Ralph Waldo Emerson Works to Organize the Great Town and Country Club, Which Brought Together Thoreau, Emerson, Longfellow and Many of the Leading Transcendentalists of the Era in Conversation and Debate
Anxious to attend the Club, Emerson writes, "I heartily wish to be present at one meeting and so name this."
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This unpublished letter, written at the time of debates around the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, comes from the collection of Dr. Otto O. Fisher, who bought primarily in the 1930s and 1940s, and thus has not been offered for sale in nearly a century
In the middle of the 19th century,...
This unpublished letter, written at the time of debates around the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, comes from the collection of Dr. Otto O. Fisher, who bought primarily in the 1930s and 1940s, and thus has not been offered for sale in nearly a century
In the middle of the 19th century, Massachusetts brought together men and women who gathered to form perhaps America’s first prominent literary movement. It was a flowering of literary artistic creation, and the image of the great men and women of the era sitting around the table discussing and debating the great issues and literary works of the time, from their own works to the evil institution of slavery, is today iconic.
Amos Bronson Alcott founded the Town and Country Club in 1849 “to establish better acquaintance between men of scientific, literary, and philanthropic pursuit ,” in particular bringing together “Town” intellectuals with those living outside urban Boston and Cambridge in the “Country”, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, who lived in Concord and aided Alcott in establishing the Club. Bronson Alcott had been inspired by his recent series of conversations to provide a more regular and permanent meeting place for discussing the “great questions” of the day. Many of the first attendee at the Town and Country Club had been involved in the Transcendentalist Club. The Town and Country Club was a more formal success than the other gatherings, in its attempt to establish an organization with a constitution, formal rules, membership fees, and, hopefully, some control over membership. Attendees included many of the leading Trancendentalists. More than 100 people joined the Club or attended meetings, including Longfellow, Theodore Parker, Thoreau and others.
Autograph letter signed, Concord, February 9, 1850, to merchant James Fisher, care of Messieurs Fisher and Chapin, Boston. “I am going out of town so soon, to New York, that I am forced to name Monday next, at 3 1/2 o’clock PM as the hour for the first meeting of the Committee, at the T&C Club Room. I will avail myself of your kind offer to summon all the committee, except Dr. George B. Loring, with whom I have already communicated. Indeed I heard also of the appointment through him. I heartily wish to be present at one meeting and so name this.”
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