Richard Smith | |
|---|---|
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| Born | |
| Occupation(s) | Public historian living history interpreter |
| Known for | Impersonation of Henry David Thoreau |
Richard Smith is a public historian and writer known for his writings on New England history and for his living history interpretations of Henry David Thoreau.
Smith was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. [1] According to the LA Review of Books , "Richard grew up 'obsessed' with 19th-century American history, and his supportive parents took him to battlefields and historic houses on family vacations." [2] He graduated from the University of Akron with a B.A. in history in 1985. [3] After college, he continued to study "the spiritual teachings of Native Americans" and Transcendentalists. [4] In his spare time, he took part in re-enactments of the American Civil War and Revolutionary War, [2] and performed with several punk rock bands. [5] [6]
Smith began his career as a public historian while working "as" an Ohio schoolmaster of 1848 for an Akron living history museum. [2] After reading about the life and works of Henry David Thoreau, Smith decided to visit Concord, Massachusetts, [4] where he then moved a year later, in 1999. [6]
Thoreau is just a small part of this radical, vibrant group of thinkers in the mid-19th century. People like Theodore 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.
Richard Smith,"Becoming Thoreau" (2010) [6]
In addition to writing and giving talks about his historical research, Smith also performs as a living history interpreter. In period costume as Henry David Thoreau, he gives public readings from Thoreau's works and responds in character as Thoreau to audience questions. [7] [8]
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." [6] Smith thinks of Thoreau not a peaceful hippie 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." [6]
At Thoreau-related sites such as Walden Pond or Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Smith sometimes does tour-guiding, often in character and costume. [2] [9] His talks and readings, either in costume as Thoreau or as himself, have taken place around New England and beyond, [10] [11] including work for CSPAN and Public Radio's Living on Earth . [7] [12] [13] [14] He also expanded and presented his research on Native American history while he was scholar in residence at the Longfellow's Wayside Inn Museum. [15] [16]
He is the author of eight books, [17] including Quotations of Henry David Thoreau (2017) [13] and A Short Biography of John Muir (2018). [18] He contributed a foreword to The Other ‘Hermit’ of Thoreau’s Walden Pond: The Sojourn of Edmond Stuart Hotham. [19]
Henry David Thoreau was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience", an argument in favor of peaceful disobedience against an unjust state.
Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. In the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet rivers forms the Concord River.
Transcendentalism is a philosophical, spiritual, and literary movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in the New England region of the United States. A core belief is in the inherent goodness of people and nature, and while society and its institutions have corrupted the purity of the individual, people are at their best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. Transcendentalists saw divine experience inherent in the everyday, rather than believing in a distant heaven. Transcendentalists saw physical and spiritual phenomena as part of dynamic processes rather than discrete entities.
Walden is a book by American transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and—to some degree—a manual for self-reliance.
Walden Pond is a celebrated pond in Concord, Massachusetts, in the United States. A good example of a kettle hole, it was formed by retreating glaciers 10,000–12,000 years ago. The pond is protected as part of Walden Pond State Reservation, a 335-acre (136 ha) state park and recreation site managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. The reservation was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962 for its association with the writer Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), whose two years living in a cabin on its shore provided the foundation for his famous 1854 work, Walden; or, Life in the Woods. The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 ensured federal support for the preservation of the pond.
Nature is a book-length essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, published by James Munroe and Company in 1836. In the essay Emerson put forth the foundation of transcendentalism, a belief system that espouses a non-traditional appreciation of nature. Transcendentalism suggests that the divine, or God, suffuses nature, and suggests that reality can be understood by studying nature. Emerson's visit to the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris inspired a set of lectures he later delivered in Boston which were then published.
William Ellery Channing II was an American Transcendentalist poet, nephew and namesake of the Unitarian preacher Dr. William Ellery Channing. His uncle was usually known as "Dr. Channing", while the nephew was commonly called "Ellery Channing", in print. The younger Ellery Channing was thought brilliant but undisciplined by many of his contemporaries. Amos Bronson Alcott famously said of him in 1871, "Whim, thy name is Channing." Nevertheless, the Transcendentalists thought his poetry among the best of their group's literary products.
