Need assistance? Call: 978-369-5310.

December 9, 2009

Dear Friend,

As the end of the year approaches, we are reaching out to members and supporters such as you. We ask that you consider making a 100% tax-deductible donation this season to The Thoreau Society in support of its Mission and activities. We believe our work is critically important, now as ever. This year marked an historic moment for the Society with its move to the birth home of Henry D. Thoreau. It also saw the completion of the finding aid to the Walter Harding Collection.
With your support today next year can be even more successful.

Thoreau Society members have long been dedicated to preserving and fostering information about Thoreau’s life and writings. As a member, you too are part and parcel of this great literary tradition that has spanned 7 decades from its inception in 1941 in Concord, Massachusetts through today. Those early Annual Gatherings generated a strong sense of a mission to foster interest in Thoreau’s life, works, and legacy and an understanding of his place in his world and in ours.

The early vision carries on in our work today, supported by those like you who want to better understand the scope of Thoreau’s life’s work and worldview. Thoreau Society members, whether scholars by profession or enthusiasts looking to discover new insights, are able to follow the discourse on Thoreau in the pages of The Thoreau Society Bulletin and The Concord Saunterer: A Journal of Thoreau Studies. The Society, as many members know, also publishes books on occasion, such as The Spirit of Thoreau Series and others. Our latest project is a documentary edition of Thoreau’s Resistance to Civil Government, printed and annotated digitally.

In addition to providing information on Thoreau and to providing scholars with a place to publish their work, the Society has also actively collected materials relevant to Thoreau and his legacy, a role begun as early as 1949, when the Society acquired specimens from Thoreau’s herbarium for its collections. With your support, we will continue to acquire new materials as well as to work to ensure that the existing ones are accessible to modern users.

Finally, The Thoreau Society carries out a number of important programs each year, including organizing The Thoreau Society Annual Gathering, sponsoring sessions at the ALA and MLA, hosting speakers at the Window on Walden author series, and fulfilling our role as The Friends of Walden Pond in support of park programs and activities. There is more that could be said, but we are mindful of keeping this letter to one page. Call anytime: 978-369-5319.

Thank you. We are grateful for your membership in The Thoreau Society.