The Thoreau Society was founded in 1941 by a mixed group of academics and enthusiasts who joined forces to stimulate interest in and foster education about Thoreau’s life, works, legacy and his place in his world as well as the modern world.  It is currently the oldest and largest single-author society in  the United States, and it encourage research on Thoreau’s life and works and to act as a repository for Thoreau-related materials.