Long-running scholarly project at UC Santa Barbara Library publishes the final volume of Henry David Thoreau’s correspondence
The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau project at the UC Santa Barbara Library has published the third and final volume of the author’s correspondence. Covering the years 1857 to 1862, the volume, published by Princeton University Press, offers a definitive scholarly edition of Thoreau’s letters from the final five years of his life.
Founded in 1966 with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Thoreau Edition has worked for decades to produce complete, accurate editions of Thoreau’s writings for publication, his correspondence and his journal. The newly published volume includes 239 letters — 121 written by Thoreau and 118 written to him — that illuminate his engagement with political, moral, scientific, literary and business issues in the years before his death.
The publication also coincides with renewed public attention to Thoreau through “Henry David Thoreau,” a PBS documentary directed by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers and executive produced by Ken Burns and Don Henley. Beth Witherell, editor in chief of the Thoreau Edition at UCSB Library, appears in the documentary, which premiered on PBS in March 2026.
Read the full story about the new publication on the UCSB Library website.
Photo courtesy of UC Santa Barbara Library.