“Concord, which is my Rome”: Henry Thoreau and His Home Town Exhibition: Lecture Series
“Concord, which is my Rome”: Henry Thoreau and His Home Town exhibition and accompanying events will take place July 7 through October 30, 2017 at the Main Library. Open to all.
Gala Opening occurred on Friday, July 14, 2017 at 7:00-9:00 p.m. [Watch Gala Opening Night]
Our opening speaker was Laura Dassow Walls, William P. and Hazel B. White Professor of English at the University of Notre Dame, where she is also affiliated with the History and Philosophy of Science program. A noted Thoreau scholar, Professor Walls is a prolific author whose works include the forthcoming Henry David Thoreau: A Life (University of Chicago Press, 2017). In her talk, “Our True Paradise”: Thoreau’s Concord and the Ecstasy of the Commons, Professor Walls asks, could recovering Thoreau’s ideal of the commons renew our own vision of natural, political and cultural possibility—of the “true paradise” possessed by all?
The evening also included music from the Thoreau family flute books held by Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House (featuring flutist Judith Sherry Braude), refreshments, and an opportunity to view the exhibit.
Programming continues in September and October with lectures by Elizabeth Hall Witherell, Robert Thorson, Robert Gross, and Robert Hudspeth.
On September 16, Elizabeth Hall Witherell presented “I think I could write a poem to be called Concord”: Thoreau Expresses the Inexpressible. Witherell is the editor-in-chief of the ongoing Thoreau Edition, published by Princeton University Press.
On September 23, Robert Thorson discussed The Boatman: Henry David Thoreau’s River Years, which is also the title of his new book. Thorson is a Professor of Geology at the University of Connecticut, Storrs.
On Saturday, October 7, Robert A. Gross, Draper Professor of Early American History Emeritus, University of Connecticut will present “The Nick of Time”: Coming of Age in Thoreau’s Concord.
On Saturday, October 14, Robert N. Hudspeth, Research Professor at the Claremont Graduate University and Emeritus Professor of English, University of Redlands will speak about Thoreau’s Concord in His Correspondence.
The lectures are from 5:00-7:00 p.m. in the CFPL rotunda. They are free and open to the public. All are welcome.
Gallery Tours with Curator Leslie Perrin Wilson:
August 16, 10:00 a.m.
September 9, 10:00 a.m.
September 28, 7:00 p.m.
October 2, 3:00 p.m.
If you would like to request a tour, please contact Special Collections staff at 978-318-3342.