The National and International Relevance of Henry David Thoreau, Walden Woods, and the Thoreau Institute

Henry David Thoreau lived in the mid-nineteenth century during turbulent times in America. He said he was born “in the nick of time” in Concord, Massachusetts, during the flowering of America when the Transcendental movement was taking root and when the anti-slavery movement was rapidly gaining momentum.  His contemporaries and neighbors were Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bronson Alcott, Margaret Fuller, and his mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson.   He was at once philosopher and naturalist; abolitionist and teacher; scientist and moralist; poet and surveyor; pencil maker and author.  It is perhaps the many “lives” of Thoreau, both individually and collectively, that beckon such a diversity of people to his writings.  Unquestionably, Thoreau enjoys greater national and international popularity today than ever before.  His books are selling at an unprecedented rate.  People are particularly drawn to his belief of finding spirituality in nature-a philosophy woven throughout his books and essays.  As we approach the 21st century and our lives become ever more complex, we hunger for simplicity and a communion with nature that Thoreau insists will lead to truth and spiritual renewal.
 

On July 4, 1845, at the age of 28, Thoreau left the town of Concord, built a small house on the shore of Walden Pond, and lived there for two years, two months, and two days.  He sought to become one with nature; to “live deliberately” and simply; “to front only the essential facts of life and ... learn what it had to teach.”  On the basis of this “experiment,” as he referred to it, Thoreau wrote his most famous book, Walden, which some say is the greatest American literary work in history.  Walden and Thoreau’s natural history writings (“Walking,” “Autumnal Tints,” “Wild Apples,” “The Succession of Forest Trees,” “Huckleberries,” The Dispersion of Seeds, Wild Fruits), all wholly or partly based on his study of the Walden Woods ecosystem, place him squarely at the forefront of the conservation movement.  In fact, many contemporary conservationists insist that Thoreau is the father of the conservation movement and refer to Walden Woods as the birthplace of that movement.  To support their assertion, they point to the fact that virtually all early environmentalists—John Muir, Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, Robert Marshall, Henry Salt, John Burroughs—credited Thoreau with stimulating or profoundly influencing the direction of their environmental thought.

Thoreau’s call to set aside land for conservation (“each town should have a park... a common possession forever, for instruction and recreation”) formed the foundation on which was created the national park system in the United States, a system which in turn stimulated movements in many other countries around the world to set aside lands as national parks.  Likewise, Thoreau’s call for the preservation of Walden Woods was the precursor of virtually all contemporary conservation initiatives.  Ironically, Walden Woods, the place where the conservation movement began, is itself in danger of being destroyed by the very development threats Thoreau warned of 150 years ago.  If we cannot protect the place where the theory of conservation was first asserted, how can we protect other areas of natural and historic significance—the rainforest, the plains of Africa, Antarctica, the oceans, the Amazon, the countless number of special places in our own communities?
 

In addition to being a great naturalist, philosopher and writer, Thoreau was a respected scientist of his day.  He admired the work of Darwin and was the first American to apply Darwinian principles in the field.  Thoreau’s late nature writings, particularly his book The Dispersion of Seeds, mention Darwin frequently and have often been pointed to as foundational documents in the history of ecology.
 

Thoreau’s most famous essay, “Civil Disobedience,” is based on the night Thoreau spent in jail for refusing to pay his poll tax—a protest against the U.S. government’s involvement in the Mexican-American war, which Thoreau viewed as an immoral and unjust attempt to expand slave territory.  Undoubtedly, it is “Civil Disobedience” of all of his works that established Thoreau as a progenitor of the passive resistance movement and that continues to have the greatest international impact.  Leaders, thinkers and movements around the world have been influenced by the words of Thoreau in this essay.  They include John F. Kennedy, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Leo Tolstoy, the Chinese dissidents involved in the protest at Tiananmen Square, the leaders of the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa, the American civil rights movement, the Vietnam War protest.  Wherever in the world individuals and groups embrace civil disobedience or passive resistance in support of human rights, they invoke the name of Henry David Thoreau.
 

Thoreau’s teachings now reach an even wider international audience.  The Thoreau Institute, a library, archives, and research center opened in 1998.  It is located in Walden Woods, just a mile from the site of Thoreau’s house at Walden Pond.  Never before has such a comprehensive research collection on Thoreau been housed under one roof or been so publicly accessible. 
 

In addition to collections related to Thoreau, the Institute also holds collections on Ralph Waldo Emerson, Scott and Helen Nearing (pioneers of the sustainable living movement) and Paul Brooks (prolific nature writer and Rachel Carson’s editor and friend).  The Institute makes its extensive database available over the Internet to a worldwide audience of students, researchers, and teachers. Scholars from around the world are welcomed at the Institute, where they may study Thoreau’s literature in the midst of his living laboratory—Walden Woods.  Soon, the Institute will be the site of international symposia, university-sponsored programs, and lectures by prominent academicians, government officials, and environmentalists.  It will also be a destination for urban students who otherwise may not have an opportunity to experience the Walden Woods ecosystem.

Copyright © 2006 by The Walden Woods Project
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