BIRD
OBSERVATIONS NEEDED FOR CONCORD AND SURROUNDING TOWNS
Researchers at Boston
University are studying the effects of global warming on spring
arrival times of songbirds to the Concord area. For past years,
we are using the journals of Henry David Thoreau, and ornithologists
Brewster and Griscom. Now, we are in need of records of arrival
times for any years since 1960. If you have records (or know any
else who has such
records) of the arrival times of songbirds to Concord, Acton,
Carlisle, Bedford, Lincoln, Wayland, Sudbury and/or Maynard for
any recent span of years please contact us.
See: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/walden.html
for similar work done in our lab.
Thank you!
Libby Bacon email: bacon@bu.edu
Richard Primack email: primack@bu.edu
Tel: 617-353-2454
Professor Richard Primack
Biology Department
Boston University
5 Cummington Street
Boston, MA 02215
Tel. 617-353-2454
email: primack@bu.edu
Letter from the Thoreau
Society President, July 27, 2007
Home from another
great Annual Gathering and I just had to write to pass on my excitement
about the special events and great people that shared the weekend.
| As usual we had the morning
hikes to those special places in Thoreau Country that remind
us of Henry’s attention to the wonders of the natural
world. Another outdoor event was the evening walk featuring
the night sounds and sites of the surrounding area. One highlight
of the Gathering was a special birthday party for Henry hosted
by Walden University and their former President and new Thoreau
Society Board member, Paula Peinovich. The other highlight
was the great address given by Scott Russell Sanders as our
keynote speaker on Saturday morning in First Parish Church.
A standing ovation followed Scott’s challenging words. |
Paula and Tom
raise a toast to Henry
|
Dave
Ganoe, Tom Potter, and Joe Wheeler |
Two awards were given during the Saturday
morning business meeting.
Dave Ganoe received the Walter Harding Distinguished
Service Award for his many years as Chair of the Annual
Gathering.
Joe Wheeler received
the Thoreau Society Distinguished Achievement Award for
his energy and leadership in saving the Thoreau Birth House. |
As
I ponder the transition from the first half of the year to the
second, I recall Thoreau’s comments from his August 24,
1852, Journal entry, "The year is but a succession
of days, and I see that I could assign some office to each day
which,summed up, would be the history of the year. Everything
is done in season, and there is no time to spare."
"No
time to spare" seems to be the way of the Thoreau Society
these days as well. Just as we finish the Annual Gathering we
prepare for a Minneapolis
regional meeting, October 5th and 6th. Then we are back in
Concord for the October 12th and13th lectures surrounding the
new joint exhibit from the collections of the Thoreau Society
and the Concord Free Public Library. Elizabeth Hall Witherell,
our Past-President and Editor-in-Chief of the Princeton Edition
of The Writings of HenryD. Thoreau, will be delivering the Keynote
Address for that event. And in addition, another Thoreau Society
Lecture Series is being planned for the fall in Concord. For details
of all, see our website at thoreausociety.org.
As
I conclude this note I must confess that this year has been a
challenging one. But in each case the staff and the Board and
you have combined efforts and resources and prevailed. I thank
you for your continued interest and support of the Society, and
I look forward to seeing you at the next event wherever it may
be. Now, where is that stream that I can go a fishing in? -- time?
A
footnote -- I had just filled my bird feeders this morning as
I wrote this note and as I completed it a titmouse came to the
window ledge of the cabin carrying a sunflower seed as if to say
thanks. Just two feet apart, we made eye contact, and I thanked
the titmouse as well for reminding me of why we live in the deep
woods -- to be close to and even a part of the natural world.
Tom Potter, President
The Thoreau
Society
[This
message was sent electronically to Society members. If you
are a member and did not receive it by e-mail, please re-register
your e-mail address with us by contacting membership@thoreausociety.org.
We will not release that information to any third party without
your permission.]
Digital Americanists
Formed
Dear Colleagues: We are pleased to announce the
formation of a new professional organization designed to support
the scholarship and teaching of American literature and culture
using digital media.
The Digital Americanists was formally brought
to life at this year's American Literature Association in Boston,
and in the past couple of months we have established the necessary
frameworks to begin officially filling our membership rolls.
At our new wiki-based website, http://www.digitalamericanists.org,
you will find the constitution, an initial list of members, an
initial list of associated digital projects, a bibliography of
resources, some sample classroom syllabi and activities, and information
on how to become a member along with a description of the privileges
of membership.
After you've become a member and paid the modest
$10 annual fee (which can be done conveniently online), we invite
you to help build the wiki by adding information about yourself,
your digital projects, your teaching, and whatever else you feel
would be of interest to this community. Please join us in our
efforts to create a vibrant organization that can support this
growing field of American literature scholarship.
Andrew Jewell, President
Edward
Whitley, Vice-President
Amanda Gailey, Secretary/Treasurer
Thoreau
Society is Recipient of Two National Art Awards
[Artist John Roman
(left) stands before his work with Thoreau Society retail manager
Jim Hayden]
The
Thoreau Society is a co-recipient of two awards of excellence
in two separate national art exhibitions. The awards are for artwork
produced under a Thoreau Society Fellowship that was awarded in
2003 to artist/illustrator John Roman. Roman's recreation of Concord
as it appeared during Thoreau's time was honored in competitions
held in Los Angeles, by the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles,
and in New York, by the New York Society of Illustrators.
Three
years in the making, Roman's historically accurate view of 1845
Concord, Mass. depicts what Concord looked like the day Henry
David Thoreau took residence at Walden Pond (July 4, 1845). Working
closely with The Thoreau Society, The Thoreau Institute and several
Thoreau and Concord area historians, the artwork was exactingly
designed and rendered to replicate the look and style of an old
19th century bird's-eye-view city map lithograph. Bird's-eye-view
maps were quite prevalent and very popular during that period,
but, as unbelievable as it may seem, Concord was never the subject
of such a city-view map. Using antique maps and prints from The
Thoreau Institute's Henley Library archives as reference, Concord
has finally had its likeness illustrated in a classic 1800s art
form.
Roman's
original ink drawing will be on display at both national exhibitions
this spring where both he and the Thoreau Society will be recognized
for bringing this "new" old view of Concord to life.
20" x 30" gallery-quality prints of Roman's artwork
are available at the Thoreau Society's Shop at Walden Pond at
915 Walden Street in Concord, as well as on the shop's web site
at www.shopatwaldenpond.org
The
Thoreau Society and The Friends of Walden Pond have also produced
an exhibit based on Roman's map. The exhibit is on display in
The Tsongas Gallery at Walden Pond State Reservation through the
end of March, and examines several different areas of life in
1845 Concord as well as visiting the sites today.
The
Thoreau Society is the oldest and largest organization devoted
to an American author and is dedicated to promoting Thoreau's
life and works through education, outreach, and advocacy. Since
2001, they have been designated the Friends group of Walden Pond,
supporting the visitor services, conservation projects and park
operations at the State Reservation, site of Thoreau's experiment
in living deliberately (1845-1847) and inspiration for his classic
work, Walden (1854).
Thoreau
Society Wish List
Equipment
Donation Request. We are seeking the donation of:
Please
contact Mike
Frederick if you can help us out.
~~~~~ |
