From last April through this September, the Concord Public Library had a rare Middlesex artifact on display for its visitors. The 80-year-old relic, which was loaned by Middlesex to the library for their exhibition on renowned American illustrator N.C Wyeth, was a first edition art book that featured work completed by the artist from 1918 to 1936. Entitled Men of Concord, the collection—whose original panels were on display at the Concord Museum’s accompanying their N.C Wyeth exhibition—featured a series of paintings inspired by the Concord naturalist, philosopher, and author Henry David Thoreau. Wyeth, who once declared that Thoreau was “the springboard for almost every move I make,” painted a dozen scenes linked to Thoreau and Concord, including depictions of the Old North Bridge, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau himself.
The School’s first edition of Men of Concord, which is signed on the inside cover by Wyeth, was originally donated to the school with the inscription “To the boys of Middlesex who are also men of Concord.” To learn more about N.C Wyeth and the exhibition by the Concord Public Library and Concord Museum, please read this article in The Boston Globe. Men of Concord is now back at Middlesex, and we invite you to visit the Warburg Library to enjoy it for yourself!
