A talk given by Professor Gustavo A. Brandariz (University of Buenos Aires) on the idea of ‘nature’ in the works of Emerson, Thoreau, Sarmiento, Hudson and Martínez Estrada. Recorded in November 2024 as part of an international meeting honoring Argentinian writer Ezequiel Martínez Estrada on the 60th anniversary of his death. The linked video is in Spanish.

The friendship between two intellectual powerhouses of the mid-nineteenth century—Margaret Fuller and Ralph Waldo Emerson—began with a visit to Concord in 1836. Fuller later joined the “Transcendental Club” and her book Woman in the Nineteenth Century—the first major feminist work in America—grew from an essay published in The Dial magazine under Emerson’s editorship.

Continuing a series on the strong women in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s life with a profile of his wife Lidian (Lydia) Jackson Emerson, who worked to relieve the suffering of people and animals while also managing a busy household and supporting her husband’s work. A co-founder of Concord’s Female Anti-Slavery Society, Lidian encouraged Emerson’s own involvement in the abolitionist movement.

Beginning a series on the strong women in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s life with a profile of his Aunt Mary Moody Emerson, who helped raise him after his father died and had a profound influence on his life and works. Credited as being his “earliest and best teacher,” Mary laid the foundation of Transcendentalism for her nephew and was an inspired writer in her own right. She was also active in the antislavery and women’s rights movements.

The history and provenance of Diamond the rocking horse, a beloved family artifact in the Emerson House nursery. Already an antique when Lidian Jackson bought it in 1825, Diamond took a circuitous route to Concord, its story touching on themes of childhood, illness, family, and domesticity—and involving two dramatic incidents at sea.