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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.

In addition to Covid-related closures, we recently announced a major restoration project that will keep our doors closed until March 2022:
Major Restoration Project

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

<b>“A Mighty Room” Virtual Studio Session: Bedroom</b></br>Friday, May 7, 12-1pm

“A Mighty Room” Virtual Studio Session: Bedroom
Friday, May 7, 12-1pm

Spend a “sweet hour” in Emily Dickinson’s creative space where she penned her startling poetry. Let this quiet virtual experience jumpstart your next creative journey.  ...
<b>Annual Poetry Walk</b></br>Saturday, May 15, 11:30am

Annual Poetry Walk
Saturday, May 15, 11:30am

In honor of the 135th anniversary of the poet’s death, join the Emily Dickinson Museum for an engaging virtual poetry reading and "walk" through Amherst, the town she called “paradise.”  ...
<b>Virtual Poetry Discussion Group</b></br>May 18 & May 28

Virtual Poetry Discussion Group
May 18 & May 28

The Emily Dickinson Museum’s Poetry Discussion Group meets monthly, September through May, for lively conversation about Emily Dickinson’s poetry and letters ...
<b>Phosphorescence Poetry Reading Series</b></br>Thursday, May 27, 6-7pm

Phosphorescence Poetry Reading Series
Thursday, May 27, 6-7pm

Phosphorescence May 2021 featured poets:
Melissa Range and Erica Charis-Molling ...
Emily's handwriting on paper and envelope on a desk

Poem of the Day

Further in Summer than the Birds (895)

Further in Summer than the Birds – 
Pathetic from the Grass – 
A minor Nation celebrates
It’s unobtrusive Mass.

No Ordinance be seen –
So gradual the Grace
A gentle Custom it becomes –
Enlarging Loneliness –

Antiquest felt at Noon –
When August burning low
Arise this spectral Canticle
Repose to typify –

Remit as yet no Grace – 
No furrow on the Glow,
But a Druidic Difference
Enhances Nature now – 

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