From age 20 on, Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) copiously kept a journal in which he recorded his observations about nature and his thoughts. The journal provided the grist for some of his finest writings.
The following is from “This Ever New Self: Thoreau and His Journal,” an exhibition currently at The Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan.
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“What’s in Thoreau’s Last Journal?”
“Here are a few of the things Thoreau did in November 1860 and wrote about in his final notebook:”
Built a new fence in his family’s yard
Weighed the merits of imported and native fruits
Measured acorns, tree stumps, and a raccoon skeleton
Counted the rings in a spruce plank
Studied the history of local berries
Looked up the Abenaki word for “bluets”
Argued that slavery exists wherever a man “surrenders his inalienable rights of conscience and reason”
Imagined a town committed to preserving nature
Analyzed the contents of a crow’s stomach
Cited Pliny, Gosse, and Herodotus
Paid tribute to the slowness of Nature
Examined an owl and a salamander a friend brought over
Mused on the extreme flexibility of a cat’s body
Copied extracts from Carolina Sports by Land and Water
Heard the twitter of spring’s first bluebird
Logged childhood memories of his 80-year-old Aunt Sophia
Talked to friends about slavery, turtle eggs, and the price of wood
Noticed the river’s level after the snow had melted
Listened to sparrow in March (“the finest singers I have heard yet”)
Observed water bugs, frogs, butterflies, and mouse droppings
Took a train trip to Minnesota
Watched a kitten scratch its ear for the first time
–Roger W. Smith
June 2017
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Note: Thoreau died on May 6, 1862.
Philip Henry Gosse (1810-1888) was an English naturalist and well known writer.

page from one of Thoreau’s notebooks

page from one of Thoreau’s notebooks