Category: Houghton Library

E Books? No -- ED Books!

10/8/2024

A few updates on some of my upcoming reading material…

First, I splurged this year for my birthday, and I ordered Franklin’s Variorum edition of Dicksinon’s poetry. I have a couple (wornout) copies of his “readers edition,” his “complete” volume of Dickison’s poems; however, this three-volume edition includes all of the extant variations of each of the poems along with all of Franklin’s notes and research.

That package arrived yesterday! Woo hoo!

Also, as you can see from the chart below, Mabel Loomis Todd and her daughter Millicent Todd Bingham published a “second debut” of Dickinson’s works in 1945 entitled “Bolts of Melody: New Poems by Emily Dickinson.”

I’ve ordered a copy of the book – AND – I found a review of the book from 1945 – so I’ll be checking those out soon!

Interestingly, I ordered the book through this company based in Ashville, NC; their website included this info about “Rebuilding Lives After Hurricane Helene," HERE.

I’m not quite sure where the title “Bolts of Melody” comes from. Dickinson wrote eight poems with the word “bolt” and nineteen with the word “melody,” but I could not find one poem with both “bolts” and “melody.”

I ran a couple of Google-searches, but I kept getting directed to info about the first studio album “Bolts of Melody” by Adam Franklin, “an English guitarist, singer, and songwriter who is the front-man of the alternative rock band Swervedriver (1989–99, 2007–present) as well as the main creative force behind Toshack Highway (1999–2006) and currently releases records under his own name with his touring band Bolts of Melody” (info is from Wikipedia).

Hmm…I wonder if Franklin is a Dickinson aficionado?

I also have an article to read entitled, “The Elizabeth Whitney Putnam Manuscripts and New Strategies for Editing Emily Dickinson’s Letters.”

The article begins with this:

“In August 1976 Harvard University’s Houghton Library acquired thirteen Dickinson manuscripts from Elizabeth Whitney Putnam, a manuscript group that includes both poetry and prose. Three manuscripts were previously unknown, ten considered lost or destroyed.”

If interested, that article can be found HERE.

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A Visit to the Houghton Library -- Part 2

5/18/2021

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I'm late getting this post up for a variety of reasons. One of them has to do with some issues I was having with my laptop back in April and early May -- but that problem has been solved for now. Anyway, in April the Houghton Library sponsored a virtual tour of their Emily Dickinson room/collection for National Poetry Month, and I attended the event sans laptop. I was able to participate by using an iPad, and I took pics of the iPad screen with my cell phone -- soooo, the pics are below with a few comments.

And just FYI: Part 1 of this plog (poetry blog) post is HERE -- and it tells the story of my first (and actual) visit to the Houghton -- back in 2013 -- when I was able to see the Dickinson room in person!

Below are the pics and comments from 2021's virtual tour:

The host, live from the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA, opened with this poem by Emily:

A precious – mouldering pleasure – 'tis –
To meet an Antique Book –
In just the Dress his Century wore –
A privilege – I think –

His venerable Hand to take –
And warming in our own –
A passage back – or two – to make –
To Times when he – was young –

His quaint opinions – to inspect –
His thought to ascertain
On Themes concern our mutual mind –
The Literature of Man –

What interested Scholars – most –
What Competitions ran –
When Plato – was a Certainty –
And Sophocles – a Man –

When Sappho – was a living Girl –
And Beatrice wore
The Gown that Dante – deified –
Facts Centuries before

He traverses – familiar –
As One should come to Town –
And tell you all your Dreams – were true –
He lived – where Dreams were born –

His presence is Enchantment –
You beg him not to go –
Old Volume shake their Vellum Heads
And tantalize – just so –

Following the poem, Leslie Morris, the Gore Vidal Curator at the Houghton Library, explained how much of Dickinson's belongings and work ended up at Harvard.

SPOILER ALERT: The gift came from 1901 Harvard graduate Gilbert Holland Montague, a New York lawyer and bibliophile. Read about it in an article from 1950 in the Harvard Crimson HERE.

Montague donated everything to the Houghton Library at Harvard during his 50th reunion, and the library agreed to establish a Dickinson memorial room -- shown in the pics at the left.

Ms. Morris pointed out that in the painting of the Dickinson children (at the right), the painter depicted with a book and a flower -- two of the things she loved.

Left: The Dickinson memorial room includes the chest of drawers where Lavinia discovered many of Emily's poems.

Ms. Morris noted that the original copies of Dickinson's poems is "now much more securely stored."

Below left and right: The Dickinson family's piano, and some of Emily's music.

At the right: Emily Dickinson's writing desk. "I was struck by how small it is," said Morris.

Below left and right: Some of Emily's personal belongings. Emily wore the cape on the night she met Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

Below left and right: Pages from one of Dickinson's fascicles. Harvard has 40 of the poet's surviving fascicles (I believe she said that Amherst College has two of fascicles as well). Ms. Morris noted that the blue grease pencil mark was made by none other than Mabel Loomis Todd.

Below left and right: A fascicle page with a poem written by Emily -- with possible alternate word choices included at the bottom of the page.

At the right: A poem Emily sent to Elizabeth Holland with a flower. It is thought that the tape was added to the page later by Alfred Hampson, Martha Dickinson Bianchi’s friend and literary assistant.

At the left: Besides including flowers with her poems, Dickinson also cut pictures out of her father's books. This example shows pics she extracted from Charles Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop.

Below left: The Houghton is currently digitizing all 600-plus books from the Dickinson family library. Ms. Morris noted that "we're half-way there." Below right: A page of Emily's pressed flowers.

Ms. Morris reported that Dickinson had cut the name "Timothy" out of a page from the Bible her father gave to her as a gift. "We're not sure why -- or when and how she used it," said Morris.

ALSO: The Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst has a the complete tour available on their site, HERE.

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A Visit to the Houghton Library -- Part 1

4/19/2021

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I attended a virtual tour of the Houghton Library's Emily Dickinson Room/Collection the other night, and that will be the subject of "A Visit to the Houghton Library -- Part 2." I'll post info and pics about that virtual tour soon.

First, though, I thought I would share a funny story about my first (and real) visit to the Dickinson Room back in 2013.

During the summer of that year, my wife and I visited New England, and we spent time in Boston, Amherst (my first visit to Dickinson's Homestead), and the coastline of New Hampshire and Maine. Information about that trip is included in this travelogue, HERE.

We happened to have time during a weekday -- a Tuesday I think -- to take a tour of Harvard, and following that tour I ventured into the Houghton Library. I inquired about the Dickinson collection at the security desk, but the guard told me that the public was only allowed in to see it during specific times (I think it was something like a Friday at 2 p.m.).

I was about to walk away, but I pulled out one of my business cards and handed it to the guard. I explained that I had written a book about Dickinson and asked if they would be willing to bend the rules a bit since it was my one and only time there.

The guard inspected the card and then picked up the telephone to call someone locked away in a staff-only section of the library.

Soon, a woman came out. The guard explained my plight, showed her my card, and she mulled over my request for a bit.

"Sure," she said, "I can show you the room -- but come back at about 2:00 p.m." It was about 10:30 a.m. at the time She then added something like, "I can show you the room at 2:00 -- but only for a few minutes."

I thanked her profusely, and then ran off with my wife to find a restaurant for an early lunch. I figured that we could eat and chat until about 1:30 p.m. or so, and then we'd head back to the Houghton.

While we were eating, I had a terrible thought -- WHAT IF between now and 2:00 p.m. that very librarian were to check out my website dedicated to Emmett Lee Dickinson? After all, the web address was printed on my business card. What if she visited my site and deemed the humor to be too boorish and not deserving of a private tour of the Dickinson room? What if I return to the Houghton, and the woman were to throw me out on my ear for misconduct unbecoming of a true Dickinson fan?

I believe I actually broke out into a sweat and my heart started racing.

After we ate lunch and paid the check, we headed back over to the Houghton. I was a nervous wreck. What sort of reception would I receive?

Well, all the worry was for naught. The staff member greeted me in the lobby and took my wife and I up to the Dickinson for a private showing, and the woman was very gracious. Hee hee -- I don't think she had a chance to look at my site! LOL.

I did send her complimentary copies of my books though, to thank her -- it was very considerate on her part (and the guard too) to accommodate us! The tour was certainly a highlight of our trip!

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In The Zooms Where It Happened

12/16/2020

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Last week, on 12/10, I participated in three events in honor of Emily Dickinson's 190th birthday. One was at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, PA, one took place at the Houghton Library at Harvard, in Boston, MA, and one was sponsored by the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. Of course, due to the need for social distancing brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, all three events were provided online, and I viewed all three from home.

Below left: A greeting from Emily Dickinson's bedroom from the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst. Alas, I do not have the host's name, but she said that the event broke the museum's record for geographic representation at one of their online programs with 35 different countries represented at this birthday celebration.

Below middle: I didn't have any of Dickinson's Black Cake handy, so I enjoyed a freshly baked pretzel while viewing the program from the Houghton Library.

Below right: Poet Dorianne Laux read her own poetry and selected poems by Emily Dickinson at the event sponsored by the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Left: The celebration in Amherst opened with a performance by an Italian band called "Anais." They sang their original song based on Emily Dickinson's poem, "I'm Nobody! Who are you?"

The theme of the event was "Who is your Emily Dickinson," and the program included various videos from Dickinson aficionados who spoke about their own personal connections to the poet and her poetry. Some of the speakers recited their favorite poems by Dickinson.

