7 10 2124 https://www.sc.concordlibrary.org/files/original/21/2065/3b505abd1f3445c12ae3e66983eabbe0.jpeg e7f00f89e553bf7c891a87494b78b8b5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Emerson in Concord Subject The topic of the resource Ralph Waldo Emerson Description An account of the resource Materials for the exhibit Emerson in Concord Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Concord Free Public Library Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CFPL web exhibit: Emerson in Concord Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Language A language of the resource English Middlesex Hotel A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource William Emerson III Subject The topic of the resource William Emerson III (1801-1868) Description An account of the resource Emerson's brother, William, was named after their father.“ William, all too early called … to be the prop and stay of the family, kept school for several years, studied for the ministry at Göttingen in Germany, but was turned by honest doubts from the profession of his fathers. There is an excellent letter written by him to Dr. Ripley in September, 1830, on the observance of the Lord’s Supper, in which he sets forth very clearly but respectfully the argument that it was not intended to be obligatory. This strongly suggests the source of the reasons set forth by his brother later for the satisfaction of the Second Church … William chose the profession of Law, which he exercised with fidelity and honor in New York for many years. In his busy life he always cherished his scholarly tastes, and he and his brother Waldo in days of prosperity and adversity stood by one another most loyally.”—Edward Waldo Emerson, Emerson in Concord. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Amelia Forbes Emerson Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Concord Free Public Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Undated Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All materials courtesy of the William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library Concord Emerson https://www.sc.concordlibrary.org/files/original/b8309823d15cd0002bc0b97dd23ce4fa.jpeg 46baa6b41c2d70055e501d23ead28932 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Emerson in Concord Subject The topic of the resource Ralph Waldo Emerson Description An account of the resource Materials for the exhibit Emerson in Concord Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Concord Free Public Library Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CFPL web exhibit: Emerson in Concord Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Language A language of the resource English Middlesex Hotel A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Photo of Bas Relief of Charles Chauncy Emerson Subject The topic of the resource Charles Chauncy Emerson Description An account of the resource “And so, Lidian, I can never bring you back my noble friend who was my ornament my wisdom & my pride.—A soul is gone so costly & so rare that few persons were capable of knowing its price and I shall have my sorrow to myself for if I speak of him I shall be thought a fond exaggerator. He had the fourfold perfection of good sense, of genius, of grace, & of virtue, as I have never seen them combined. I determined to live in Concord, as you know, because he was there, and now that the immense promise of his maturity is destroyed, I feel not only unfastened there and adrift but a sort of shame at living at all.”—RWE to Lidian Emerson, May 12, 1836 “In Charles, I found society that indemnified me for almost total seclusion from all other. He was my philosopher, my poet, my hero, my Christian. Of so creative a mind that … yet his conversation made Shakspear more conceivable to me; such an adorer of truth that he awed us, and a spirit of so much hilarity & elegancy that he actualized the heroic life to our eyes … I cannot tell you how much I miss him I depended on him so much. His taste & its organs his acute senses were our domestic oracle. His judgment, his memory were always in request. Even his particular accomplishments, who shall replace to me? He was an excellent Greek scholar and has recently read with me, more properly to me, a dialogue of Plato & the Electra of Sophocles. But why should I pore over my vanished treasures when I ought rather to remember the happiness … in which light I certainly do regard his life even whilst I deplore him—viz as in the whole a Vision to me out of heaven and a perpetual argument for the reality& permanence of all that we aspire after … I can gather no hint from this terrible experience, respecting my own duties I grope in greater darkness & with less heed.”—RWE to Harriet Martineau, May 30, 1836. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Amelia Forbes Emerson Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Concord Free Public Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Undated Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All materials courtesy of the William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library Concord Emerson https://www.sc.concordlibrary.org/files/original/9867a07015e8b8b44ef43655a3b492dc.jpeg 761874681b8ee588c8d6704f1b91f564 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Emerson in Concord Subject The topic of the resource Ralph Waldo Emerson Description An account of the resource Materials for the exhibit Emerson in Concord Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Concord Free Public Library Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CFPL web exhibit: Emerson in Concord Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Language A language of the resource English Middlesex Hotel A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ellen and Edith Emerson Subject The topic of the resource Edith and Ellen Emerson Description An account of the resource “Yesterday morning, 24 Feb. at 8 o’clock a daughter was born to me, a soft, quiet, swarthy little creature, apparently perfect & healthy. My second child. Blessings on thy head, little winter bud! & comest thou to try thy luck in this world & know if the things of God are things for thee? Well assured & very soft & still, the little maiden expresses great contentment with all she finds, & her delicate but fixed determination to stay where she is, & grow. So be it, my fair child! Lidian, who magnanimously makes my gods her gods, calls the babe Ellen. I can hardly ask more for thee, my babe, than that name implies. Be that vision & remain with us, & after us.”