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Richard Smith received his BA in
History from the University of Akron in 1985. For the last nine years he has lived and worked in the Concord area. Richard has appeared as Henry Thoreau at various sites in Concord, Boston, Maine, and Tennessee, as well as on C-Span and on the Boston television show
760:
Step back in time to 1855 as Henry David
Thoreau, the "Hermit of Walden Pond," visits Old South Meeting House! Was noted Transcendentalist, abolitionist and naturalist Thoreau really a hermit? What did he think of Boston, where he regularly visited the Athenaeum? Get the answers to these and other
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I was always attracted to the troublemakers in
American history. Not just Thoreau, but Abby Hoffman, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Thomas Paine. All of the rebels...Thoreau is just a small part of this radical, vibrant group of thinkers in the mid-19th century. People like Theodore
571:'I'm as well as I deserve,' said Thoreau, as portrayed by historian Richard Smith, during a First Day hike Sunday at Walden Pond. Smith was seated by the woodstove inside the replica of the American philosopher's cabin in the shadow of the new visitors' center at Walden Pond State Reservation.
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Actor
Richard Smith, portraying Henry David Thoreau, read Thoreau's "Slavery in Massachusetts". He then talked about the role of slavery in Thoreau's lifetime. Thoreau was an abolitionist who helped runaway slaves and worked to repeal the fugitive slave law. He answered questions from the
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Richard Smith has lectured on and written about antebellum United States history and 19th-century
American literature since 1995. He has worked in Concord as a public historian and Living History Interpreter for 25 years and has portrayed Henry Thoreau at Walden Pond and around the
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Explaining his interest in living history work, Smith told an interviewer (who wondered "if he might be the closest I'd get to a ghost") that "I want people to be aware of the fact that
Thoreau was a living, breathing, funny, spiritual guy." Smith thinks of Thoreau not a peaceful
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He got into hiking as a Boy Scout, and after college focused his personal studies on the spiritual teachings of Native
Americans and Transcendentalists, who put a higher value on the inherent goodness of people and nature over the corruption that can come with social
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but as a rebel, or even "the first punk rocker. He didn't care what people thought. He questioned the government. Hippies tend to be peacemakers, peace and love. But
Thoreau saw nothing wrong with someone like John Brown trying to violently end slavery."
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I left
Concord, Massachusetts, Wednesday morning, September 25th, 1850, for Quebec. … I wished only to be set down in Canada, and take one honest walk there as I might in Concord woods of an afternoon. ~ Henry Thoreau, in his opening paragraph of
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In the
Foreword to this book, Thoreau interpreter and historian Richard Smith argues that Hotham was not an imitator of Thoreau and that his sojourn at Walden Pond was distinct from Thoreau's earlier and more famous
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But few people, not even the most dedicated greens enchanted by Thoreau's environmental ethics, can match Richard Smith's dedication to the man. Smith practices "living history," dressing up as and acting like
254:, Smith sometimes does tour-guiding, often in character and costume. His talks and readings, either in costume as Thoreau or as himself, have taken place around New England and beyond, including work for
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Smith argued that he is 'a historian, not an actor,' when being questioned about the origins of his interest in acting. He found himself agreeing with the basic principles of Thoreau's way of life.
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Parker, or Margaret Fuller, or Lizzie Peabody. These people are all fighting for women's rights, they're fighting for African-Americans' rights. They're fighting for an end to unjust war.
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He also has appeared in some of the locations that Thoreau visited, including Lowell, Boston, Salem, Fitchburg, Framingham, Cape Cod, Brattleboro, Vermont and Moosehead Lake in Maine.
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In addition to writing and giving talks about his historical research, Smith also performs as a living history interpreter. In period costume as
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389:"Chronicle" and is a regular at Walden Pond. He currently works for the Thoreau Society and is writing a book on 19th-century Concord.
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Richard Smith has lectured on and written about antebellum United States and 19th-Century American history and literature since 1995.
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Richard Smith does a professional impression of Henry David Thoreau, and all of a sudden it's a warm July day in 1847.
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774:"'For Indian Deeds There Must Be Indian Memory': Native Peoples of 17th-Century Sudbury Before European Contact"
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Thoreau is just a small part of this radical, vibrant group of thinkers in the mid-19th century. People like
234:, he gives public readings from Thoreau's works and responds in character as Thoreau to audience questions.
