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The Thoreau
Institute at Walden Woods Library
The
Walden Woods Project Collection
The parent organization of
the Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods is the Walden
Woods Project.
The
Walden Woods Project was founded in 1990 by recording artist
Don Henley. At that time, sixty percent of Walden Woods
— a 2,680
acre ecosystem surrounding Thoreau’s Walden Pond
— was already
protected from development. However, two large tracts of land were
endangered when developers sought to construct an expansive office
building and condominium complex in the mid-1980s. These commercial
developments posed such a significant threat to the area that the
National Trust for Historic Preservation twice listed Walden Woods
as one of America’s Eleven Most Endangered Historic Places.
In
response, the Walden Woods Project embarked on a national campaign
to raise public awareness and the funds necessary to purchase and
preserve the endangered areas. In January 1991, the Project bought
the 25-acre tract that had been slated for the development of
condominiums. A few years later, the second tract of land was
acquired at Brister’s Hill.
The Thoreau Institute
at Walden Woods opened in 1998. The Institute is a center for
research and education focused on Henry David Thoreau, his literary
achievements and philosophy, and his influence on environmental and
social movements. Through its technology center, education programs
and the most comprehensive Thoreau research collection in the world,
the Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods provides opportunities for
lifelong learning about Thoreau’s life and work.
Since its
founding, the organization has protected nearly 140 acres in and
around Walden Woods and provided quality programming for more
than 200 high school teachers and students. The Thoreau
Institute at Walden Woods provides services to hundreds of
researchers on an annual basis both nationally and internationally.
The Library houses its archival
collection, as well as its collection of Thoreauviana, including the
complete second draft of Thoreau’s essay on Sir Walter Raleigh.
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