Amherst College (Emily Dickinson Museum)

The Emily Dickinson Museum at Amherst College will improve the management and accessibility of its entire collection of 7,000 artifacts encompassing the personal effects of 19th century poet Emily Dickinson and her family. The project team will catalogue, number, and photograph the artifacts. The collections records and images will be publicly accessible and searchable online through an interface on the museum's website. The museum will hire a full-time collections manager and part-time collections assistant to execute the project. Consulting conservators will provide training for project and museum staff in object handling, numbering, and preventive care techniques. The project will improve the long-term preservation of the collection, generate broader interpretive use of the objects for exhibitions, and increase access for researchers and the general public.