History of our Publications
Several Thoreau-oriented periodicals have been published since the Thoreau Society was founded in 1941.
Thoreau Society Bulletin
The Thoreau Society Bulletin (ISSN: 0040-6406) has been issued by the Thoreau Society since the organization began in 1941. The Bulletin has generally been released on a quarterly basis, and issues are numbered consecutively without a volume designation.
The Bulletin covers Thoreau Society events and initiatives, plus articles about the life and work of Thoreau and of his friends, relatives, and fellow Transcendentalists. “Additions to the Thoreau Bibliography” is a regular column. Walter Harding served as the Bulletin editor for its first fifty years (Numbers 1 to 195).
The Concord Saunterer
The Concord Saunterer (ISSN: 1068-5359) has been published in two series: the first by the Thoreau Foundation and the second by the Thoreau Society after the two organizations merged in 1983.
The Thoreau Foundation was founded in 1966 and established the Thoreau Lyceum on Belknap Street in Concord, near the site of Thoreau’s “Texas House” (no longer standing). The Lyceum was managed by Mary Sherwood and later by Anne Root McGrath.
The first series of the Saunterer ran from Volume 1, Number 1 (November 1966) to Volume 20, Numbers 1 and 2 (December 1988). Three “supplements,” each presenting a single academic article, were published in 1971, 1972, and 1973. Beginning with the Fall 1979 issue (Volume 14, Number 3) issue, the editorial board was listed as Anne Root McGrath, Thomas W. Blanding, and Malcolm M. Ferguson. By the Spring 1981 issue (Volume 16, Number 1), Thomas W. Blanding was credited as the editor.
After a hiatus of about five years, the Saunterer returned in 1993 as a new series, with one issue each year. Following the Fall 1993 issue (Volume 1, Number 1) and the Fall 1994 issue (Volume 2, Number 1), each annual issue was a self-contained volume. Volumes 12 and 13 were released together in 2004, to honor the 150th anniversary of the publication of Walden. Editors have included Ronald Wesley Hoag, Richard J. Schneider, Laura Dassow Walls, Kristen Case, John Kucich, and Kathleen Coyne Kelly.
Thoreau Journal Quarterly / The Thoreau Quarterly
The Thoreau Journal Quarterly (ISSN: 0040-6392) was the membership publication of the Thoreau Fellowship, an organization based in Old Town, Maine, and founded by Mary P. Sherwood, Wade Van Dore, and Leonard Kleinfeld. The group was affiliated with the Department of English at the University of Maine at Orono.
The Quarterly was published from Volume I, Number 1 (1969) to Volume XIII, Numbers 3 and 4 (1981). Editors were Mary P. Sherwood (1969-1972), Lewis Leary (1973-1974), Richard F. Fleck (1975-1977), and Marie Olesen Urbanski (1978-1981). Mary Sherwood served as managing editor for the first nine years. The Quarterly began as “a hybrid publication of professional, semi-professional and popular items” about Thoreau’s life and works, with a focus on his trips and connections to Maine. Issues included contemporary poetry inspired by Thoreau’s words.
At the close of 1981, the publication moved to the Department of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota. Its name was changed to The Thoreau Quarterly: A Journal of Literary and Philosophical Studies (ISSN: 0730-868X). Coeditors were John M. Dolan and Wendell Glick. Seven issues of the renamed Quarterly were released, from Volume 14, Number 1 (1982) to Volume 17, Numbers 1 and 2 (1985).
Thoreau Research Newsletter
The Thoreau Research Newsletter (ISSN: 1055-7326) was printed by Transpacific Communications in Connor, Montana. Bradley P. Dean was the editor. Eight quarterly issues of the Thoreau Research Newsletter were published in 1990 and 1991. Described as a “newsletter circulating among colleagues,” it included notes from subscribers describing their current research. In 1991, Brad Dean succeeded Walter Harding as the editor of the Thoreau Society Bulletin.
Information about these periodicals and the organizations behind them was compiled and summarized by Corinne H. Smith.