PUBLIC NOTICE
Regarding the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Section 106 Review of the Evergreens Environmental Improvements at the Emily Dickinson Museum
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded The Trustees of Amherst College in Amherst Massachusetts, a Sustaining Cultural Heritage College Collections grant (PF-260799-18) to renovate, restore and make improvements to the Evergreens, including the replacement and expansion of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system.
NEH is an independent grant-making agency of the United States government dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. This public notice is issued as part of NEH’s responsibilities under 36 C.F.R. Part 800, the regulations which implement Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966, as amended, 54 U.S.C. 306108. NEH, a funding agency, is required by regulation to identify and assess the effects of any proposed actions on historic properties. If any proposed action will have an adverse effect on historic resources, NEH works with the appropriate parties to seek ways to avoid, minimize, or mitigate any adverse effects. Additionally, the Section 106 regulations require NEH to consider the views of the public on preservation issues when making final decisions that affect historic properties.
The Evergreens also known as the Austin Dickinson House is located at 280 Main St. Amherst MA 01002. The site is listed in the State Register of Historic Places (Massachusetts Historical Commission #AMH.448) and the National Register of Historic Places (NHRP # 66000363). The property is also within the Dickinson Historic District, a National Register District (NHRP # 77000182) and a Local Historic District (AMH.M). The historical significance of the house and historic district and their eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places is available at: https://catalog.archives.
Architectural
* reconstruct the area way foundation wall reusing the existing bluestone stairs and constructing a new wood plank bulkhead
* repair and repaint the brick and stone foundation masonry in the vicinity of the bulkhead and ramp
* install interior storm window panels and UV filtering shades
* selective plaster ceiling repairs utilizing traditional 3-coat plaster
* install an access hatch at the tower attic stairwell
* enhancement of attic insulation with added plywood catwalk
* selective roof repair, built-in gutter enhancement, additional drip edge flashing
* replace east chimney exhaust hood, stabilize upper chimney brick courses, install new chimney cap
* selectively replace all modern window and door weather stripping with traditional concealed stripping
Mechanical and Electrical
* install split heat pump system in basement
* install new gas boiler in basement to replacement two existing furnaces
* install new ductwork to serve existing floor registers and
* install new electric service and generator hookup from Homestead mechanical courtyard
* remove overhead electric system and provide new electrical conductors in conduits (conduit work completed)
* install Building Maintenance System (BMS)
In a letter dated May 26, 2022, Brona Simon, the State Historic Preservation Officer for the Massachusetts Historical Commission, determined that the proposed improvements to the Evergreen will have no adverse effect. Subsequently, NEH has determined that the project will have no adverse effect (36 CFR 800.5(b)).
As required by Section 106, NEH is providing the public with information about this project, as well as an opportunity to comment on any knowledge of, or concerns with, historic properties in the proposed project area, and issues relating to the project’s potential effects on historic properties. Comments may be submitted to the NEH by e-mail to FPO@neh.gov. The deadline for submitting comments is Friday, June 24, 2022.
Barbara DeCoursey Roy lives near St Louis, Missouri. Her work has been published in The Gal-way Review, Headstuff, Skylight 47, Pendemic, and Popshot Quarterly. Barbara collaborated on How Bright The Wings Drive Us, which won first prize in the 2021 Dreich Alliance Chapbook competition. She is a founding member of the international writing group Poets Abroad. 
Maeve McKenna is a poet living in Sligo, Ireland. Her poetry has been placed in several international poetry competitions, published in Mslexia, Orbis, Sand Magazine, Fly on the Wall, Channel Magazine among others and widely online. Maeve was a finalist in the Jacar Press Eavan Boland Mentorship Award 2020, and third in the Canterbury Poet of The Year in 2021. Her debut pamphlet will be published in February, 2022, by Fly On The Wall Press.
Morag Anderson is a Scottish poet based in Highland Perthshire. Her debut chapbook, Sin Is Due to Open in a Room Above Kitty’s (Fly on the Wall Press, 2021), explores human connections—concealed violence, love, and everything in between. Morag’s poetry has been published in many literary journals and anthologies.
Dr. Tara Betts is the author of Break the Habit, Arc & Hue, and the forthcoming Refuse to Disappear. In addition to working as an editor, a teaching artist, and a mentor for other writers, she has taught at several universities. She is the Inaugural Poet for the People Practitioner Fellow at University of Chicago, an Artist in Residence at Northwestern University’s English Department, and founder of Whirlwind Learning Center. Tara can be found on twitter at @tarabetts. Her poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies and journals, including The Breakbeat Poets, Essence magazine, and Poetry Magazine.
Dr. Shauna M. Morgan is a poet-scholar and Associate Professor of creative writing and Africana literature at the University of Kentucky where she also serves as Director of Equity and Inclusion Initiatives in the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT). Before joining the University of Kentucky, Morgan was tenured on the faculty of English at Howard University where she taught from 2012-2019. Both her scholarly work and her poetry are deeply engaged with traditions of global Black art and culture. Her poetry has appeared in A Gathering Together, Interviewing the Caribbean, A Literary Field Guide to Southern Appalachia, ProudFlesh: New Afrikan Journal of Culture, Politics & Consciousness, among other periodicals and anthologies. Morgan’s chapbook, Fear of Dogs & Other Animals, was published by Central Square Press.
