Library Hours
We encourage people interested in knowing more about the life and writings of Thoreau, and other Transcendentalists, or who want to see our exhibits, to come and visit The Walden Woods Project Library. The library is open most weekdays, Monday through Friday, 9-3. The library has limited staff: to be sure staff is on hand when you come, we encourage you to please e-mail the library or call ahead: 781-259-4730. We look forward to greeting you!
The Library is not a lending-library. All materials must be used in the Library’s Reading Room during normal hours.
The library is closed on: New Year’s Eve Day and New Year’s Day; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; Presidents Day; Patriots Day; Memorial Day; Juneteenth; Independence Day; Labor Day; Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day; Veterans Day; Thanksgiving Day and the Friday following Thanksgiving Day; Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Day.
Library Catalogs & Finding Aids
Researchers: Please e-mail the library for an appointment to enable the Curator to better assist you.
General Public: Exhibits are open to the public during normal library hours listed above.
Revolving exhibits from the collections are on display in the library. Items currently on display include:
- Thoreau autograph manuscript leaves from Cape Cod and “Life without Principle”
- Rare whole brick from the site of Thoreau’s Walden house excavated in 1945 by archaeologist Roland Wells Robbins
- 1st printing of Thoreau’s “Ktaadn, and the Maine Woods” from Sartain’ s Union Magazine of Literature and Art, July 1848
- An original watercolor painted by Thoreau’s sister, Sophia
- George Bernard Shaw, holograph letter signed, 8 May 1948, on Thoreau’s vegetarianism
- Aesthetic Papers, edited by Elizabeth P. Peabody (Boston: The Editor, 1849) containing the 1st printing of Thoreau’s “Resistance to Civil Government” (later republished as “Civil Disobedience”)
- Albert Einstein, typed letter signed, 19 August 1953, on Thoreau and Gandhi
- Pencil box, ca. 1843-45, and one dozen pencils in original wrapper, from J. Thoreau and Co.
- Thoreau autograph survey: “Sketch-plan made by Henry D. Thoreau of R.W. Emerson’s ledge wood-lots beyond Walden”
- Walden; or, Life in the Woods by Henry D. Thoreau (Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854) First edition, first printing.
Directions
Library Tours and Talks
Guidelines for the Use of the Library
Library Volunteer Opportunities
