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June 2007

In this issue
-- Afternoons with Emily Book Event, June 23
-- Emily Dickinson Museum wins Preservation Award
-- Come One! Come All! Nineteenth-Century Children's Circus Returns!
-- "New feet within my garden go": Poetry in the Garden in July
-- July Humanities Workshop for K-12 teachers
-- "The Props assist the House" New Architecture Tour

Greetings!

Greetings from the Emily Dickinson Museum!

From June through August, the Museum is open Wednesday through Saturday, 9:30 to 5:30, and Sunday afternoons, 12:30 to 5:30. Closed July 4th.

Keep reading for news of events and programs at the Emily Dickinson Museum in the weeks ahead.


Afternoons with Emily Book Event, June 23
The Emily Dickinson Museum hosts an informal talk and reception to mark the publication of Afternoons with Emily, a posthumously-published novel by Rose MacMurray, on Saturday, June 23, at 2 p.m. The author's daughter, Adelaide MacMurray Aitken, will speak about her mother and the story behind the creation and publication of the book. MacMurray passed away unexpectedly in 1997, literally days after completing her first novel, inspired by her great passion for Emily Dickinson. Aitken and other family members and friends collaborated to see the book through to publication, almost a decade after its completion.

The novel will be available for purchase, and refreshments will be served following the talk. To reserve a copy of the novel, please call 413-542- 8429.


Emily Dickinson Museum wins Preservation Award
The Victorian Society in America/New England Chapter will present a Preservation Award to the Emily Dickinson Museum on June 26, 2007. The Museum will be recognized for its efforts to restore the grounds of the Dickinson family's "homestead," first acquired by the poet's grandfather almost 200 years ago. The Emily Dickinson Museum is one of four recipients in the VSA's 35th annual Preservation Awards ceremony at the historic Trinity Church in Boston.

Explore the Victorian Society in America, New England Chapter


Come One! Come All! Nineteenth-Century Children's Circus Returns!
"Creatures of Bliss and Mystery" inhabit the grounds of The Evergreens when the Dickinson children's circus returns on Saturday, July 7, from 1 to 4 p.m. The Dickinson children organized backyard amusements for themselves and neighborhood friends with Ned as ringmaster, Mattie as acrobat, and Gib as parade marshal. Special guest is magician Robert Olson, a master of prestidigitation!

July 7 is also AMHERST DAY, a special opportunity for residents of the Dickinsons' beloved Amherst to take free tours--including the Museum's new landscape tour--from 1 to 5 p.m. Amherst Day takes place each year on the first Saturday in July, commemorating Austin and Susan Dickinson's marriage on July 1, 1856, and the official "re-uniting" of the Homestead and The Evergreens in 2003.

See more Museum events


"New feet within my garden go": Poetry in the Garden in July
Gather in the garden as new voices "stir the sod" during our Sunday afternoon poetry readings July 15, 22, and 29, at 2 p.m. Featured guests will read from Emily Dickinson's poetry and from their own work.

July 15: Poet Cleopatra Mathis, author of White Sea and What to Tip the Boatman.
July 22: Artist Nancy Ekholm Burkert, illustrator of Acts of Light, a collection of Emily Dickinson's poetry.
July 29: Poet Dara Wier, author of Remnants of Hannah and Reverse Rapture, named 2006 Book of the Year by Poetry Center and American Poetry Archives.

Book signings and refreshments accompany each reading. Books will be on sale at the Museum; call 413-542-2034 to reserve your copy. Bring a lawn chair or a blanket and join in the experience of hearing Dickinson's poetry in her own garden. In case of inclement weather, readings will take place indoors. All Poetry in the Garden programs are free, but donations are welcome!


July Humanities Workshop for K-12 teachers
The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded the Emily Dickinson Museum a grant to support its new faculty humanities workshop, "Emily Dickinson: Person, Poetry, and Place." This summer, 24 local educators working with students from kindergarden through high school will spend an entire week in an intensive, stimulating encounter with Dickinson's life and work in the very place where she lived. Participants will develop curriculum plans based on their study, and will return in the 2007-2008 school year for several follow-up meetings.

Workshop leaders are Martha Ackmann, senior lecturer in Women's Studies at Mount Holyoke College, and Karen Sanchez-Eppler, professor of English and American Studies at Amherst College.


"The Props assist the House" New Architecture Tour
Homestead east elevation "The Props Assist the House" architecture tour debuts in July. The Museum's latest tour offering explores the meaning of house and home to the Dickinson family and to nineteenth-century New England society. The tour, which lasts about an hour, looks at the houses from both outside and inside. To conclude, visitors are invited to read selections from Emily Dickinson's poetry that relate to architecture and home.

In July the tour will be offered on Sunday, July 15, at noon; Wednesday, July 18, at 10:30 a.m.; Wednesday, July 25, at 10:30 a.m.; and Saturday, July 28, at 1:30 p.m. Advanced registration for the tours is suggested. Admission is $8. To register, please contact Cindy Dickinson at csdickinson@emilydickinsonmuseum.org or 413-542- 8429.


The Emily Dickinson Museum: The Homestead and The Evergreens is dedicated to educating diverse audiences about the poet's life, family, creative work, times, and enduring relevance, and to preserving and interpreting the Homestead and The Evergreens as historical resources for the benefit of scholars and the general public. The Emily Dickinson Museum is owned by the Trustees of Amherst College and has its own Board of Governors, which is charged with the responsibility of raising the Museum's operating and capital funds. The Museum is a member of Museums10, a collaboration of 10 museums in the Pioneer Valley. To find out how you can support the Emily Dickinson Museum, click here.



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