Founded in 1941, the Thoreau Society is the largest and oldest organization devoted to an American author. In January 2026, the Society merged with the Thoreau Farm Trust to form the Thoreau Alliance.
The Thoreau Society is the Thoreau Alliance’s global community for Thoreau studies. It exists to stimulate interest in and foster education about Thoreau’s life, works, legacy and his place in his world and in ours, challenging all to live a deliberate, considered life.
The Thoreau Society keeps Thoreau’s writings and ideas alive around the globe and across generations.
The Society has members from more than twenty countries around the world, the Penobscot Nation, and all fifty US states. The Thoreau Society welcomes people of all ages, ethnicities, gender expressions and identities, origins, physical abilities, races, religions, and sexual orientations.
In Walden, Thoreau wrote, “I desire that there may be as many different persons in the world as possible.” The Thoreau Society likewise recognizes that the contributions of all will continue to result in a more vital organization and a more vital world.
Goals
- To encourage research on Thoreau’s life and works and to act as a repository for Thoreau-related materials
- To educate the public about Thoreau’s ideas and their application to contemporary life
- To preserve Thoreau’s legacy and advocate for the preservation of Thoreau country
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE THOREAU ALLIANCE
Read THE THOREAU SOCIETY STORY
Read about some of our milestones
Publications
The Thoreau Society Bulletin is a 20-page newsletter with bibliographic information and writings on the life, works, and legacy of Henry Thoreau.
The Concord Saunterer: A Journal of Thoreau Studies is an annual peer-reviewed journal of Thoreau scholarship that features in-depth essays about Thoreau, his times and his contemporaries, and his influence today.