Browse Items (173 total)

Beginning with a brief overview of the foundations of his interest in Thoreau, this heartfelt address made before the Thoreau Society was Harding's way of announcing his plans to bequeath to them his collection of "Thoreauviana", as he was inclined…

Harding discusses the formation of the Thoreau Society from his own very informed point of view. Note that he mentions his use of the Thoreau Society Bulletin to publish features which were important to him on a personal level. He describes the…

A photograph of Walter Harding at Bridgewater State College in 1936

In this document, up until the line break on the second column of this page, Harding explains how he became obsessed with Henry David Thoreau in high school. He goes on to discuss his fascination with Thoreau and what has become of it.

What began as a summer course for Geneseo students became a wide-reaching retreat with many scholarly works stemming from the inspiration which Harding provided. The same drive which led him to found the Thoreau Society continued to drive other,…

Harding was highly involved in his role as secretary, and used the Thoreau Society Bulletin to talk about important contemporary events--such as the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi--through the lens of Thoreauvian thought.

One of the last memoirs that Harding would write on the origins of the Thoreau Society, the decades of hindsight between Harding's account and the events he describe allow him to recount many events familiar to those who have read a great deal of…

In a paper that was published in the Diarists' Journal, Walter Harding speaks of his love and devotion to Thoreau and how it all started.

After 27 years Walter Harding retires from teaching English at SUNY Geneseo

A discussion about Walter Harding's collection of Thoreauviana.