Founded in 1941, The Thoreau SocietyTM is the oldest and largest organization devoted to an American author.

 Become a Thoreau Society Member or Renew Your Membership

Jesse Paris Smith, Dr. J. Drew Lanham, Dr. Jane Goodall

The 81st Annual Gathering of The Thoreau Society - Hybrid Conference (In-person/Live-stream)

July 6-10, 2022

(Wednesday 7/6 at the Masonic Lodge, Concord, MA, is free and open to the public. Use Option #2 to register).

This is the largest and most exciting Thoreau event of the year. People are traveling internationally to attend these events. There are over 90 presenters. To orient yourself, please view our schedule. Our keynote speaker is Dr. J. Drew Lanham, who will deliver this year's Dana S. Brigham Memorial Keynote Address.

How to attend or watch on Zoom.

Option #1: View the schedule and register for the full conference (including Jesse Paris Smith's in-person concert and Jane Goodall's in-person address. With this option you can attend the in-person conference OR view the entire conference via Zoom. 

Option #2: Purchase individual event tickets and day passes (e.g., the Jesse Paris Smith's in-person concert, Jane Goodall's in-person address). Some events included in this option are free and open to the public (registration require).

Option #3: If you're not opting to view the ENTIRE conference as a live-stream event, you can still opt to watch two of our key events via Zoom:

Register on Zoom to watch Jesse Paris Smith's concert.

Register on Zoom to watch Jane Goodall's address.

We request that masks be worn at all events. We are requiring masks to be worn at the Umbrella Arts Association, First Parish, and Concord-Carlisle High School.

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Other Special Annual Gathering Events

Rebecca Solnit to join us virtally. Use Option #1 above to register

Thr. | 7/7 | 7:30PM | Masonic Lodge | 58 Monument Square, Concord, MA

Included with Jessie Paris Smith in-person concert ticket. Use Option #2 above to register. 

Fri. | 7/8 | 4PM | Umbrella Arts Center

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Dr. J. Drew Lanham's Dana S. Brigham Memorial Keynote Address

Free and open to the public. Use Option #2 above to register.

Sat. | 7/9 | 10:15AM | First Parish Concord

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Free and open to the public. Use Option #2 above to register.

Sat. | 7/9 | 12:30-1:30PM | First Parish Concord

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Use Option #1 above to register.

Sun. | 7/10 | 2:30-4PM | Concord-Carlisle High School

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Lodging and Accommodations

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 The struggle for social and environmental justice

Henry David Thoreau saw the exploitation of people and of nature as two sides of the same coin of injustice and oppression. In his own day, he decried an economic and political system that countenanced human bondage even as it despoiled nature. As he asks in “Slavery in Massachusetts,” “[W]hat signifies the beauty of nature when men are base?”

The Thoreau Society continues our namesake’s struggle to open all eyes to social and environmental injustice, and to end blindness to the consequences of unchecked racism, climate change, and other threats to individual freedom, democratic equality, and social justice in the United States and around the world. As a community devoted to Thoreau’s legacy, we are a work-in-progress, committed to the perpetual challenge of improving the Thoreau Society as an embodiment—and a promoter—of these ideals.

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