Dear Friends,

I live in Boston, but whenever I’m in Amherst I always take a moment at least to cast my eyes on the Emily Dickinson Museum, even if I haven’t had time for a visit. Somehow just the sight of the place provides a restorative, and a sense of perspective. The Homestead and The Evergreens are united not just by the shared history of a storied family but also, physically, by the restored fence that undulates with the terrain down Main Street and catches your eye even from the center of town. 

Night is the most special time of all. Driving down the hill on the way out of Amherst the eye is drawn to a single lit room in The Homestead. This is Emily Dickinson’s bedroom, where a lamp is always left on at night, the only such room in the house. You can be forgiven for thinking there’s someone still there—and, in a way, someone still is. Emily’s light is as bright today as it ever was; it is far brighter, in fact, than it was when she was alive. Fortunately for all of us, the illumination from that room has traveled a greater distance than Emily Dickinson ever could have anticipated.

The timeless quality of the light from the bedroom is real—but it’s also, in a very practical sense, an illusion. The nineteenth-century Dickinson family homes that make up the Emily Dickinson Museum now exist in the twenty-first century, and bring with them the challenges of the here and now. One of the teachers who came to the Homestead this summer for the tremendously successful NEH Workshop wrote to us about spending time at The Homestead: “Visiting the house and grounds that inspired Dickinson—and being in the actual room where she wrote her poetry—were tantamount to a religious experience.”

That’s a gratifying comment. But behind the religious experience there lies a plumbing experience, a painting experience, an electrical experience, a masonry  experience, a pest-control experience, and a grounds-keeping experience. Historic houses aren’t frozen in time when it comes to maintaining them in good condition. If only they were! To mention just one project: the cost of current repairs to the carrying beams and stonework in the cellar of The Homestead runs to upwards of $80,000. The operating support the Museum receives from its growing circle of friends helps us keep pace with rising fixed costs, which include overall upkeep of these two irreplaceable Dickinson homes and the grounds cherished by the family. Operating support does not have the glamour of endowing a new wing for the Louvre—but it keeps Emily’s bedroom light blazing.

And it does a lot more than that. Annual gifts from the friends of the Museum provide about a third of its operating costs. That money does a lot more than keep the buildings in good condition. Bit by bit, year by year, room by room, we’re pushing forward on the full restoration of these historic properties. Some ambitions, of course, lie ahead, such as rebuilding the Conservatory. But this year, with the help of our supporters, we have an opportunity to implement a portion of our comprehensive furnishings plan.

We’ll begin by re-installing the Homestead and Evergreens libraries to better represent the family’s interest in books and reading on a wide range of topics. This project is made possible with Annual Fund contributions. It is complemented by the ongoing “Replenishing the Shelves” project, which is systematically restocking the Dickinson library with the editions of the books we know the family owned. Visit us a year from now, and you’ll be able to see for yourself the progress that has been made.

The Emily Dickinson Museum has come a long way in the few years of its existence—thanks in large measure to the continuing generosity of its supporters. The steps forward will continue. All of us must keep in mind that what is now a vision will one day bea reality. There will be Dickinson family homes whose rooms have been fully restored; a Conservatory that has rejoined the façade of The Homestead, and a barn that rises proudly behind; a Museum that has become a hub of literary and educational activity not only in the Pioneer Valley but throughout the nation.

Thank you for supporting the Emily Dickinson Museum as generously as you can.

Sincerely,

Cullen Murphy

Editor at Large, Vanity Fair