—RWE, journal, February 25, 1839 “Nellie waked & fretted at night & put all sleep of her seniors to rout. Seniors grew very cross, but Nell conquered soon by the pathos & eloquence of childhood & its words of fate. Thus after wishing it would be morning, she broke out into sublimity; ‘Mother, it must be morning.’ Presently, after, in her sleep, she rolled out of bed; I heard the little feet running around on the floor, and then, ‘O dear! Where’s my bed?’ She slept again, and then woke; ‘Mother, I am afraid; I wish I could sleep in the bed be side of you. I am afraid I shall tumble into the waters—It is all water.’ What else could papa do? He jumped out of bed & laid himself down by the little mischief, & soothed her the best he might.”—RWE, journal, June 26, 1842 “Be it known unto you that a little maiden child is born unto this house this day at 5 o clock this afternoon; it is a meek little girl which I have just seen, & in this short dark winter afternoon I cannot tell what color her eyes are, and the less, because she keeps them pretty closely shut: But there is nothing in her aspect to contradict the hope we feel that she has come for a blessing to our little company. Lidian is very well and finds herself suddenly recovered from a host of ails which she suffered from this morning. Waldo is quite deeply happy with this fair unexpected apparition & cannot peep & see it enough. Ellen has retired to bed unconscious of the fact & of all her rich gain in this companion. Shall I be discontented who had dreamed of a young poet that should come? I am quite too much affected with wonder & peace at what I have and behold & understand nothing of, to quarrel with it that it is not different.”—RWE to William and Susan Haven Emerson, November 22, 1841. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Amelia Forbes Emerson Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Concord Free Public Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Undated Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All materials courtesy of the William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library Concord Edith Emerson Ellen Emerson Emerson https://www.sc.concordlibrary.org/files/original/739c0d53ba55df696c00c7619c70a522.jpeg d1ab05e45efee9045a3a152758214ac0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Emerson in Concord Subject The topic of the resource Ralph Waldo Emerson Description An account of the resource Materials for the exhibit Emerson in Concord Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Concord Free Public Library Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CFPL web exhibit: Emerson in Concord Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Language A language of the resource English Middlesex Hotel A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lidian and Edward Emerson Subject The topic of the resource Lidian and Edward Emerson Description An account of the resource “One of my wise masters, Edmund Burke, said, ‘A wise man will speak the truth with temperance that he may speak it the longer.’ In this new sentiment that you awaken in me, my Lydian Queen, what might scare others pleases me, its quietness, which I accept as a pledge of permanence. I delighted myself on Friday with my quite domesticated position & the good understanding that grew all the time, yet I went & came without one vehement word—or one passionate sign. In this was nothing of design, I merely surrendered myself to the hour & to the facts. I find a sort of grandeur in the modulated expressions of a love in which the individuals, & what might seem even reasonable personal expectations, are steadily postponed to a regard for truth & the universal love. Do not think me a metaphysical lover. I am a man & hate & suspect the over refiners, & do sympathize with the homeliest pleasures & attractions by which our good foster mother Nature draws her children together. Yet am I well pleased that between us the most permanent ties should be the first formed & thereon should grow whatever others human nature will.”—RWE to Lydia Jackson, February 1, 1835 “My wife Lidian is an incarnation of Christianity,—I call her Asia—& keeps my philosophy from Antinomianism.”—RWE to Thomas Carlyle, May 10, 1838 “Blessed be the wife that in the talk tonight shared no vulgar sentiment, but said, In the gossip & excitement of the hour, be as one blind & deaf to it. Know it not. Do as if nothing had befallen. And when it was said by the friend, The end is not yet: wait till it is done; she said, ‘It is done in Eternity.’ Blessed be the wife! I, as always, venerate the oracular nature of woman. The sentiment which the man thinks he came unto gradually through the events of years, to his surprise he finds woman dwelling there in the same, as in her native home.”