Emily Dickinson House

Predictions/Inquiries:

• The museum seems very focused on the literary aspect of Emily Dickinson's life.  What does it do with her historically or in the context of history?  
• Why did neither of the Dickinson girls marry?  Was it anything to do with the partriarchy of the time and in their house in particular?

At the Museum:

In grad school, a professor put me on the task of establishing a relationship between Emily Dickinson of Amherst, and the Porter-Phelps-Huntington family of Hadley.  After 40+ hours of archival research I came up with nothing--that was the winter of 2005-06.  In the Dickinson gift shop today, the first thing I picked up was a thinly bound book titled something along the lines of "New Emily Dickinson Letter."  In the publisher's preface, he noted how rare it was to find a new Dickinson letter, and went on to explain that the letter was likely between Susan Phelps and Emily.  I say likely as it was simply addressed to "Sue" and not the other Susan in Dickinson's life, her best friend, neighbor, and sister in-law, whom she called something other than "Sue."  But there it was, a relationship established between Emily Dickinson and the Porter-Phelps-Huntington family, in a letter published in 2007.

The tour of the Dickinson house was uninspiring.  It was well organized and creatively worked in poetry, photography, and additional primary sources and material culture, but it largely skimmed the surface of Emily's life.  The house is minimally decorated in period furnishings with the exception of Emily's room.  The museum cast little light on Dickinson's significance to history, though her significance to literature was persistent.  Interesting was the publishing history that took place after Emily's death.  Her sister was surprised to find the amount that Emily had written and had the urge to publish.  As it turned out, there were several of her 2000+ poems that had multiple versions and word variations.  The first publication of her work was edited to meet the tastes of the average reader at the end of the 19th century. That has evolved since, but still, publication of her work remains, to a degree, editor's choice.

One lingering question I have is, was Mabel Loomis Todd, friend of Emily and mistress of brother Austin, related to the Loomis family in Windsor?  So here we are again, 11 years later, attempting to establish a familial relationship.

Resource:
Tips for educators considering the use of Dickinson in their classroom.