotamuseums.org/helen.htm

rico

The cartoon is older than you think.  You will find it in the New
Yorker Album of Drawings, 1925-1950.  The pages are unnumbered, but
the cartoon you want is on the next-to-last page of the section
entitled "The Late Twenties".   The artist is Leonard Dove, who did
many cartoons and covers for the New Yorker, up to at least the 1950s.