In honor of Emily Dickinson’s 190th birthday in December of 2020, the Museum collected your stories from around the world. So many of us feel a deep connection to Dickinson’s life, her poetry, or to both. Some of us read her work as young students in school and become curious about the woman who lowered gingerbread from her window; others of us do not find Dickinson until we are older and her poetry’s themes of loss and hope begin to resonate profoundly; still others find that Dickinson’s wit and fierce individuality is a touchstone. This project sought to document the many Emily Dickinsons that exist in the hearts of contemporary readers. We received fifty participant videos from as close as Amherst to as far away as Albania. 

This video gallery offers a range of perspectives on Dickinson from a diverse group of her readers who generously shared their stories of strange Dickinson encounters, first meetings, and deeply felt connection. We are very grateful to these story-tellers and we hope you enjoy their collective message of Dickinson’s enduring relevance in our lives today.

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You don't have to ask permission to create | Dana | Cleveland, OH

The light she's brought into my own life and to so many others | Preston | Citrus Heights, CA

The strange and wonderful | Maddy | Amherst, MA

The sun that touched my feet was the same sun that touched her too | Tulip | Amherst, MA

Emily Dickinson is one of the people most important in my life | Karen | Amherst, MA

One day I found Emily Dickinson in my mailbox | Rosemarie | Phoenix, AZ

Our weird encounter with Emily Dickinson | Deborah and Brad | Amherst, MA

Those particular Emily wavelengths | Jo | Boston, MA

Emily Dickinson is a dancer | Emily | Boise, ID

Emily Dickinson teaches me what to look for | Brece | Sheffield, MA

I most admire her rebellious character and immense humanness | Eliana | Santiago, Chile

Her poems became my passion to teach and my power to keep going | Bruna | Tirana, Albania

Here was a kindred spirit who was articulating my own thoughts and feelings | Regina | Austin, TX

Eloquence and elegance | Emilia | Thetford, VT

To unravel the world | Soledad | Chile

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This statement was originally released on June 3rd 2020:

Today, in our distress over recent devastating events, we stand with our community and with the Black Lives Matter movement against racial injustice and inequality. We recognize that real change is necessary both in our country and in our museum.⁣
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We believe that museums are not neutral: they should be part of public conversations on contemporary issues such as racism, injustice, and oppression. Museums have long been institutions that hold and reflect cultural values and collective memory. Now, they have an even greater responsibility to be active participants in challenging age-old and contemporary systems of oppression. ⁣
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Like other museums, the Emily Dickinson Museum has a duty to examine the history it teaches and to expand the stories it tells. Emily Dickinson lived through a catastrophic Civil War rooted in racial injustice and oppression. Her family was part of a society that benefited from the labor of immigrants, African Americans, and Native Americans in service to a privileged White majority. The poet’s literary work was made possible by the labor of these domestic servants. The Emily Dickinson Museum strives to tell this full story. Our new interpretive plan will place greater emphasis on the perspectives of Irish, Native American, and free Black workers in the Dickinson households, making plain issues of race and class in Dickinson family daily life. ⁣
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At the Emily Dickinson Museum we recognize that this interpretive work is but one step in the greater effort to increase diversity, equity, inclusion, and access for audiences, staff, and leadership in institutions like ours. Dickinson’s revolutionary poetic voice became an agent of change, both in the literary canon and in the lives of individuals who find depths of meaning in her account of our human condition. As an institution, we are committed to the continuous work of change that museums can and should be doing to build an equitable society.

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The immersive journey returns to the Emily Dickinson Museum in October after a sold-out 2018 run!

It took eight years of correspondence before T.W. Higginson arrived in Amherst to meet his elusive advisee, Emily Dickinson. Before You Became Improbable reimagines the day of that meeting, offering audience members an encounter with her words and poems in a remarkably personal theatrical experience.

Before You Became Improbable is not a stationary production, but a walking theatrical journey through downtown Amherst and the Dickinson grounds. Equipped with a special pair of headphones, audience members are guided through the show, following a path visible only to them. After a series of compelling encounters, the journey culminates in the Dickinson parlor, where participants will gather to share insights and experiences.

Before You Became Improbable is written and directed by Amherst Regional High School Performing Arts Department Head, John Bechtold, and produced by Wendy Kohler and the Emily Dickinson Museum. Designed as an experience for two people at a time, audience participants should come prepared with comfortable shoes, the willingness to walk for much of the show, and a venturesome spirit.

Our special thanks to our program partners: The Amherst Historical Society and Museum and the Town of Amherst.

More information and tickets coming soon!