ROGER SMITH | 2:15 – 3:15 PM | MONDAYS, OCTOBER 5 THROUGH NOVEMBER 9
(INDIVIDUAL LECTURES $10/$20)

The nineteenth century is the era in which the nation emerged literarily into its own, offering the world unmistakable new voices. Often as not, those voices came from Concord, Massachusetts. The so-called Transcendentalists and their friends forged a world view in a rapidly changing country. Despite their often idealistic writing, they were deeply human, engaging one another in caring support, confronting each other in jealous anger, and living out their often precarious lives in a town called Concord.

Why Concord? - Monday | October 5

From the fertile soil of eastern-central Massachusetts, not too far from the bluster of Boston, flowered a remarkable cadre of American writers.

The Emersons - Monday | October 12

Ralph Waldo Emerson stood as the unofficial leader of the Transcendentalists, part patron and part parent to many of his protégés.

The Alcotts - Monday | October 19

Quirky Bronson Alcott brought to Concord outlandish ideas in writing, education, and living.  He also reared a daughter who would become one of America’s favorites.

Henry David Thoreau - Monday | October 26

Best known for his time alone at Walden Pond, the young Thoreau was among the most sensitive and introspective of the Transcendentalists.

The Hawthornes - Monday | November 2
Dark, introverted, and moody, Nathaniel Hawthorne led his talented wife to Concord where the two—excruciatingly poor—eked out a literary existence.

Margaret Fuller - Monday | November 9

Controversial in her time and ours, Margaret Fuller tested boundaries for writers of her sex across two continents and cut an unforgettable swath through tiny Concord.

Individual Lectures are available for purchase individually.