author
F. B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn
1831–1917
A lively voice in reform-era New England, this writer and activist moved in the circle of Emerson and Thoreau while taking part in some of the great moral and political struggles of the 19th century. He is remembered both for his abolitionist work and for preserving the story of American transcendentalism.
1 Audiobook
Henry D. Thoreau
by F. B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn
About the author
Born in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, in 1831, Franklin Benjamin Sanborn studied at Phillips Exeter and Harvard before settling in Concord, Massachusetts. There he became part of the intellectual world around Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, working as a teacher, journalist, and public speaker.
Sanborn was deeply involved in reform movements. He supported abolition, helped the Kansas cause, and became one of the "Secret Six," the Northern backers associated with John Brown. Alongside his political work, he also devoted much of his career to social welfare, especially prison reform, mental health advocacy, and organized charity.
He later became an important biographer and memorialist of the Concord circle, writing about Thoreau, Bronson Alcott, and other major figures of American transcendentalism. That mix of activism and remembrance makes his work especially valuable: he was not just an observer of his age, but one of the people helping shape it.