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718:"Transcendentalists, Abolitionists, John Brown and Beyond: How New England Writers Made John Brown a Hero"
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Smith began his career as a public historian while working "as" an Ohio schoolmaster of 1848 for an
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Richard Smith .. is the current Scholar in Residence for Longfellow's Wayside Inn in Sudbury.
885:"The Other 'Hermit' of Thoreau's Walden Pond: The Sojourn of Edmond Stuart Hotham: A Review"
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829:""SWEET AND BEAUTIFUL SOULS: LONGFELLOW AND THE CONCORD WRITERS" WITH RICHARD SMITH"
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800:"The Facts and Myths about Thoreau's First Year at Walden Pond with Richard Smith"
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The Other 'Hermit' of Thoreau's Walden Pond: The Sojourn of Edmond Stuart Hotham
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questions as you visit with Mr. Thoreau, portrayed by historian Richard Smith.
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with a B.A. in history in 1985. After college, he continued to study "
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Richard Smith presenting "Thoreau on Slavery" (2001 CSPAN video)
802:. The Jenks Center, Winchester, MA. January 18, 2022.
366:"Social Awareness: Thoreau and the Reform Movement"
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183:museum. After reading about the life and works of
859:"Wildheart: The Daring Adventures of John Muir"
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776:. The Wayside Inn (Sudbury). March 15, 2022.
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191:, where he then moved a year later, in 1999.
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938:"Invested in treason" by Richard Smith, 2021
584:"'Wild and Noble Sites': A Walk to Egg Rock"
297:"A Day With the Father of Transcendentalism"
225:Richard Smith, "Becoming Thoreau" (2010)
132:on family vacations." He graduated from the
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267:He is the author of eight books, including
138:the spiritual teachings of Native Americans
933:"Thoreau in Winter" by Richard Smith. 2020
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943:"A duty so severe" by Richard Smith, 2021
744:"A Conversation with Henry David Thoreau"
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124:, and his supportive parents took him to
613:"Thoreau is Alive and Visiting Bedford!"
439:Madrigal, Alexis C. (October 26, 2010).
406:"Why Richard Smith impersonates Thoreau"
339:. LA Review of Books. October 15, 2013.
216:. They're fighting for an end to unjust
483:Marovich, Beatrice (October 25, 2010).
441:"The punk rocker who 'becomes' Thoreau"
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144:. In his spare time, he took part in
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208:. These people are all fighting for
973:Writers from Concord, Massachusetts
586:. Concord Land Conservation Trust.
172:Richard Smith in costume as Thoreau
120:, "Richard grew up 'obsessed' with
861:. Idaho Commission for Libraries.
653:. Thoreau Farm. October 11, 2016.
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983:Historically informed performance
657:from the original on June 3, 2023
622:. Bedford MA Historical Society.
557:. January 4, 2017. Archived from
524:. Living On Earth. July 7, 2017.
269:Quotations of Henry David Thoreau
246:At Thoreau-related sites such as
629:from the original on 2024-01-12
273:A Short Biography of John Muir
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988:Historians from Massachusetts
371:. The Thoreau Society. 2009.
156:, and performed with several
122:19th-century American history
110:Smith was born and raised in
831:. Maine Historical Society.
551:"Why Thoreau still matters"
16:Public historian and writer
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746:. WGBH. October 24, 2014.
66:living history interpreter
337:"Town of the Living Dead"
214:African-Americans' rights
187:, Smith decided to visit
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892:Thoreau Society Bulletin
720:. The Thoreau Society.
212:, they're fighting for
410:Democrat and Chronicle
252:Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
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189:Concord, Massachusetts
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963:Historians from Ohio
445:The Atlantic Monthly
303:. December 7, 2016.
978:Henry David Thoreau
620:The Preservationist
258:and Public Radio's
232:Henry David Thoreau
185:Henry David Thoreau
134:University of Akron
114:. According to the
100:Henry David Thoreau
98:interpretations of
92:New England history
76:Henry David Thoreau
55:University of Akron
670:A Yankee in Canada
489:Killing The Buddha
485:"Becoming Thoreau"
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142:Transcendentalists
117:LA Review of Books
993:Public historians
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651:"One Honest Walk"
522:"Living on Earth"
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271:(2017) and
248:Walden Pond
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633:2024-01-13
301:Scituation
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687:. CSPAN.
158:punk rock
150:Civil War
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