The Troubles With Emily

SUNG TO THE TUNE OF THE BEATLES' "COME TOGETHER":

[Intro]
Shhhow me (da da duuuuh dum)
Shhhow me (da da duuuuh dum)
Shhhow me (da da duuuuh dum)
Shhhow me (da da duuuuh dum)

[Verse 1]
Here come my be-bop, I come grooving up slowly
To see – who how lucky – She one wily writer
She got hair up like she need
Got to be a poet, She just write what she please

[Interlude]
Shhhow me (da da duuuuh dum)
Shhhow me (da da duuuuh dum)
Shhhow me (da da duuuuh dum)
Shhhow me (da da duuuuh dum)

[Verse 2]
She wear all sunshine, she got striking snowfall
She got lines that linger, smooth as Gorganzola
She say, "I’m no one, who are you?"
One thing I can tell you is she got to be true –
 
[Chorus]
Come to see her – right now
Come with me –

---

THE DEETS:

WHO:  Me. My wife. My sister. Christine, Associate Curator Extraordinaire of Modern Books & Manuscripts 

WHAT: A pre-arranged rendezvous.

WHERE: Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Yard. The Houghton Library.

WHEN: Monday. July 13. 10:00 a.m., on the dot.

WHY: Aa tour of the Dickinson Room. 

The interesting thing here, folks, is that half of Dickinson’s stuff is here at Harvard, another half is at Amherst College, about a third is at the Emily Dickinson Museum – the two homes where the family lived – and then about a fourth is scattered throughout other locations (the Morgan Library in New York, the John Hay Library at Brown, etc.) – and yes, I’m well aware that I added a half, a half, a third, and a fourth to make a whole.  That’s some paper towel math for ya!

In a nutshell:  After Emily’s death, Lavinia found the poems; she gave a stash to Susan in hopes of getting them published; Susan moved too slowly, so Vinnie handed over a stockpile to Austin’s lover Mabel. Later on, Emily’s niece Martha took over with Susan’s mix, and Mabel’s daughter Millicent managed Mabel’s stash. Throughout the years, there was a family feud – needless to say, Susan and Mabel were not BFFs from the start – and it was all aggravated later by a land dispute and court case between Vinnie and Mabel.  In the end, the Todd’s collection ended up at  Amherst College, and  Martha’s stash – along with the Evergreens, her family’s home – transferred to her assistant, Alfred Leete Hampson who sold everything to Gilbert Holland Montague who donated it all to Harvard’s Houghton Library.  Kapiche?  (MORE INFO HERE.)

I mention all of this because the items in the Dickinson room at the Houghton Library are the real deal.  The chest of drawers at the right is the very chest where Vinnie discovered Dickinson’s poetry (in the bottom drawer). 

 The chair and writing table shown below are the very chair and table where Dickinson sat to compose her poems.  Similar pieces of furniture are in her room at the Homestead in Amherst, now the Emily Dickinson Museum, but those are replicas (and some are set pieces from the Apple TV series "Dickinson"). 

Lots more pics from Houghton Library's Dickinson Room -- and more (Keats, Lowell, etc.)  -- are on my travelogue, "Dial 'Em' for Emily," HERE. 

More posts from my trip are here:

07.26.2026: THE MAN WHO BLOGGED TOO MUCH, CLICK HERE. 
07.25.2026:  STRANGE TURNS ON A TRAIN, CLICK HERE. 
07.24.2026:  HOW SWEETEST IT IS, CLICK HERE. 
07.23.2026:  A DATE WITH DESTINY, CLICK HERE.
07.22.2026:  THIS – IS THE BLOG POST – ​THE SUNSET WASHES, CLICK HERE.
07.21.2026:  DOUBLE ETERNITY, CLICK HERE. 
07.20.2026:  THE ORACLE WORE A WHITE DRESS -- PART DEUX, CLICK HERE.
07.19.2026:  ALL THINGS MATTER, CLICK HERE. 
07.18.2026:  INTRODUCTORY PLOG POST ABOUT "DIAL 'EM' FOR EMILY," CLICK HERE.