The Old Manse is a historic manse in Concord, Massachusetts, United States, notable for its literary associations. It is open to the public as a nonprofit museum owned and operated by the Trustees of Reservations. The house is located on Monument Street, with the Concord River just behind it. The property neighbors the North Bridge, a part of Minute Man National Historical Park.
The Wayside is a historic house in Concord, Massachusetts. The earliest part of the home may date to 1717. Later it successively became the home of the young Louisa May Alcott and her family, who named it Hillside, author Nathaniel Hawthorne and his family, and children's writer Margaret Sidney. It became the first site with literary associations acquired by the National Park Service and is now open to the public as part of Minute Man National Historical Park.
The Ralph Waldo Emerson House is a house museum located at 18 Cambridge Turnpike, Concord, Massachusetts, and a National Historic Landmark for its associations with American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. He and his family named the home Bush. The museum is open mid-April to mid-October; an admission fee is charged.
The Concord Museum is a museum of local history located at 53 Cambridge Turnpike, Concord, Massachusetts, United States, and best known for its collection of artifacts from authors Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Updated hours are available on their website (concordmuseum.org), and an admission fee is charged.
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849) is a book by American writer Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862). It recounts his experience on a boat trip with his brother on the Concord River and Merrimack River.
Ticknor and Fields was an American publishing company based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded as a bookstore in 1832, the business would publish many 19th century American authors including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry David Thoreau, and Mark Twain. It also became an early publisher of The Atlantic Monthly and North American Review.
Fairyland Pond is a pond within Hapgood Wright Town Forest, a conservation area in Concord, Massachusetts. It is a popular recreation area, notable for its old-growth forest and its association with many literary figures from Concord’s past.
The Walden Woods Project (WWP) is a nonprofit organization located in Lincoln, Massachusetts, devoted to the legacy of Henry David Thoreau and the preservation of Walden Woods, the forest around Walden Pond that spans Lincoln and Concord, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1990 by musician Don Henley to prevent two development projects in Walden Woods. Its mission has since expanded from conservation to research and education on the works of Henry David Thoreau. In 1998, the Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods was founded as part of the Project; today its library houses a collection of Thoreau-related resources.
A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers is an anthology of works by Henry David Thoreau, edited by his sister Sophia Thoreau and his friends William Ellery Channing and Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was published in 1866, after Thoreau’s death, by Ticknor and Fields, the Boston firm that had published Walden.
Roland Wells Robbins (1908–1987) was an American archaeologist, author, and historian who is known for discovering the site of Henry David Thoreau's house at Walden Pond. His other discoveries include the Saugus Iron Works and the John and Priscilla Alden Family Sites.
The Concord Female Anti-Slavery Society was a female abolitionist organisation in Concord, Massachusetts, in the mid 19th century. This society was a significant influence on Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Louisa May Alcott.
Flints Pond is a body of water in Lincoln, Massachusetts, United States. Named for Flint House, on the land of which it was situated, it is the town's major water supply, with Tower Road Well being the supplemental source.
Charles Stearns Wheeler was an American farmer and Transcendentalist pioneer. He is known as being one of the inspirations for Walden, the book published by his friend Henry David Thoreau in 1854.
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.
"I use the term 'historic interpreter' or 'living historian.' But when people say 'impersonator,' that doesn't bother me."
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 "Chronicle" and is a regular at Walden Pond. He currently works for the Thoreau Society and is writing a book on 19th-century Concord.
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 institutions.
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 Thoreau.
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 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.
Richard Smith does a professional impression of Henry David Thoreau, and all of a sudden it's a warm July day in 1847.
'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.
Richard Smith has lectured on and written about antebellum United States and 19th-Century American history and literature since 1995.
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.
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 A Yankee in Canada.
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 audience.
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 questions as you visit with Mr. Thoreau, portrayed by historian Richard Smith.
Richard Smith .. is the current Scholar in Residence for Longfellow's Wayside Inn in Sudbury.
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 country.
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 experience.