--RWE, journal, September 29, 1838 “Queenie (who has a gift to curse & swear) will every now & then in spite of all manners & christianity rip out on Saints, reformers, & Divine Providence with the most edifying zeal. In answer to the good Burrill Curtis who asks whether trade will not check the free course of love she insists ‘it shall be said that there is no love to restrain the course of, & never was, that poor God did all he could, but selfishness fairly carried the day.’ ”—RWE, journal, September?, 1841 “Queenie’s epitaph: ‘Do not wake me.’ ”—RWE, journal, March?, 1843. “Education. Don’t let them eat their seed-corn; don’t let them anticipate, or ante-date, & be young men, before they have finished their boyhood. Let them have the fields & woods, & learn their secret & the base & foot-ball, & wrestling, & brickbats, & suck all the strength & courage that lies for them in these games; let them ride bareback, & catch their horse in his pasture, let them hook & spear their fish, & shin a post and a tall tree, & shoot their partridge & trap the woodchuck, before they begin to dress like collegians, & sing in serenades, & make polite calls.”—RWE, journal, April-May?, 1856 “I am very happy to hear of your mending health, which you must carefully respect over all the studies & professors in the world, since it has been once so severely shaken, & you the only male heir of your line … ”—RWE to Edward Waldo Emerson, December 17, 1871. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Amelia Forbes Emerson Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Concord Free Public Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Undated Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All materials courtesy of the William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library Concord Edward Emerson Emerson https://www.sc.concordlibrary.org/files/original/78a7b101b97ab915d9974b34b78eac0c.jpeg 2420b828b56490f79e580cebd39a902c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Emerson in Concord Subject The topic of the resource Ralph Waldo Emerson Description An account of the resource Materials for the exhibit Emerson in Concord Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Concord Free Public Library Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CFPL web exhibit: Emerson in Concord Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Language A language of the resource English Middlesex Hotel A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Edith Emerson Subject The topic of the resource Edith Emerson Description An account of the resource “My dear Edie, Your little letter & flower & some drawings your mother sent me made me very glad about you, & I am making ready as fast as I can to finish my visit and come home and find you again. I shall have a great many stories to tell you about little boys & girls in England and in France; and you will have a hundred things to tell me, now that you have learned to read, & can choose books & stories for yourself. I am delighted to hear that you take such good care of Eddy, & tell him what is in your books, & teach him verses to say. I long to hear him say them; & you must not let him forget them. A few days ago, there were fifty hundred children, all in the uniforms of their different schools, met in the great church of St. Paul’s, and they sung hymns together, & people say, they sung well. I was very sorry I could not go to hear them. But I should not have liked it better than I like “Now condescend,” and so forth, when sung by three little people whom I know. I hope they will sing it for me & Mother together again in five or six weeks. So goodbye for today! Papa.” —RWE to Edith Emerson, from London, June 23, 1848 “Edith, who until now has been quite superior to all learning, has been smitten with ambition at Miss Whiting’s school and cannot be satisfied with spelling. She spells at night on my knees with fury & will not give over; asks new words like conundrums with nervous restlessness and, as Miss W. tells me, ‘will not spell at school for fear she shall miss.’ Poor Edie struggled hard to get the white card called an ‘approbation’ which was given out on Saturdays but one week she lost it by dropping out of a book on her way home her week’s card on which her marks were recorded. This she tried hard to get safe home but she had no pocket so she put it in her book as the safest place. When half way home she looked in her book & it was there; but when she arrived at home it was gone. The next week she tried again to keep a clean bill but Henry Frost pointed his jack-knife at her; Edie said, ‘Don’t!’ & lost her ‘approbation’ again.”—RWE, journal, October, 1848 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Amelia Forbes Emerson Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Concord Free Public Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Undated Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All materials courtesy of the William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library Concord Edith Emerson Emerson https://www.sc.concordlibrary.org/files/original/2a0cffdf009de101df982d9769cf1655.jpeg e3be56b88501454840efcdaffb259c85 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Emerson in Concord Subject The topic of the resource Ralph Waldo Emerson Description An account of the resource Materials for the exhibit Emerson in Concord Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Concord Free Public Library Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CFPL web exhibit: Emerson in Concord Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Language A language of the resource English Middlesex Hotel A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Emerson reading to Edith and Ellen Subject The topic of the resource Ralph Waldo Emerson Description An account of the resource “He liked to read and recite to us poems or prose passages a little above our heads, and on Sunday mornings often brought into the dining-room something rather old for us, and read aloud from Southey’s Chronicle of the Cid, or Froissart’s Chronicles, or Burke’s speeches, or amusing passages from Sydney Smith or Charles Lamb or Lowell. One rainy Sunday when we could not go to walk we got permission from our mother to play Battledore and Shuttlecock for a little while, but no sooner did the sound of the shuttlecock on the parchment bathead ring through the house than we heard the study door open and our father’s stride in the entry. He came in and said: ‘That sound was never heard in New England before on Sunday and must not be in my house. Put them away.’ ”—Edward Waldo Emerson, Emerson in Concord. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Amelia Forbes Emerson Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Concord Free Public Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Undated Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All materials courtesy of the William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library Concord Edith Emerson Ellen Emerson Emerson https://www.sc.concordlibrary.org/files/original/fd1d4f64a606d172f50e0545e7e6cf63.jpeg c61105f96c49ae39dee3d17fa2b64511 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Emerson in Concord Subject The topic of the resource Ralph Waldo Emerson Description An account of the resource Materials for the exhibit Emerson in Concord Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Concord Free Public Library Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CFPL web exhibit: Emerson in Concord Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Language A language of the resource English Middlesex Hotel A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Emerson with son Edward and grandson Charles Lowell Emerson Subject The topic of the resource Emerson's family Description An account of the resource “The sight of his grandchildren always brought the brightest smile to his face.”—Edward Waldo Emerson, Emerson in Concord. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Amelia Forbes Emerson Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Concord Free Public Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Undated Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All materials courtesy of the William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library Concord Edward Emerson Emerson https://www.sc.concordlibrary.org/files/original/6b0fc2a57220d96d5266f5004add7c75.jpeg a1e8926d3fcaeaf6d6268ffe7f6bc4a8 https://www.sc.concordlibrary.org/files/original/0ea1e8c3a43f77282d1e5fb4b8027108.jpeg c027c8f20d6df95320e213787e11b8b3 https://www.sc.concordlibrary.org/files/original/fd75982f37cdf5f59cd4fa8c84c8e451.jpeg 39e24889b4367041cc2f2d5e973fc82b https://www.sc.concordlibrary.org/files/original/ef10b933362970182c4cee0bc9901d6a.jpeg c6ea30b6e9304b8675044bcab35d7bd6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Emerson in Concord Subject The topic of the resource Ralph Waldo Emerson Description An account of the resource Materials for the exhibit Emerson in Concord Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Concord Free Public Library Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CFPL web exhibit: Emerson in Concord Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Language A language of the resource English Middlesex Hotel A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Fire at Emerson's Home Subject The topic of the resource Fire Description An account of the resource Sleeping on the second floor of Bush, Emerson was awakened by the crackling of flames and the smell of smoke at 5:30 in the morning on July 24, 1872. He shouted to wake up Lidian (who slept on the first floor), dressed hastily, and ran out into the rainy morning to rouse the neighbors. The town mobilized quickly. The First Parish bell alerted the Fire Department. Sam Staples prevented Lidian from going upstairs to rescue her daughter Ellen’s possessions (Ellen was not at home at the time), but firefighters and villagers managed to haul a great deal from the burning house. Ellen’s piano was removed to the nearby Staples home. Food, clothing, and furniture were saved, as were Emerson’s manuscripts (some gathered up by Louisa May Alcott and her sister May) and most of his books. Unfortunately, family papers stored in the attic, where the fire had started, were destroyed, and the house itself was badly damaged. The manuscript records of Concord’s Engine Company No. 1 offer no explanation as to how the blaze started. In annotating his father’s July 24th journal entry about the fire (consisting of the two words “House burned”), Edward Emerson stated that it was “almost surely” started by the kerosene lamp of a newly hired domestic “prowling” in the attic at night. The July 25th issue of the Boston Daily Advertiser suggested another possible cause: “It is supposed that the fire originated in a defective flue, that it caught on Tuesday morning and had been smouldering ever since.” Despite equipment problems (specifically, a shortage of functioning hose), Concord firemen had taken significant risks to save what they could of the Emersons’ effects. The family appreciated what they had done. Emerson wrote a letter to the Fire Department on July 29th to express his thanks for “the able, hearty, and in great part successful exertion in our behalf, in resisting and extinguishing the fire, which threatened to destroy my house on Wednesday morning last.” Lidian, too, was grateful for the kindness shown them by their fellow Concordians. She wrote to a friend, “We