Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts on December 10, 1830 and spent most of her life living in her family home at 280 Main Street. Dickinson began writing poetry in her twenties and by the time of her death in 1886 had written nearly 1,800 poems. She recorded some of her poems in homemade manuscript books, now called fascicles; some she sent in letters to family and friends and others she wrote on scraps of paper like shopping lists and envelopes. Renowned for her severe reclusiveness, very few of her poems were published during her lifetime. Within 10 years of Dickinson's death, two volumes of her poetry and one volume of her letters were published and she soon became one of the most popular and beloved poets of all time.

Ever since the first publication of her work, interest in Emily Dickinson has given rise to books and articles about her, dramatic and musical productions inspired by her work, and general interest in her life and her poetry. The Emily Dickinson Related Materials Collection at the Archives and Special Collections of Amherst College contains some of these many items inspired by the poet since the time of her death. For additional information about Emily Dickinson's life, including a chronology and family tree, please see the finding aid for the Emily Dickinson Collection at Amherst College.