Below: The program included a flight over Amherst for an aerial view of the city, the Emily Dickinson Museum, and other sites around the town. (One suggestion if they ever do this again: Please have someone narrate the flight so that viewers know what they are looking at. Fortunately, I've been to Amherst a few times, so I had a pretty good idea as to what I was seeing.)

Left: Pilot Jim Arnold
Right: The rolling hills near Amherst.
Below left: An aerial shot of Amherst.
Below center: Dickinson's Homestead (on the right) and the Evergreens (on the left).
Below right: West Cemetery, burial site of Emily Dickinson.

The program also included...

* Instructions to craft a collage of a color-by-number portrait of Dickinson.
* Two special guests from Apple TV's "Dickinson," the show's creator, Alena Smith, and Ella Hunt, who portrays Susan Gilbert, who would become Dickinson's sister-in-law.
* A discussion of Dickinson's quite remarkable recipe for Black Cake (the ingredients include 19 eggs and -- if I heard correctly -- five pounds of raisins).

Some of the favorite poems recited by the fans of Dickinson:

* "Hope" is the thing with feathers

* I died for Beauty -- but was scarce

* How happy is the little stone

* This is my letter to the World (sung to the tune of Amazing Grace by a 7th grade class in New Hampshire)

At the right: Coincidentally, the program ended with Efrat Ben Zur's interpretation of "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" -- the same poem that inspired the group that opened the program.

"Team Cake" from Houghton Library (& other esteemed institutions) hosted an event at 3:00 p.m. (Eastern), and the program included quiet an impressive assembly of authors, poets, professors, and more.

They also spoke with Alena Smith, creator of Apple TV's "Dickinson," and she shared a sneak peek of a scene from Season 2.

Below: The sneak peek into Season 2 of Apple TV's "Dickinson" starred Hailee Steinfeld as Emily Dickinson as she prepared her 20-pound Black Cake for a baking contest to give the Amherst College Cattle Show a "generously spiced ass kicking" (and then, quipped Alena Smith, "hijinks ensued").

The program's readers and guests included food historian Laura Shapiro, author of What She Ate; Abigail Weil, food writer -- and much more; Heather Cole, curator of rare, unique, and special materials at the Brown University Library; NPR's Nikki Silva, co-creator of "The Kitchen Sisters"; Vanessa Braganza from the Harvard English Department; Emilie Hardman, Head of Distinctive Collections for MIT Libraries; Shayla Lawson, Assistant Professor of English at Amherst College; Rachel Syme, contributing author to "The New Yorker"; Margaret Rhee, author of a collection of poems called Love Robot; Ann Kjellberg, founding editor of Book Post; Allison Devers, author and dealer in rare books; author and poet Tracie Morris; and "Poet; Activist; Change-Maker," Amanda Gorman.

The panel shared favorite poems of Dickinson's, provided some history of food from Mount Holyoke College, discussed accounts of Emily Dickinson's chores at home ("Emily did the butterfly duties of the house, and her sister Lavinia did the moth part"), and provided readings from the letters of Emily Dickinson, and more.

The evening program sponsored by the Folger Shakespeare Library began with a tour of Emily Dickinson's bedroom provided by Jane Wald, the Executive Director of the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA.

The main feature of the Folger's program was poetry readings by poet Dorianne Laux, who intermingled poems of her own with poems by Emily Dickinson.

Many of Laux's poems were inspired by anecdotes from Dickinson's life and/or by many of her the poet's personal objects -- her basket (the very one she would fill with goodies and lower from her bedroom window to the excited children waiting below), her tea cup ("Bring me the sunset in a cup"), a clock, and more. In one of her poems, Laux imagined speaking to the poet once she had died, and within her poem, Laux embedded all of the words from Dickinson's "Like Brooms of steel" (below on the left).

Having seen the tour of Dickinson's room provided by Jane Wald, Laux said she was feeling inspired to write poems based on some of the other objects -- Dickinson's hurricane lamp, her sleigh bed, and of course, her white dress.

"The objects come alive to me," said Laux, "and the more you get into them, the more they speak to you personally. It's as if Emily Dickinson is speaking to me, directly to me, through the years."

"One day..." she added, "One day I'm going to write about that dress."

By Emily Dickinson:

Like Brooms of Steel
The Snow and Wind
Had swept the Winter Street –
The House was hooked
The Sun sent out
Faint Deputies of Heat –
Where rode the Bird
The Silence tied
His ample – plodding Steed
The Apple in the Cellar snug
Was all the one that played.

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E Books? No -- ED Books!

A Visit to the Houghton Library -- Part 2

A Visit to the Houghton Library -- Part 1

In The Zooms Where It Happened

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