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The Thoreau Update
E-Newsletter
Spring 2005 Curator of Collections: Jeffrey S. Cramer
"I have sometimes imagined a library,
i.e. a collection of the
works of true poets, philosophers, naturalists, etc., deposited not in a
brick and marble edifice in a crowded and dusty city. . . but rather far
away in the depths of the primitive forest. . ."
Protest of 400
Inhabitants of Concord
In our continuing efforts to conserve and preserve the materials held at the Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods, the “Protest of 400 inhabitants of Concord against the execution of Washington Goode” from the Thoreau Society Archives was recently identified as a priority piece in for restoration and preservation. The “Protest of 400” is a document of vital historical interest in the history of human rights. Washington Goode was a black seaman accused of murdering another black seaman over a prostitute and sentenced to death based upon circumstantial evidence. In an effort to save Washington Goode from execution, 400 citizens of Concord, Massachusetts – including Thoreau and Emerson – signed a petition, now known as the “Protest of 400. . . against the execution of Washington Goode.” The “Protest of 400” dating from 1849 consists of eight sheets of paper pasted together at the top and bottom margins, creating a document approximately 10 inches wide and 90 inches long, with several additional pieces of paper attached to it. Each sheet overlapped the one below it. The sheets were mottled and had breaks, tears, and loss from insect damage. There were numerous tears on the edges and top, and a strip of adhesive tape on the back. By the nature of its condition, it could no longer be used or examined without causing considerable damage to the document. For an unknown number of years this delicate document had been rolled and flattened when placed in a small cardboard box, creating creases approximately every 1.5 inches in the brittle document and an inability to lay the six-foot document out. This document was one of 130 petitions from Massachusetts communities together containing over 24,000 signatures on behalf of Goode. Reformers such as Frederick Douglas, Wendell Phillips, and James Freeman Clarke were all interested in Goode’s fate, not only in protest of capital punishment, but because the sentencing had racist overtones. The efforts to reverse Goode’s sentence were unsuccessful. Goode was hanged in Boston on 25 May 1849. Despite the failure, the document remains relevant, both because of its place in an historical context and because of the signatures it contains. With a generous grant from The Bay Foundation, the New England Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) was commissioned to review and treat the document. The NEDCC, founded in 1973, is the largest non-profit, regional facility in the United States that specializes in the conservation of paper materials. The method of treatment performed at NEDCC was as follows:
Because of the sheer size of the document and its fragile condition, even after restoration, the NEDCC has recommended against placing it on display in the Library. The “Protest of 400” is now stored in our secure, climate controlled vault where it will be made available for viewing upon request.
Recently Added Electronic Texts Henry D. Thoreau: Selected Correspondence:
1841: July 21: HDT to Mrs. Lucy Brown Walter Harding:
A Bee-Line With Thoreau Scott Nearing: Introduction to Bars and Shadows: The Prison Poems of Ralph Chaplin Paul Brooks:
Recent Additions to the Collections Agassiz, Louis Methods of Study in Natural History (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, c1891) Amato, Joseph On Foot: A History of Walking (New York: New York University Press, c2004) Ball, B.L. Three Days on the White Mountains (Littleton, N.H.: Bondcliff Books, c2002) Donahue, Brian The Great Meadow: Farmers and the Land in Colonial Concord (New Haven: Yale University Press, c2004) Finkelman, Paul Defending Slavery: Proslavery Thought in the Old South: a Brief History with Documents (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, c2003) Fleischman, Paul R. Cultivating Inner Peace: Exploring the Psychology, Wisdom and Poetry of Gandhi, Thoreau, the Buddha and Others (Seattle: Pariyatti Press, c2003) Garrison, William Lloyd William Lloyd Garrison and the Fight Against Slavery: Selections form The Liberator (Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, c1995) Haydon, Benjamin Robert Life of Benjamin Robert Haydon, Historical Painter, from his Autobiography and Journals (New York: Harper & brothers, 1853) Holmes, Madelyn American Women Conservationists: twelve profiles (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, c2004) Johnson, D.B. Henry Works (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004) Linebaugh, Donald W. The Man who Found Thoreau: Roland W. Robbins and the Rise of Historical Archaeology in America (Durham, N.H.: University of New Hampshire Press ; Hanover [N.H.]: University Press of New England, c2005) Merkel, Jim Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth (Gabriola, B.C.: New Society Publishers, 2003) Porte, Joel Consciousness and Culture: Emerson and Thoreau Reviewed (New Haven: Yale University Press, c2004)
For more information about these and other titles,
The Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods
and
Porter Square Books John Daniel, author of Rogue River Journal
in a rare East Coast appearance With Thoreau's Journals for instruction and inspiration, in November 2000, after the presidential election but before the results were handed down by the Supreme Court, John Daniel climbed into his pickup, drove to a cabin in the Rogue River Gorge, and quit civilization for a prescribed time. The strictures set up were severe: no two-way human communications, no radio, no music, no news, no clocks, and no calendars. He left his wife behind and moved into a cabin sure to be snowed-in just after his arrival, where he lived in complete isolation until spring, without even his cat as a companion. He was intent on not hearing a human voice other than his own for the next five months. In addition to the physical rigor of working in isolation, Daniel had assumed a hard spiritual task in deciding to live alone: to confront his dead father. The result is a remarkable memoir of both vivid present and past interwoven. John Daniel is the author of two poetry collections, Common Ground and All Things Touched by Wind. His The Trail Home, a collection of essays on nature, imagination, and the American West, was published in 1992 by Pantheon Books and won the 1993 Oregon Book Award for Literary Nonfiction. Pantheon issued an expanded paper edition in 1994. He work has appeared in journals such as Audubon, Sierra, the North American Review, and Bloomsbury Review. His Looking After: A Son's Memoir was published in 1996 by Counterpoint and won the 1997 Oregon Book Award for Literary Nonfiction. He has also published Oregon Rivers in collaboration with photographer Larry N. Olson. Daniel has been the winner of a Pushcart Prize (1983), the Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency (1994), and the John Burroughs Society annual natural history essay award (1995). For more information call: 617-491-2220
*** check the Walden Woods Project Calendar of Events for other upcoming programs ***
Volunteer Opportunities The Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods Library welcomes and encourages volunteers. Volunteers expand and supplement the services the Library is able to offer to the public. Volunteers may donate their time for short or long term projects, either on-site at the Thoreau Institute or off-site. You are invited to join our dedicated group of volunteers! By sharing your time and talent with us, you can make a big difference in the quality of service the Thoreau Institute is able to provide. In an effort to ensure a positive experience with us, the Library has defined some criteria for successful volunteering. These include individual responsibility and commitment, maturity, and attention to detail. Volunteers must be personally invested in working with us to provide good service in a professional manner. The Library is unable to provide a one-to-one mentoring relationship. Individuals must be able to work independently after initial training. Some of the many volunteer opportunities available are:
Scanning historical documents or photographs
The
Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods Hours: Monday-Friday 10:00-4:00 by appointment
Are you a member of the Walden Woods Project?
***** The Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods is owned and managed by the Walden Woods Project. If you wish to receive future e-mail updates, click here.
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