The First Online Thoreau Conference, if briefly presented, could be described as a collaborative effort between students, scholars, and educators based in Brazil, who are dedicated to the study and outreach of Henry David Thoreau’s work. However, such a description wouldn’t do much justice to the interconnectedness of readers of Thoreau across the globe.

Of all the writers and philosophers who influenced the New England Transcendentalists, none had a bigger impact than Thomas Carlyle. Born in Scotland in 1795, as an essayist, historian, and philosopher, Carlyle had a profound influence on the 19th century, not just in the United Kingdom, but also in America, particularly with the writers in Concord, Massachusetts. 

Virtually every member of the Transcendentalist circle read Carlyle’s writings with great enthusiasm; Bronson Alcott, Orestes Brownson, Theodore Parker, William Henry Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Frederic Henry Hedge, George Ripley, and Henry Thoreau all drew inspiration from Carlyle. In particular, it was his writings on Germanic literature that lit a flame under the Transcendentalists. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson referred to her as Tnumarya, an anagram he created for his beloved aunt, Mary Moody Emerson. Many scholars believe her to be Emerson’s most seminal influencer.