MALCOLM M. FERGUSON PAPERS ACCUMULATED THROUGH MEMBERSHIP IN ORGANIZATIONS FOR THE PRESERVATION AND RESTORATION OF WALDEN POND, 1957-1975, (BULK 1973-1975)
Section, Thoreau House Site, Walden Pond State Reservation, Friends of Walden Pond ... Restoration Proposal, 1975 1 Feb.
Vault A40 Unit 3
EXTENT: ca. 90 items (1 container)
ORGANIZATION AND ARRANGEMENT: Organized into five series: I. Walden Pond Advisory Council; II. Walden Pond Restoration Committee; III. Walden Pond Advisory Committee; IV. Friends of Walden Pond; V. Clippings. Material in each series chronologically arranged.
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY: Concord, Mass., resident; librarian, book dealer; board member of Thoreau Lyceum. During the 1970s, a member of several bodies devoted to the management of the Walden Pond State Reservation as a natural, historical, and recreational resource. The Walden Pond Advisory Council, formed to develop a plan for the restoration and preservation of Walden, first met Apr. 28, 1973. Reporting to the Middlesex County Commissioners (then administrators of Walden Pond State Reservation), the Council considered the presence and location of boathouses, comfort station, parking lots, and trailer park, the relocation of Routes 2 and 126, the prevention of erosion, the Thoreau house site, historical interpretation, etc. The Walden Pond Restoration Committee, a subcommittee of the Walden Pond Advisory Council, was formed to implement the Council’s plans as developed by professional landscape architects. The Committee worked with Richard A. Gardiner and Associates to establish priorities and evaluate plans and participated in the transfer of the administration of the reservation from the Middlesex County Commissioners to the Massachusetts Department of Natural Resources (bill signed July, 1974; effective Jan. 1, 1975). On Jan. 1, 1975, the Walden Pond Advisory Council and Walden Pond Restoration Committee ceased to exist, their advisory role passing to the Walden Pond Advisory Committee, appointed to keep the Massachusetts Department of Natural Resources informed about local concerns (the new board composed largely of members of the Walden Pond Restoration Committee). Simultaneously, the Friends of Walden Pond, a non-profit citizens’ group formed to encourage the proper management of the Walden Pond State Reservation, was organized (its first meeting held Sept. 26, 1974).
SCOPE AND CONTENT: Papers (mainly photocopied typescripts) relate to activities of the Walden Pond Advisory Council, the Walden Pond Restoration Committee, the Walden Pond Advisory Committee, and the Friends of Walden Pond. They include membership list, attendance lists, minutes, memoranda, agendas, agreement (between Middlesex County Commissioners and Gardiner Associates), invoice, time sheet, cost estimate, proposals and recommendations, progress reports, news release, newsletters, landscape plans, environmental impact statement (relating to proposed highway relocation), and clippings. The papers include correspondence to and from the Middlesex County Commissioners and typescript remarks of welcome by Malcolm Ferguson to the Thoreau Society, July, 1973.
SOURCES OF ACQUISITION: Presented by Malcolm M. Ferguson.
PROCESSED BY: LPW; finding aid prepared 10/16/95; prepared for mounting on the Web by CM, 08/04.
CONTAINER LIST
Folder 1:
SERIES I. WALDEN POND ADVISORY COUNCIL, 1973 [APR.]-SEPT. 13.
Folder 2:
SERIES II. WALDEN POND RESTORATION COMMITTEE, 1973 NOV. 6-1974 [SEPT.]:
(a) 1973 Nov. 6-1974 Feb. 28.
Folder 3:
SERIES II. WALDEN POND RESTORATION COMMITTEE, 1973 NOV. 6-1974 [SEPT.]:
(b) 1974 Mar. 4-[Sept.].
Folder 4:
SERIES III. WALDEN POND ADVISORY COMMITTEE, [1974]-[1975 FEB.].
Folder 5:
SERIES IV. FRIENDS OF WALDEN POND, 1974 SEPT. 26-1975 JUNE 19.
Folder 6:
SERIES V. CLIPPINGS, 1957 JULY 11-1974 NOV. 20.
Mounted 1st September 2004. rcwh.
c2004 Concord Free Public Library. Not to be reproduced in any form without permission from the Curator of Special Collections, Concord Free Public Library.