Case I

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "The Adirondacs." May-Day and Other Pieces. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867. 43-205. SPEC PS1624 .M2 1867.

This display highlights the poem “The Adirondacs” written by the American transcendentalist, Ralph Waldo Emerson. In the summer of 1858, Emerson, along with nine other eminent men (including William James Stillman), traveled to Follensby Pond, in Harrietstown, NY (between Raquette Falls and Tupper Lake) to form what is now known as “The Philosophers’ Camp”. While staying at Follensby Pond, the men wrote, painted, and philosophized while reveling in the tranquility of the Adirondacks, all of which ultimately confirmed their romantic notions of “the wilderness”. “Their work provided evidence of the importance and value of preserving wild places as a source of inspiration and national heritage” (“The Philosophers’ Camp at Follensby Pond”).

Also on display here are a number of Adirondack poetry books from my bibliography, each of which was published during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.