have received such warm expressions of kindness from our friends, and have witnessed such disinterested action and brave daring in our town’s people, that we feel … as if Concord was a large family of personal friends and well-wishers.” After the fire was put out, the Emersons were taken to the Monument Street home of Judge John Shepard Keyes, who invited them to remain for an extended period. They turned down the invitation and accepted that of Emerson’s kinswoman Elizabeth Ripley, who lived at the Manse. Judge Hoar obtained space in the Court House for Emerson’s books and papers, so that the dispirited man might continue to write. Francis Cabot Lowell, one of Emerson’s Harvard classmates, personally delivered a $5,000 check (the gift of himself and several other friends) to offset expenses incurred by the fire. Soon after, Judge Hoar presented Emerson with a gift of more than twice the amount of the first, collected from friends to fund a trip to Egypt. In October, with Ellen as companion, Emerson sailed for England. He visited London, Paris, Florence, Rome, and Egypt, saw his old friend Thomas Carlyle for the final time, and met John Ruskin and Robert Browning. Back in Concord, John Shepard Keyes supervised repairs to Bush. In the spring of 1873, Lidian Emerson and daughter Edith Forbes threw themselves into redecorating and furnishing the house in time for Emerson’s return. Emerson and Ellen sailed home on the Olympus, arriving in Boston late in May. Concord had planned a surprise welcome for them. On Tuesday, May 27th, detained by ruse on the ship until the town was ready to receive them, they took the 2:30 Fitchburg train. Emerson was deeply moved and more than a little confused when he stepped off the train at the Concord Depot and encountered a cheering crowd and ringing bells. A band had been hired, and a welcoming arch built by the gate of Bush. A procession of citizens and schoolchildren escorted four carriages—the final one bearing Emerson, Ellen, and the Forbeses—to the house, where Lidian waited. On their arrival, the accompanying children sang “Home Sweet Home.” The town could hardly have shown its affection in a more emotional way. According to Edward Emerson, his father addressed the crowd at the gate of his home with the words, “My friends! I know that this is not a tribute to an old man and his daughter returned to their house, but to the common blood of us all—one family—in Concord!” Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Committee on reception for R.W. Emerson Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Concord Free Public Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1873 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All materials courtesy of the William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library Bush Concord Emerson Fire https://www.sc.concordlibrary.org/files/original/051eb7230d884c12a23f8be56e943ad4.jpeg 4a8712762ab725a6adbc53d01c3f0d36 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Emerson in Concord Subject The topic of the resource Ralph Waldo Emerson Description An account of the resource Materials for the exhibit Emerson in Concord Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Concord Free Public Library Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CFPL web exhibit: Emerson in Concord Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Language A language of the resource English Middlesex Hotel A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Death of Emerson Subject The topic of the resource Ralph Waldo Emerson Description An account of the resource n April, 1882, a frail and forgetful Emerson attended the funeral of his old friend Longfellow, remembering neither the man nor, after the event, the ceremonies. Over the following week, a cold that he had recently caught walking coatless in the rain developed into pneumonia. Surrounded by family and friends in his last days, Emerson died on April 27th, a little before 9:00 P.M., one month before his seventy-ninth birthday. At his death, the First Parish bell broke the night silence seventy-nine times. The Emerson family and the people of Concord planned a funeral in keeping with Emerson’s national and local importance. Judge Hoar brought First Parish organist Thomas Whitney Surette to the Emerson house to choose hymns for the April 30th church service. Daniel Chester French—who had enjoyed Emerson’s endorsement in obtaining the commission for his Minute Man statue and who in 1879 had sculpted a bust of Emerson—draped the body in a white robe, dramatic in contrast with the dark wood of the black walnut coffin. The women of Concord made black and white rosettes to decorate houses that people would see on the way from the depot and along the route of the funeral procession. Public buildings were hung with black drapery. The Fitchburg Railroad arranged special trains to bring the anticipated throng of mourners to Concord. The floors and galleries of the First Parish were reinforced to support the weight of the numbers expected. Both private and public services were held on April 30th. The private service at Bush, conducted by William Henry Furness, began at 2:30. At its conclusion, a hearse carried the coffin to the First Parish, accompanied by pallbearers, members of the Social Circle, and carriages bearing family members. The First Parish was decorated with pine and hemlock branches and a variety of flowers. Louisa May Alcott—who had idolized Emerson—had prepared a lyre of jonquils. The service, conducted by James Freeman Clarke, began at 3:30. Judge Hoar spoke emotionally. Bronson Alcott read a poem he had written for the occasion. At the conclusion of the ceremony, some of those waiting outside were allowed