MUSEUM CLOSED

The Emily Dickinson Museum is closed due to a major Restoration Project.

When we have an official reopening date, we will announce it in our e-newsletter.
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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 graphic featuring headshots of poets

Phosphorescence Poetry Reading Series
Thursday, May 26, 6pm ET

Phosphorescence May 2022 featured poets:
Quintin Collins, Meg Kearney and Denise Low ...
Marta Macdowell and a volunteer work in Dickinson's garden

Garden Days 2022
Saturday and Sunday
June 11 and 12

Join master gardener Marta McDowell and a group of fellow volunteers to aid in the cultivation and growth of the historic Dickinson family landscape ...
The front facade of the Homestead

A Virtual Exploration of
The Homestead and The Evergreens

A multimedia online exploration of the Homestead and Evergreens. Wherever you are, we hope this exploration transports you to Emily Dickinson’s Amherst home ...
Photo of donors John and Elizabeth Armstrong standing in front of a bookshelf

Press Release:
Armstrong Carriage House Gift

The Armstrongs’ commitment is the largest received to date in the effort to raise $3.5 million in operating, program, and capital support by the end of the Museum’s 20th Anniversary festivities ...
Emily's handwriting on paper and envelope on a desk

Poem of the Day

We talked as Girls do – (392)

We talked as Girls do –
Fond, and late –
We speculated fair, on every subject, but the Grave –
Of our’s, none affair –

We handled Destinies, as cool –
As we – Disposers – be –
And God, a Quiet Party
to our authority –

But fondest, dwelt opon Ourself
As we eventual – be –
When Girls, to Women, softly raised
We – occupy – Degree –

We parted with a contract
To cherish, and to write
But Heaven made both, impossible
Before another night.

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.

Museums 10      Mass Cultural Council       National Endowment for the Humanities      Institute of Museum and Library Services