This Ever New Self: Thoreau and His Journal

June 2 through September 10, 2017

Give me the old familiar walk, post office and all, with this ever new self, with this infinite expectation and faith. . . .

–Thoreau’s journal, November 1, 1858

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) occupies a lofty place in American cultural history. He spent two years in a cabin by Walden Pond and a single night in jail, and out of those experiences grew two of this country’s most influential works: his book Walden and the essay known as “Civil Disobedience.” But his lifelong journal—more voluminous by far than his published writings—reveals a fuller, more intimate picture of a man of wide-ranging interests and a profound commitment to living responsibly and passionately.

This Ever New Self: Thoreau and His Journal brings together nearly one hundred items in the most comprehensive exhibition ever devoted to the author. Marking the 200th anniversary of Thoreau's birth and organized in partnership with the Concord Museum in his hometown of Concord, Massachusetts, the show centers on the journal he kept throughout his life and its importance in understanding the essential Thoreau. More than twenty of Thoreau’s journal notebooks are shown along with letters and manuscripts, books from his library, pressed plants from his herbarium, and important personal artifacts. Also featured are the only two photographs for which he sat during his lifetime, shown together for the first time.

Online exhibition
Read and listen to Thoreau’s personal reflections on nature, friendship, slavery, and society in the online exhibition Thoreau’s Journal: A Life of Listening.

This Ever New Self: Thoreau and his Journal is organized by the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, and the Concord Museum, Concord, Massachusetts. The exhibition is made possible with lead funding from an anonymous donor, generous support from the Gilder Foundation, and assistance from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

The exhibition will travel to the Concord Museum, September 29, 2017–January 21, 2018.

Benjamin D. Maxham (1821–1889), Henry David Thoreau, 1856, daguerreotype. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of an anonymous donor.

In the News: 

"American Resister"–The New York Times

Selected images

Benjamin D. Maxham (1821–1889), Henry D. Thoreau, Daguerreotype, Worcester, Massachusetts, June 18, 1856. Berg Collection, New York Public Library.

Henry D. Thoreau’s earliest surviving journal notebook, open to entries from November 1837. The Morgan Library & Museum; purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1909.

Henry D. Thoreau's desk. Eastern white pine, painted green, Concord, Massachusetts, ca. 1838. Concord Museum; gift of Cummings E. Davis, 1886; Th10.

One of Henry D. Thoreau’s goose quill pens, with a note from his sister Sophia ("The pen brother Henry last wrote with"). Concord Museum; gift of Cummings E. Davis, 1886; Th10.13a.

Henry Francis Walling (1825–1888), Map of the Town of Concord, Hand-colored lithograph, Boston, 1852. Concord Museum; gift of the Cummings Davis Society (Decorative Arts Fund), 1988; Pi2139a

Henry D.Thoreau's journal notebook for November 9, 1858–April 7, 1859 (open to the entry for November 11, 1858). The Morgan Library & Museum; purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1909.

William James Hubard (1807–1862), Henry D. Thoreau, Cut paper silhouette portrait, Cambridge, 1837. The Neil and Anna Rasmussen Collection.

Alexander Jackson Davis (1803–1892), Harvard University, Hand-colored lithograph, Lithographed by William S. and John B. Pendleton; published in Cambridge by Hilliard & Brown, 1828. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, New York Public Library.

Henry D. Thoreau’s t-square, protractor, and compass, 19th century. Concord Museum; gift of Cummings E. Davis or George Tolman, before 1909; Th12, Th12c, Th13.

One of Henry D. Thoreau’s research notebooks on North American indigenous cultures, ca. 1847–61. The Morgan Library & Museum; purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1909.

Henry D. Thoreau’s copy of Bhagavad-Gítá; or The Sacred Lay: A Colloquy between Krishna and Arjuna on Divine Matters, ed. by J. Cockburn Thomson. Hertford: Stephen Austin, 1855. Concord Museum; gift of E.H. Kittredge, 1942; Th6B.

Steel lock and key from the cell where Henry D. Thoreau spent a night in jail for tax resistance in 1846. Concord Museum; gift of Cummings E. Davis, 1886; M2081.

Henry D. Thoreau (1817–1862), First edition of Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854. The Morgan Library & Museum; bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.

Henry D. Thoreau (1817–1862), Walden, Manuscript draft of the opening page, ca. 1852–54. The Morgan Library & Museum; gift of Norman H. Strouse, 1966.

Alexander Wilson (1766–1813). American Ornithology: or, the Natural History of Birds of the United States. New York: Collins; Philadelphia: Harrison Hall, 1828–29. The Morgan Library & Museum; gift of Mary D. Lindsay, 2003

Edward Sidney Dunshee (1823–1907), Henry D. Thoreau, Ambrotype, New Bedford, Massachusetts, August 21, 1861. Concord Museum; gift of Mr. Walton Ricketson and Miss Anna Ricketson, 1929; Th33b

Walking stick made by Henry D. Thoreau about 1853, Unidentified hardwood, possibly birch. Concord Museum; gift of Lee, Olive, and Earnest Russell, 1917; Th34.

Henry D. Thoreau's final journal entry, dated November 3, 1861. The Morgan Library & Museum; purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1909.