Mapping Thoreau’s Surveys – An Index
Allan H. Schmidt
May 2010
A Chronological and geographic Index of Thoreau’s Surveys in The Concord Free Public Library (CFPL).
Thoreau’s Surveys are listed below in the reverse order of their creation. If you wish to follow the order in which Thoreau created his Journals, Volume 1 of the index begins at http://allanhschmidt1935.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?_c01_BlogPart=blogentry&_c=BlogPart&handle=cns!32C3824B079AE090!558
Readers of Thoreau’s Journals may find his corresponding survey sketches helpful to place his journal notes in chronological and geographic context.
The index also may help retrace the sequential path of Thoreau’s journeys to work as a surveyor.
Herbert Gleason’s 1906 Map of Concord has been used as a geographic base map reference (including his alphanumeric row and column coordinate labels to locate each Gleason zone).
Marcia Moss’ A Catalog of Thoreau’s Surveys in the Concord Free Public Library (Geneseo, N.Y.: Thoreau Society, 1976) also has been an invaluable resource and is quoted frequently.
The outline boundary of each survey has been sketched onto the Gleason map and labeled with the CFPL Survey number and a hyperlink reference allowing for retrieval of the Survey image from the CFPL files provided with approval of the Concord Free Public Library.