Henry David Thoreau Collection

Collection

Identifier: SpC MS 0892-sc

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

A collection of correspondence and commemorative items connected with the American writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau. Included are photocopies of correspondence sent to Thoreau and a photocopy of an autographed letter dated March 16, 1849 by Thoreau to George A. Thatcher in Bangor, Maine. It is unknown where the original letters are located. The letters range in date from 1845 to 1862. Correspondents include George A. Bailey, Myron B. Benton, Ann E. Brown, M.M. Colburn, R.F. Fuller, Kennedy Fwolving[?], W. Gardner, John Sartain, E. Oakes Smith, Mary E. Stearns, D.W. Stevens, Horatio R. Stover, Mary Jennie Tappan, William B. Thomas, and C.S Wheeler[?]. Included also is a photocopy of a letter to Mrs. Henry Wheelwright from Leonard F. Kleinfeld. Included also are commemorative Thoreau postage stamps issued on July 12, 1967; a mimeographed list of Thoreau stamp first day covers; 8 commemorative envelopes; 2 commemorative postcards of Thoreau and the Thoreau-Alcott house; an album of the commemorative stamps presented to Mary P. Sherwood in a ceremony at the Thoreau Lyceum, Concord, Massachusetts, July 12, 1967; and a program of the commemorative stamp ceremony.

Dates

Creation: 1845-1973

Language of Materials

English

Access Restrictions

No restrictions on access.

Use Restrictions

Information on literary rights available in the repository.

Biographical Note

Henry David Thoreau was an American author, lecturer, naturalist, student of native American artifacts and life, transcendentalist, land surveyor, and life-long resident of Concord, Mass. He was born in Concord in 1817 and died in 1862. He was an active opponent of slavery and a critic of society and is best known for his book Walden, an account of his experiment in simple living. He began keeping a journal--the source for much of his writing--in 1834. He graduated from Harvard College in 1837 and lived in the Ralph Waldo Emerson household 1841-1843. He built a house at Walden Pond, where he lived from summer of 1845 until Sept. 1847. He explored the wilderness of northern Maine three times during the years 1846 to 1857. Twice he was accompanied by guides from the Penobscot Indian tribe and once by a cousin from Bangor, Maine.

Extent

1 folder (32 Items)

Additional Description

Abstract

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The photocopies of the letters were deposited by Mrs. Henry Wheelwright. The commemoratives were part of the Thoreau Fellowship collection and were a gift of Mary P. Sherwood.