April’s Phosphorescence also features guest host, Lisa Pegram. Pegram is a writer, educator, literary publicist and acquisitions editor. Her chapbook Cracked Calabash was published by Central Square Press and she is contributing author of The Next Verse Mixtape vol. 1. She has over 20 years of experience in high-level arts integration program design for such organizations as the Smithsonian Institute, Corcoran Gallery of Art and National Geographic. Passionate about the arts as a tool for activism, she served as DC WritersCorps program director for a decade, and as co-chair of United Nations affiliate international women’s conferences in the US, India and Bali. As a publishing professional, her mission is to amplify and celebrate the voices and stories of BIPOC authors. Find our more at https://ladypcoq.wordpress.com/
Meg Kearney’s most recent poetry collection is All Morning the Crows, winner of the 2020 Washington Prize, which spent seven months on SPD’s poetry bestseller list after its 2021 release. Other collections include An Unkindness of Ravens and Home By Now, winner of the 2010 PEN New England LL Winship Award. Meg is also author of three critically acclaimed novels-in-verse for teens and award-winning picture book. She has taught poetry at The New School University, and is Founding Director of the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program in Massachusetts. Her poetry has been featured on Poetry Daily, Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry” series, and Garrison Keillor’s “A Writer’s Almanac,” and has been published in myriad anthologies. A native New Yorker, Meg now lives in New Hampshire. 
Denise Low, Kansas Poet Laureate 2007-09, is winner of the Red Mountain Press Editor’s Choice Award for Shadow Light (Red Mountain Press). Other books include The Turtle’s Beating Heart: One Family’s Story of Lenape Survival (U. of Nebraska Press), Wing (Red Mountain), and A Casino Bestiary: Poems (Spartan Press). She edited a selection of poems by William Stafford in an edition with essays by other poets and scholars, Kansas Poems of William Stafford (Woodley). Low is a founding board member of Indigenous Native Poets. She is past board president of the Associated Writers and Writing Programs. She has won fellowships from the Kansas Arts Commission and recognition from the Poetry Society of America, The Circle -Best Native American Books, Roberts Foundation, Lichtor Awards, and NEH. Low has an MFA from Wichita State U. and Ph.D. from KU. She teaches for Baker University’s School of Professional and Graduate Studies. 
Marta McDowell teaches landscape history and horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden and consults for private clients and public gardens. Her latest book, Unearthing The Secret Garden explores the plants and places that inspired Frances Hodgson Burnett to write the classic children’s book. Timber Press also published Emily Dickinson’s Gardening Life, The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder, All the Presidents’ Gardens, and Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life. All the Presidents’ Gardens made The New York Times bestseller list and won an American Horticultural Society book award in 2017. Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life won the Gold Award from the Garden Writers Association and is now in its eighth printing. Her books have been translated into Chinese, Japanese and Korean. She is the 2019 recipient of the Garden Club of America’s Sarah Chapman Francis Medal for outstanding literary achievement. 
Stacy Szymaszek is the author of the books Emptied of All Ships (2005), Hyperglossia (2009), hart island (2015), Journal of Ugly Sites and Other Journals (2016), which won the Ottoline Prize from Fence Books and was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award in 2017, and A Year From Today (2018). Her books Famous Hermits and The Pasolini Book will be published in 2022. She is the recipient of a 2014 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry, and a 2019 Foundation for Contemporary Arts grant in poetry. Szymaszek was the Director of The Poetry Project at St.Mark’s from 2007-18. Since then she was the Hugo Visiting Writer at the University of Montana-Missoula 2018-19, Poet-in Resident at Brown University, and Visiting Poet for the Fire Island Artist Residency. She has been a mentor for the Queer Art Mentorship, visiting faculty for Naropa University’s Summer Writing Program, and workshop teacher for Woodland Pattern, The Poetry Project, and Wendy’s Subway. She currently lives in the Hudson Valley region of NY. 
Dolores Hayden, urban historian and poet, is professor emerita at Yale University. Her books on the American landscape include The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History and Building Suburbia. Her poems appear in many journals and anthologies including Poetry, Raritan, Ecotone, Yale Review, The Common, and Best American Poetry. She is the author of three poetry collections: American Yard, Nymph, Dun, and Spinner, and Exuberance, set in the earliest years of American aviation when daredevil pilots—women and men—thrilled spectators who had never seen an airplane. 
Annemarie Ní Churreáin is a poet from the Gaeltacht region of northwest Ireland. Her publications include Bloodroot (Doire Press, 2017), Town (The Salvage Press, 2018) and The Poison Glen (The Gallery Press, 2021). She is a recipient of the Arts Council’s Next Generation Artist Award and a co-recipient of The Markievicz Award. Ní Churreáin has written on various care institutions in Ireland including mother and baby homes, state industrial schools, orphanages and hospitals. A former literary fellow of Akademie Schloss Solitude and The Jack Kerouac House of Orlando, Ní Churreáin currently lectures at the Yeats Academy of Arts, Design and Architecture, Atlantic Technological University, and IT Sligo. 
Eugenia Leigh is a Korean American poet and the author of Bianca (Four Way Books, forthcoming 2023) and Blood, Sparrows and Sparrows (Four Way Books, 2014). Her poems and essays have appeared in numerous publications including The Nation, Pleiades, Ploughshares, Poetry, Waxwing, and the 2017 Best of the Net Anthology. The recipient of Poetry’s 2021 Bess Hokin Prize as well as fellowships and awards from Poets & Writers Magazine, Kundiman, and elsewhere, Eugenia received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College.