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Thoreau's Life & Writings

Correspondence

Thoreau and James Richardson to Oliver Sparhawk, 1834

Transcription:

Mr Sparhawk

                                    Sir

                                                The occupants

            of Hollis 32 would like to

            have that room painted and

            whitewashed, also if possible

            to have a new hearth

            put in

                        yours respectfully

                                    Thoreau & Richardson

This newly-discovered letter dates from Thoreau’s sophomore year at Harvard, 1834, when he was seventeen years old. It was written with James Richardson with whom Thoreau shared room 32 in Hollis. Richardson described himself to the Class Secretary as a “public teacher, or preacher of theology and religion or righteousness, and also in connection with it, [a] minister or servant in the great cause of human salvation from ignorance, malice, sin, disease, and suffering.” Oliver Sparhawk, to whom Thoreau addressed the letter, was a steward of Harvard, appointed to that position in 1831 and remaining in it until his death in 1835.

Not to be reprinted without permission.
For permission to reprint or quote from this document, please contact the Curator.

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