to enter and file past the coffin. The body was transported to Sleepy Hollow. Samuel Moody Haskins—Emerson’s cousin—conducted the Episcopal burial service. The Emerson grandchildren and the schoolchildren of Concord dropped flowers and greenery into the grave. Before the mourners dispersed, the sun broke through the clouds that had threatened rain all day. Later, the Emerson family marked the grave with a large piece of rough-hewn rose quartz bearing a bronze plaque inscribed with lines from Emerson’s poem “The Problem.” National press coverage of Emerson’s death and funeral was intense. As significant as his passing was to the nation, however, Concord felt the loss in a way no other place could. Much of the May 4, 1882 issue of the Concord Freeman was devoted to Emerson and to events connected with his death and burial. “Concord’s Irreparable Loss,” a front-page article, expressed the town’s particular claim to grief: “Here, for half a century, he walked up and down among the people, grandly, yet humbly; thinking and living at times in a realm far above and beyond the people, yet like all truly great men, in sympathy with his surroundings, and interested in the commonest … events … [H]e whom many of the great and good from every clime who came to our shores were glad to meet and visit in his unpretentious home, he who never sought, but always received flattering consideration from the world’s intellectually and spiritually distinguished, loved this village and this people ... ” Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Concord Freeman Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Concord Free Public Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1882 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All materials courtesy of the William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library Concord Emerson Funeral https://www.sc.concordlibrary.org/files/original/b15f5ed9fa4e0e573cc18a14739e4214.jpeg 5fb4a10650694619957ff48bafbc55fb Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Emerson in Concord Subject The topic of the resource Ralph Waldo Emerson Description An account of the resource Materials for the exhibit Emerson in Concord Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Concord Free Public Library Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CFPL web exhibit: Emerson in Concord Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Language A language of the resource English Middlesex Hotel A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Painting Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Scott Portrait Subject The topic of the resource Ralph Waldo Emerson Description An account of the resource This oil portrait of Emerson was painted by Scottish engraver and artist David Scott (1806-1849) in 1848, during Emerson’s second visit abroad. At the time, Emerson already had a following in Britain as well as in America. Scott—an admirer of Emerson’s writings—met him at a dinner party. Although the artist preferred classical and epic subjects to portraits, he was eager to paint Emerson and invited him to breakfast the following day. Emerson sat several times for Scott at his studio on the outskirts of Edinburgh. He described Scott as “a sort of Bronson Alcott with easel and brushes, a sincere great man, grave, silent, contemplative, and plain.” Scott found Emerson as a sitter not quite what he had anticipated. He thought Emerson’s appearance “severe, and dry, and hard,” that Emerson was “guarded and cold” at times. It was in conversation, Scott discovered, that the personality of the man—his simplicity, directness, kindness, and truthfulness—expressed itself. Scott depicted Emerson in the lecture stance, in the act of communication. He included one of Emerson’s characteristic physical traits—the clenching of one hand into a fist while lecturing. Scott also employed symbolism to convey something of Emerson’s philosophy. He suggested Transcendental optimism through the rainbow in the upper left corner of the painting. Emerson’s son Edward did not particularly like the Scott portrait of his father. But, as his comments in The Centenary of the Birth of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1903) reveal, he responded to the symbol of the rainbow: “ … in the pictures of the good men and women who have been canonized, they are represented with some emblem,—a book or a wheel or a cross or a sword, as an attribute. David Scott, the Edinburgh painter, has this one merit in that wooden picture that he made of my father, in that he recognized that my father stood for Hope, and he put the rainbow in the background—the symbol of hope.” David Scott died at forty-three, the year after he painted this portrait. Twenty years later, Scott’s brother William sent the piece to the United States to sell it. The painting received a mixed response here. Some close to Emerson—Lidian and Bronson Alcott, for example—thought it a good likeness. Others didn’t care for its darkness and for the stiffness of the figure. Emerson declined to buy it, as did Harvard. Finally, the founding of the Concord Free Public Library provided the motivation for Judge Hoar, his sister Elizabeth, and Reuben Rice to purchase it as a gift in recognition of Emerson’s importance to the library and to the community of Concord. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource David Scott Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Concord Free Public Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1848 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All materials courtesy of the William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library Art Collection Concord Free Public Library David Scott Emerson Painting