As owner of the Thoreau Institute, Walden Woods Project administers the facilities, programs and staff of the Institute, and is responsible for raising funds for operating expenses and endowment. The Walden Woods Project preserves and makes accessible all of the Thoreau Institute's collections to the public. 

History

Beginning in 1990, the Walden Woods Project, at the behest of its founder, recording artist Don Henley, embarked on a long-term campaign to acquire and preserve land in historic Walden Woods. Others prominent in the worlds of arts and entertainment, government, academia, and environmental protection joined Mr. Henley. In seven years, this organization raised over $17 million for the purchase and preservation of nearly one hundred acres of land in Thoreau's woods near Walden Pond. In the highly visible process, the Walden Woods Project introduced many Americans to Henry D. Thoreau, Walden Woods, ecology and the ethics of land conservation, nineteenth-century literature and Transcendentalism.

Established at a meeting in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1941, the Thoreau Society is the oldest organization devoted to an American author. The mission of the Thoreau Society is to honor Henry D. Thoreau, to stimulate interest in and foster education about his life, works, and philosophy, and to coordinate research about his life and writings. The Thoreau Society has long contributed to the dissemination of knowledge about Thoreau by collecting books, manuscripts, and artifacts relating to Thoreau and his contemporaries, by encouraging the use of its collections, and by publishing articles in two Society periodicals. Through an annual gathering in Concord, and through sessions devoted to Thoreau at the Modern Language Association's annual convention and the American Literature Association's annual conference, the Thoreau Society provides opportunities for all those interested in Thoreau, dedicated readers and followers as well as the leading scholars in the field, to gather and share their knowledge of Thoreau and his times.

The Thoreau Society supported the work of the Walden Woods Project and the Walden Woods Project turned often to the scholars of the Thoreau Society for input. As the two groups worked together for a common purpose, it became evident that the emerging relationship should be formalized in a joint effort to build and manage the Thoreau Institute.

Thus, the Walden Woods Project invited the Thoreau Society to extend its educational mission by cooperating with them in an effort to plan a program for collecting and preserving material related to Henry D. Thoreau on a much larger scale than the Thoreau Society had been able to do on its own. The program also called for employing the most effective technology and media available to make those collections accessible and for designing educational programs to encourage understanding and appreciation of Thoreau and his contemporaries.

Research and Education: Resources and Programs

In response to the plan for the Thoreau Institute, the three most important and comprehensive Thoreau collections in private hands were donated to the Thoreau Society—the collections of former Thoreau Society presidents and scholars Walter Harding, Raymond Adams, and Roland Robbins. The Walter Harding Collection is acknowledged to be the world's most comprehensive research collection on Henry D. Thoreau. The Raymond Adams Collection includes a core of Thoreau manuscripts and first editions, volumes from Thoreau's own library, and correspondence from Thoreau's acquaintances to early biographers of Thoreau. Roland Robbins discovered, excavated, and documented the site of Thoreau's house at Walden Pond; the Roland Robbins Collection includes his field notes and photographs of the Thoreau house site as well as material related to other excavations and restorations in the eastern United States.

In addition to these collections, the Thoreau Institute houses the Thoreau Society Archives, the Society's original research library, and its collection of rare books and manuscripts donated in the past, as well as the Walden Woods Project Archives and its collection of Thoreauviana. Taken together, the collections available at the Thoreau Institute include books, manuscripts, artifacts, field notes, photographs, maps, surveys, audio and videotapes, slides, and scrapbooks. The Thoreau Institute will continue to collect materials relating to Thoreau, his times, and his influence on environmental affairs, American philosophy, and the exploration of the relationship between the individual and society.

While the Thoreau Institute is not a lending library, these collections and the material that will be added in the future will be available for use at the Research Center by any qualified individual with an interest in them or a need to consult them. Research Center staff will also provide limited reference services by mail and e-mail. The Institute's prodigious computing and communications resources will enable people from around the world to confer with one another and to make "virtual visits" to the Institute's collections, which will be digitized and accessible via the Internet.

By the Fall of 1997, a number of educational programs had already been established, including an interdisciplinary two-week seminar for high school teachers, "Thoreau's World and Ours"; a workshop for middle-school teachers, "Selborne New England "; a semester-long residential undergraduate study program; student internships; and a community lecture series. Programs under development include outreach to urban youth and outreach to the 600,000 people who visit Walden Pond each year. The Institute is committed to offering a variety of educational programs on site, in local communities, and globally through the Internet. Special emphasis is being placed on providing resources to classroom teachers. Thoreau's values are taken as a starting point to encourage all to examine their own and their communities' relationships to nature.

 The Physical Facility

The Thoreau Institute comprises two structures situated on eighteen acres of conservation land in Walden Woods, approximately one-half mile from Walden Pond. The land, which lies between Pine Hill and Beech Spring, both locales mentioned throughout Thoreau's writings, was purchased by the Walden Woods Project in 1994 because of its historical and environmental significance and because it was vulnerable to development. Much of the Thoreau Institute property and surrounding conservation land is linked to an extensive network of trails through Walden Woods that allow direct access by hikers, researchers, and those simply wishing to follow the footsteps of Thoreau.

The founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Henry Lee Higginson, constructed the building housing the Institute's 12,000-square-foot Education Center shortly after the turn of the century. Modeled after an English Tudor estate, this historic structure offers sufficient space for the Walden Woods Project and Thoreau Society offices; conference and seminar space for the Institute's educational programs; and residence facilities for visiting scholars, teachers, and students.

Across the courtyard from the Education Center is the Institute's Research Center, a 5,000-square-foot structure that houses the Institute's library, reading room, and media center. It is dedicated to preserving and providing access to the most complete collection of materials related to Thoreau that has ever been assembled. In this new structure, the collection benefits from state-of-the-art security and fire suppression systems, and environmental controls.

 Plan of Operation

The plan for the operation of the Thoreau Institute has been enthusiastically adopted and supported by the leadership of both organizations joined in this venture. The Walden Woods Project has fiscal and managerial responsibility for the Institute's facilities and staff and manages the collections, preserving them and making them accessible. The Thoreau Society's Managing Director and Board of Directors collaborate with the Walden Woods Project on matters concerning collections and programs. The Thoreau Institute staff includes an Executive Director, Director of Education Programs, Director of the Media Center, Curator of the Collections, Assistant to the Executive Director, and Controller.

 Looking Ahead

The Thoreau Institute's long-range plan calls for raising an $8 million endowment by the year 2004. With this endowment, the Thoreau Institute will be able to continue to develop and refine the collections as well as provide scholars access to research materials, offer professional development opportunities to teachers, and reach out to a worldwide audience through the Internet.

With its excellent facilities and timely mission, the Thoreau Institute will offer the unprecedented opportunity to study Thoreau and the Transcendentalist movement in the midst of Walden Woods--one of the world's most historic literary landscapes. But access to the Institute's resources for education and research will not be limited to those who can visit the new facility. The Institute will reach out to a worldwide audience through the Internet, using new technology to create a global community of Thoreauvians and educated environmentalists.