The collection documents the creative work and personal life of Emily Dickinson, spanning her lifetime, from 1830 to 1886; her family and friends; and the early publication history of her work. It also includes material from Dickinson scholars Mabel Loomis Todd, Millicent Todd Bingham, Jay Leyda, and others. The collection includes original poems, manuscripts, and letters from Dickinson to family and friends; images of the poet, including the daguerreotype and silhouette; physical artifacts related to Dickinson; manuscript transcriptions; printers' copies and proofs; Mabel Loomis Todd's correspondence, research indices, and writings; and material from or about Dickinson's friends and family, including correspondence, photographs, objects, and scrapbooks.

Terms of Access and Use:

Restrictions on use:

Requests for permission to publish material from the Collection should be directed to the Head of Archives and Special Collections. Because reproducing a manuscript necessarily reproduces the text it contains, permission to publish reproductions or facsimiles of original Dickinson manuscript material from the Amherst collection will also require the permission of Harvard University, which claims rights in all Dickinson manuscript texts. Amherst's permission is contingent on Harvard's being granted, and a copy of Harvard's permission must be supplied to Amherst. Permission requests to Harvard University should be directed to Office of Copyrights and Permissions, Harvard University Press, 79 Garden Street, Cambridge, Mass. 02138-1499 (tel. 617-495-2600; fax 617-496-4677). The office does not accept email requests. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.