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MUSEUM CLOSED

The Emily Dickinson Museum is currently CLOSED to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Guided tours and public programs are suspended.

The Museum is offering virtual programming and resources.

The Emily Dickinson Museum is owned by the Trustees of Amherst College. Find more information on Amherst College’s actions.

Emily Dickinson daguerreotype portrait, showing the poet wearing a black dress and a ribbon on her neck

Welcome

The Homestead & The Evergreens

The Emily Dickinson Museum comprises two historic houses in the center of Amherst, Massachusetts associated with the poet Emily Dickinson and members of her family during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The Homestead was the birthplace and home of the poet Emily Dickinson.

The Evergreens, next door, was home to her brother Austin, his wife Susan, and their three children. Learn more about the Museum.

News & Virtual Events

“Phosphorescence” Poetry Reading Series

“Phosphorescence” Poetry Reading Series

The Emily Dickinson Museum is now accepting proposals for our “Phosphorescence” Poetry Reading Series, A VIRTUAL EVENT held monthly throughout 2021!  “PHOSPHORESCENCE. Now there’s a word to lift your hat to to find that phosphorescence, that light within, that’s the genius behind poetry.” – Emily Dickinson Produced by the Emily Dickinson Museum, the aim of ...
Virtual Poetry Discussion Group, January 15 & 22

Virtual Poetry Discussion Group, January 15 & 22

The Emily Dickinson Museum’s Poetry Discussion Group meets monthly, September through May, for lively conversation about Emily Dickinson’s poetry and letters.   Join us from 1pm to 2:30pm on Zoom for a discussion on January 15 or January 22. Space is limited. To request a space, please complete this google form. For questions, please write ...
“A Mighty Room” Virtual Studio Session: Bedroom, January 29, 12-1pm

“A Mighty Room” Virtual Studio Session: Bedroom, January 29, 12-1pm

Sweet hours have perished here; This is a mighty room; Within its precincts hopes have played, — Now shadows in the tomb.   -J1767      Spend a “sweet hour” in Emily Dickinson’s creative space where she penned her startling poetry. Whether you are a writer, an artist, a composer, or a poet, you’ll find solace ...
“A Mighty Room” Virtual Studio Session: Library, February 5, 12-1pm

“A Mighty Room” Virtual Studio Session: Library, February 5, 12-1pm

Sweet hours have perished here; This is a mighty room; Within its precincts hopes have played, — Now shadows in the tomb.   -J1767  Spend a “sweet hour” in Emily Dickinson’s creative space where she penned her startling poetry. Whether you are a writer, an artist, a composer, or a poet, you’ll find solace and inspiration ...
Emily's handwriting on paper and envelope on a desk

Poem of the Day

Of Bronze and Blaze (319)

Of Bronze — and Blaze —
The North — tonight —
So adequate — it forms —
So preconcerted with itself —
So distant — to alarms —
An Unconcern so sovreign
To Universe, or me —
Infects my simple spirit
With Taints of Majesty —
Till I take vaster attitudes —
And strut opon my stem —
Disdaining Men, and Oxygen,
For Arrogance of them —

My Splendors, are Menagerie —
But their Competeless Show
Will entertain the Centuries
When I, am long ago,
An Island in dishonored Grass —
Whom none but Daisies — know.

Posted in Poems by Emily Dickinson.

Education

People standing and listening during an event outside, with flowers in the foreground

At the Museum

Field trips, special tours, workshops, and fun for students of all ages.

A book of Emily Dickinson's poetry being held open by someone reading

In the Classroom

Lesson plans, resources for students, and more.

Manuscript of Emily's handwriting, not quite legible in photo

Research

Resources, bibliography, and more.

Digital Dickinson

The Emily Dickinson Museum welcomes inquiries from researchers and strives to support their work.

Research at the Museum can be useful not only to Dickinson scholars but also to researchers interested in nineteenth-century material culture, social and cultural trends, domestic life, architecture, and decorative arts.

The Museum does not own Dickinson manuscripts or family papers but works closely with the institutions that do. The two major repositories for Emily Dickinson’s manuscripts and family papers are Amherst College and Harvard University. Additional repositories exist at the Jones Library in Amherst, MA, Mt. Holyoke College, Yale, and the Boston Public Library.

To learn more about digital and electronic Dickinson research resources, visit these institutional archives:

Amherst CollegeBoston Public LibraryHarvard UniversityBrown UniversityJones Library, Amherst MA Mt. Holyoke CollegeYale University

daguerreotype of Emily Dickinson fading into pixels

MISSION STATEMENT

It is the Museum’s mission to spark the imagination by amplifying Emily Dickinson’s revolutionary poetic voice from the place she called home.