Transcendentalism Initiative Research

A collaborative book project, Skywater offers a philosophy of water in word and image. Taking inspiration from Henry David Thoreau’s writings, from Walden Pond, and from the other ponds and rivers of Thoreau’s native Concord, Skywater is the object of a shared contemplation—one that reflects on the relationship between sky and water, above and below, perception and reflection.

Nature Is a Language: Emerson’s Ecological Ethics examines how Emerson understood nature as a dynamic, living encounter between mind and world, epitomized by language. By emphasizing the creative, revisable character of language, the book explores how Emerson might teach us to overcome political cynicism and renew our sense of collective environmental responsibility.

Mystical Scriptures is an open-access digital humanities platform that explores the “cabinet of mystic and theosophic lore” announced in The Dial in April 1843. Presenting more than 200 titles associated with this remarkable library, the project invites scholars and the public to trace the mystical, theosophic, and comparative religious sources that helped shape New England Transcendentalism and later informed Thoreau’s “Ethnical Scriptures” series in The Dial.

Digital Fuller is an open-access documentary archive that presents Margaret Fuller’s manuscripts as a searchable corpus, inviting scholars, students, and the public to engage directly with her reflections, readings, and lived experience while supporting future editorial and interpretive work. The site brings together transcriptions of more than 200 journals, notebooks, and unbound leaves from the Harvard Houghton Library and Boston Public Library holdings, presented alongside digitized manuscript images. 

The site is planned for release in fall 2026.