Walter Harding (1917-1996)
Walter Harding (1917-1996) was one of the leading Thoreau scholars of the 20th century. Harding received his B.S. from Bridgewater State College (1939), his M.A. from the University of North Carolina (1947) and his Ph.D. from Rutgers University (1950). The majority of his academic career was spent at the State University of New York-Geneseo where he taught from 1956 until his retirement in 1982.
The collection of Thoreauviana built by the late Professor Harding consists of first editions and manuscripts, thousands of articles and pamphlets, art, records, microfilm and extensive correspondence from leading Thoreau scholars. It is recognized as the world’s most comprehensive research collection on Henry D. Thoreau.
- A Walter Harding Bibliography
- Walter Harding:
- A Defense of Thoreau (1946) (Typescript of “Letter to the editor” to Kelsey Guilfoil of The Chicago Tribune, 1 December 1946)
- A Century of Walden (Typescript for Colorado Quarterly, Autumn 1954)
- Grolier Club Lecture, 16 February 1954 (Typescript)
- Henry David Thoreau, Instructor. (Typescript for Educational Forum, 1964)
- A Gift From Walden Woods (Typescript, Dec. 1967)
- Daniel Ricketson’s Copy of Walden (Typescript, 1967)
- Henry David Thoreau (Typescript for National Wildlife Magazine, Conservation Hall of Fame, Jan. 1967)
- Another Source for Hawthorne’s Egotism (Typescript draft for American Literature, 1969)
- The First Years Sales of Walden (Typescript for TSB #117, Fall 1971)
- Thoreau, Sensuous Transcendentalist (Unpublished talk before the National Council of Teachers of English Convention, 23 November 1973)
- Five Ways of Looking at Walden (Typescript Introduction, Typescript draft, 1975)
- Clear Sky, Pure Light: Introduction (Typescript, 1978)
- Born-Again Thoreauvians: Sermon preached at First Parish Church of Concord, 16 July 1978
- In Wildness is the Preservation of the World (Unpublished lecture delivered at the East Tennessee State University, 25 April 1979)
- Live Your Own Life: Commencement Address, SUNY Geneseo, May 1979 (Typescript)
- The Adventures of a Literary Detective (Typescript, 1989)
- The Early Days of The Thoreau Society (Typescript, 1991)
- Thoreau Profile (Typescript draft for American National Biography, 1991)
- Channing, W. Ellery (Typescript draft for The Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism, 1993)
- Emerson, Thoreau, and Transcendentalism (Typescript)
- On Writing Thoreau’s Biography (Unpublished typescript)
- Twelve Weeks of Thoreau’s Concord and Merrimack Rivers (Unpublished typescript)
The Walter Harding Collection:
