AMHERST — The Emily Dickinson Museum, as part of a fundraising drive designed to finance significant renovations on the property and expand programming, has received a big chunk of money to keep things rolling: $600,000.
The gift, from John and Elizabeth Armstrong of Amherst, described as “longtime friends” of the museum (and former members of its board of governors), will go to the design and reconstruction of the property’s Carriage House, which once stood to the east of The Evergreens, the home of Emily Dickinson’s brother, Austin, and his wife, Susan.
According to museum officials, the Armstrongs’ donation is the largest received so far in a drive to raise $3.5 million “in operating, program, and capital support” as part of the museum’s 20th anniversary activities, which will begin later this year when the museum, currently closed, reopens.
In a statement, Jane Wald, the Dickinson Museum’s executive director, said the Armstrongs’ “unwavering dedication” to the property during the last two decades “has been a catalyst for the exponential impact the Emily Dickinson Museum can have as the true and generative center of the life and work of one of this country’s greatest poets.”
“Elizabeth and I are delighted to be able to pledge our support,” added John Armstrong, “Emily Dickinson’s poetry and the place she called home have proven themselves to be enduring gifts to the world. It is both our pleasure and responsibility to give back, and to invite others at every level to join us.”
The Carriage House, expected to be finished by early 2024, will initially serve as a welcome and orientation site for visitors while a separate restoration of the Dickinson Homestead is finished up. Eventually the Carriage House will be dedicated to student and visitor learning and engagement, museum officials say.
“We’ve been drawn over the years to supporting singular projects that open multiple possibilities for the Museum,” Elizabeth Armstrong said in statement. “The Carriage House is just such a project — clearing the way for other campus improvements and for enriching the visitor experience.”
In addition to work on the Carriage House and the Homestead, the museum is restoring The Evergreens and the property’s landscape and gardens.
As well, new programming, both in person and online, remains under development as part of a long-range plan called “Twice as Bold” — the title of a Dickinson poem — that’s designed to make the museum “the premier center for study, interpretation, creative expression, and celebration of Emily Dickinson’s life and legacy,” the museum says.
Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.
