Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

I’m Nobody! Who are you? The Life and Poetry of Emily Dickinson

January 20 through May 28, 2017

One of the most popular and enigmatic American writers of the nineteenth century, Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) wrote almost 1,800 poems. Nevertheless, her work was essentially unknown to contemporary readers since only a handful of poems were published during her lifetime and a vast trove of her manuscripts was not discovered until after her death in 1886.  

Often typecast as a recluse who rarely left her Amherst home, Dickinson was, in fact, socially active as a young woman and maintained a broad network of friends and correspondents even as she grew older and retreated into seclusion. Bringing together nearly one hundred rarely seen items, including manuscripts and letters, I’m Nobody! Who are you?—a title taken from her popular poem—is the most ambitious exhibition on Dickinson to date. It explores a side of her life that is seldom acknowledged: one filled with rich friendships and long-lasting relationships with mentors and editors.  

The exhibition closely examines twenty-four poems in various draft states, with corresponding audio stops.  In addition to her writings, the show also features an array of visual material, including hand-cut silhouettes, photographs and daguerreotypes, contemporary illustrations, and other items that speak to the rich intellectual and cultural environment in which Dickinson lived and worked. The exhibition is organized in conjunction with Amherst College.

Online exhibition
Listen to a selection of poems by Emily Dickinson, as read by contemporary poet Lee Ann Brown.

In the News

I’m Nobody! Who are you? The Life and Poetry of Emily Dickinson is made possible with generous support from the Ricciardi Family Exhibition Fund, the Lohf Fund for Poetry, the Caroline Macomber Fund, and Rudy and Sally Ruggles, and assistance from the Acriel Foundation and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

Emily Dickinson, Daguerreotype, ca. 1847. The Emily Dickinson Collection, Amherst College Archives & Special Collections. Gift of Millicent Todd Bingham, 1956, 1956.002

Selected Images

Emily Dickinson, Daguerreotype, ca. 1847. Amherst College Archives & Special Collections. Gift of Millicent Todd Bingham, 1956, 1956.002.

Emily Dickinson’s bedroom, featuring the floral wallpaper which will be on view at the Morgan. Emily Dickinson Museum. Photography by Michael Medeiros.

Otis Allen Bullard (1816–1853), Emily Elizabeth, Austin, and Lavinia Dickinson, Oil on canvas, ca. 1840. Houghton Library, Harvard University.

The floral wallpaper from Emily Dickinson’s bedroom in Amherst, displayed at the Morgan. Photography by Janny Chiu.

Lock of Emily Dickinson's hair sent to Emily Fowler Ford, ca. 1853. Amherst College Archives & Special Collections.

Swinging seal engraved Emily, Gold and citrine; English or American, ca. 1850. Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Charles Temple (1824–1906), Emily Dickinson, Cut paper silhouette, 1845. Amherst College Archives & Special Collections.

William Austin Dickinson, Daguerreotype, ca. 1850. Amherst College Archives & Special Collections.

The Burnside Expedition—The Storming of Fort Thompson at New Bern, North Carolina, March 14, 1862, Printed in Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, Vol. 6, no. 275 (April 5, 1862), pp. 216–17. Amherst College Archives & Special Collections. Digital image courtesy of The Morgan Library & Museum. Photography by Janny Chiu.

Musket stamped Amherst College Gymnasium manufactured by the Springfield Armory, Springfield, Mass., 1835, Amherst College Archives & Special Collections. Photography courtesy the Morgan Library & Museum. Photography by Graham Haber.

Mount Holyoke Female Seminary students make doughnuts and wash dishes in Domestic Hall, Stereoscope card, ca. 1877. Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections.