On View
Not on viewKeys (Hardware)
Date1800s
Terms
- Keys (Hardware)
- Steel
- England
Dimensions7.61 cm (3 in.)
MarkingsTag: "Key to H.D. Thoreau Desk." (Cummings E. Davis' handwriting).
Credit LineGift of Cummings E. Davis (1886)
Object numberTH10A
DescriptionKey to the desk, Th10, that was part of Henry Thoreau's furnishings in his house at Walden Pond and on which he wrote his first book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, as well as the first draft of the book Walden and the essay "Civil Disobedience." The wear pattern around the keyhole of the desk indicates that he habitually kept it locked so that no one could access his journals or papers; there was no lock on the door to his house at Walden Pond.
Collections
- Henry David Thoreau Collection
Object number: TH10a.1
Object number: 2023.17.10
Object number: TH65
Henry David Thoreau
December 13, 1852