Walden Forever Wild Committee Records, 1981-1990

Vault, A40, Unit 4

EXTENT: 1 container.

ORGANIZATION AND ARRANGEMENT: Organized in two series. Series I: Letters (1981-1989); Series II: Signature campaign, 1986-1990.

HISTORY: Originally founded in 1978 as the Walden Pond Society, the Walden Forever Wild Committee’s membership consisted of activists and Henry David Thoreau enthusiasts dedicated to the preservation of Walden Pond and the Walden Woods area. Led by forester Mary P. Sherwood, the committee’s major initiative was its campaign against the continued use of Walden Pond Reservation as a recreational area, despite its allocation for such purpose in the 1922 deed that granted the land. The petition initiated by the committee called for the re-designation of Walden as an ecological-educational sanctuary.

SCOPE AND CONTENT: Ten folders containing records (primarily 1986-1990) of the Walden Forever Wild Committee. The documents include petition forms and lists resulting from the organization’s signature campaign, as well as letters from Mary P. Sherwood to Marcia Moss, Concord Free Public Library Curator, and Fan Cabot, Concord Selectman.

SOURCE OF ACQUISITION: Folder 1 contains a letter, dated July 1989, from Mary Sherwood to Marcia Moss of the Concord Free Public Library stating Sherwood’s desire that the committee’s records to be donated to the CFPL at end of the campaign.

RELATED/ ASSOCIATED MATERIALS: Related materials may be found in the CFPL Special Collections, Mary Sherwood Papers, 1932-1955.

PROCESSING NOTE: Arranged by LPW; finding aid completed by Melissa Kaiser, March 9, 2011.

Container List

Series I. Letters, 1981-1989
Folder 1:
Letters, Mary Sherwood to Marcia Moss, Concord Free Public Library Curator, and Fan Cabot, Concord Selectman, 1981-1989

Series II. Signature Campaign, 1981-1990 
Folder 2:
Postcards, 1986-1987

Folder 3:
Typed list of people who filled out postcards, 1981-1990

Folder 4:
Petition forms, 1986

Folder 5:
Petition forms, January-June 1987

Folder 6:
Petition forms, July-December 1987

Folder 7:
Petition forms, 1988

Folder 8:
Petition forms, 1989

Folder 9:
Petition forms, 1990

Folder 10:
“Signatures to Governor Dukakis to Preserve Walden Pond” (typed list, undated)

c2011 Concord Free Public Library, Concord, Mass.
Not to be reproduced in any form without permission of the Curator of Special Collections, Concord Free Public Library.

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Mounted 09 April 2011.    rcwh.