Accessories from the Dickinson TV show acquired by the Emily Dickinson Museum and Harvard University

In the first episode of Dickinson, anachronistic and unorthodox Apple + TV series on the life and work of 19th century poet Emily Dickinson, the viewer discovers the figure of Death (played by Wiz Khalifa), who takes Dickinson (Hailee Steinfeld) to do a ride in a rich, padded carriage pulled by spectral horses – a reference to his famous poem “Because I couldn’t stop to die”. This cart is one of hundreds of set, costume and prop items from the streaming series that were donated by Apple TV + and wiip Productions to the Emily Dickinson Museum, located in the Former Dickinson Residences in Amherst, Massachusetts.

A second institution also received a donation. The show’s production archives, including its scripts and props such as hard-copy facsimiles of Dickinson’s writings and recreations of the hand-made “fascicle” books that contained them, will be heading to the Houghton Library. from Harvard University, a repository of rare books, manuscripts and archives that holds over 1,000 original Dickinson manuscripts, including 40 issues.

Although Dickinson, who died at the age of 55 in 1886 after more than two years of ill health, wrote some 1,800 poems, less than a dozen were published during her lifetime. His fame came posthumously when his stash of poetry was discovered by his younger sister Lavinia. Four years later, the first volume of his lyric poetry came out with great success. Today, Dickinson is a cult figure and widely regarded as one of the most important American poets of his time, characterized by his distinctive voice and the transmission of complex concepts with clear images.

Dickinson, the brainchild of writer-producer Alena Smith, was created in the fall of 2019 in the wake of the film Dickinsonian Wild nights with Emily (2018). Billed as a “comedy series that boldly explores the constraints of society, gender, and family from the perspective of rebellious young poet Emily Dickinson,” the popular series is currently in its third and final season, which is set will end on December 24. 2021.

Starting with pre-production and continuing as the series developed, the show worked closely with the Emily Dickinson Museum. The House Museum is located in the family home where Dickinson was born and died (the Homestead) as well as the home owned by his brother and sister-in-law, who was also the poet’s alleged lover (the Evergreens). Researchers and production staff frequently asked questions of the museum, while the cast toured the museum and the production team studied the architecture and floor plans of the buildings.

Announced on December 10, the day of the 191st anniversary of the poet of Sagittarius, the donation includes antique furniture, lighting and more than 100 costume pieces. In a statement, the museum said the exhibits were sourced “in the same way the museum would have done to acquire appropriate objects for its collection.” Despite the technical lack of “Dickinson provenance”, the furniture will be integrated into the museum’s decor. Virtually all of the intact kitchen in Dickinson’s house on the series will migrate to the real Homestead, which is currently closed for a restoration project.

Harvard’s Houghton Library, which has the largest collection of Dickinson manuscripts in the world – among other important Dickinsonian artifacts, such as the poet’s table and chair – was approached by the show regarding permission to reproduce from a picture. When Smith donated props and items from the production archives several years later, the Houghton Library first accepted a donation from a television show. The giveaway includes “tone books”, fictional and facsimile journals seen on the show, and bulk facsimile manuscripts, as well as several dozen accessory booklets, recreations of the sewn-in books. the hand in which Dickinson copied hundreds of poems. The real papers were unfortunately dismantled by Dickinson’s early editors, so none are exactly as the poet left them.

In a statement released by the Dickinson Museum, Smith said she could not “imagine a more meaningful conclusion to the trip of Dickinson than giving this gift. She continued, “This is the greatest ending to the story I wanted to tell, and it makes me so proud that these pieces from our production contribute to Emily’s legacy and help the museum in its mission to to deepen scholarly and historical preservation. “