VIRTUAL PROGRAM
This program is free of charge, but participants must register in advance and donations are encouraged.
Join us during National Poetry Month for a very special behind the scenes look at the Dickinson collection at Harvard University’s Houghton Library.
The Houghton Library is known for its holdings of papers of 19th-century American writers, and many would say that the jewel in that crown is the Emily Dickinson Collection. Houghton’s Dickinson Collection is the largest in the world, preserving more than 1,000 autograph poems and some 300 letters. The collection also includes such treasures as: Dickinson’s Herbarium, the family library — including the poet’s Bible, and family furniture and papers that provide insight into the context of the poet’s life and work. The heart of the collection is the 40 hand-sewn manuscript books, or fascicles, into which the poet copied her poems. Houghton Library curator Leslie Morris gives you an up close and personal look at this treasure trove of Dickinsoniana in this virtual tour. Hear the stories these objects can tell and learn about recent work in the collection. A Q&A follows the presentation. This is a virtual program and will be held on Zoom.
About the facilitator: Leslie Morris is the Gore Vidal Curator of Modern Books and Manuscripts at the Houghton Library, Harvard University. She is the General Editor of the open-access Emily Dickinson Archive, which makes images and transcripts of Dickinson’s handwritten poems freely available to millions of visitors every year. Other Dickinson publications include a color facsimile of Emily Dickinson’s Herbarium (2006). Morris has also been a member of the Board of Governors at the Emily Dickinson Museum for fourteen years.
Rewatch: