While reading some of my new found literature, did you know that Henry Thoreau and his family own one of the most lucrative pencil manufacturers of the time? I did not. Some people could care less – I find it so interesting.

So, as you may have read or at least heard of Henry Thoreau was sometimes referenced as a possible Luddite in regards to Walden Pond; living, writing in and around the pond for twelve days. However, he was able to do so because of his family’s fortune from the Thoreau Pencil Company.

A Luddite – quickly, if you don’t know – sometimes it is referenced to a person who opposes technological advancements. The story loosely follows a person named Ned Ludd was a Leicestershire villager of the late 1700s who, in a fit of rage, rushed into a stocking weaver’s house and destroyed his equipment. The story lives on and from then on his name was connected with the destruction of machinery.

“The Luddites” and the Luddite movement began in and around Nottingham, England toward the end of 1811 when a textile mill worker rioted and destroyed new machinery that was replacing them.

A Luddite makes you want to raise your arms in solidarity and kind of lovingly has a feeling of nostalgia for the realness of things and the heart of people.

Continuing…

In and around Thoreau’s time, a good pencil was hard to find until Thoreau’s father and uncle started making new pencils in the New World. The only good ones were imported from Europe, but they, the Thoreau family created “the first quality pencil (factory) in America.”

So – when he went off and explored Walden Pond and jaunting off to Maine, he never mentioned he brought a pencil – he even omitted it from the list of items he brought to Maine. Obviously, had one in order to write, and all the while, he was living off his family’s pencil profits.

Such a juxtaposition right.

In order to make a pencil, there is a real engineering process. Two problems must be resolved: finding the correct blend of graphite and clay so that the ‘lead’ is not too soft or too brittle. Moreover, one had to get the mixture in the cedar wood case – and the all-important test – it cannot break when sharpened.

In order to curate this one has to have a knowledge of dyes, shellacs, clamps, solvents, paints, woods, rubber, glue, printing ink, waxes, lacquer, cotton, the drying processes, high-temperature furnaces, abrasives, and mixing it all.

So, after Thoreau’s twelve days of living off nature, for the next ten years, he dedicates his time to improve the pencil even more – taking it up another level from his father’s and uncle’s design.

In order for a pencil to be good – one had to trust your pencil.

He began his studies at the Harvard Library. However, little was written about pencil manufacturing – especially in Europe because they had a huge stake in the industry. Yet, through trial-and-error and tinkering, Thoreau learned to grind graphite more finely and mix it with clay in the right proportions. This was a process that was happening overseas but was not known in the US at that time. Thoreau was a true engineer.

And it was his pencil technology, not his inherited wealth or his literary publication royalties that provided him income. He made pencils – as it has been written about and believed – “simply to make money.” Once he perfected the best pencil of the day he felt no need to work on any more improvements.

His pencils sold for seventy-five cents a dozen. That is a lot of money. The Thoreau pencil was the most expensive than any other brand.

What is funny is that even though Thoreau did not “ascribed” to Emerson’s transcendentalism, and creating something for profit is not anything to do with transcendentalism – Emerson recommended Thoreau’s pencils. They were friends and were in the same literary circles of that time.

So – one likes to think of living by a pond, and writing in this mystic romantic way – but truly, Thoreau was also thinking ways on how to improve his family’s pencil. He was an engineer and had to figure out how to make a living.

What is funny, again the juxtaposition – when the pencil industry grew and there was more competition and his profit margins were hit, Thoreau stopped trying to exceed the pencil industry and sold his graphite because of this avenue was more profitable.

Thoreau was a true businessman living behind his literary writer reputation. I think he was more of a true creative. His mind just kept tinkering away – and thankfully it found a venue and route to support him doing a little bit of everything he loved.

History: the picking, the choosing, and the writing which stories to silence and which stories to pass on.

It was probably well-known at that time Henry Thoreau and the “Thoreau Pencil Company,” if one held up a pencil.

I think it makes his story more inventive rather than less.

My mind is just buzzing around with all sorts of things I want to dabble in. But right now, I am hungry – I must eat.

Happy day to everyone. Please be well. Much love as always.

Work Cited:

Dennis Baron. “From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies.” Passions Pedagogies and the 21st Century Technologies. Utah State University Press. 1999.

The Oxford English Dictionary and the world wide web – regarding info on the Luddites.