The Thoreau-Harding Project

"Which would have advanced the most at the end of a month, -- the boy who had made his own jackknife from the ore which he had dug and smelted, reading as much as would be necessary for this, -- or the boy who had attended the lectures on metallurgy at the Institute in the meanwhile, and had received a Rodgers penknife from his father? Which would be most likely to cut his fingers?"

- Henry David Thoreau

The Thoreau-Harding Project, Fall 2012 Engl239/INTD288 class at SUNY Geneseo, is undergoing the earnest construction of a Thoreauvian cabin not only out of endearment for the writings of Henry David Thoreau, but as well to honor and regard Professor Walter Harding, Thoreau scholar and beloved SUNY Geneseo educator. The Thoreau-Harding Project will lend our hands and minds to the philosophical gumption Thoreau demands is necessary to live life deliberately. The result of our literal recognition of Thoreau's manner of living will result in an educational experience that exists outside the conventionality of reading and regurgitating an important American text. This educational approach, learning to build by deliberately building, was obvious to Thoreau and our class hopes to take his advice to our own natural conclusion.