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Scholars Believe They Have Second Known Photo Of Emily Dickinson

Scholars at Amherst College believe a local collector may have obtained what would be just the second known photo of reclusive poet Emily Dickinson. WAMC’s Paul Tuthill reports.

The college says a collector who wishes to remain anonymous bought the photo in 1995 in Springfield and brought it to the college in 2007. They say they've been researching it since. It was shown publicly last month.

The photo from 1859 appears to show Dickinson sitting next a friend.

The college says they have good evidence it's Dickinson, including a detailed comparison of the eyes of the woman in the photo with a known photo of Dickinson from 1847. It hasn't been definitively confirmed.

The college says if it is Dickinson, it shows the Amherst native as a mature woman with a striking presence.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
 

https://www.amherst.edu/library/archives/holdings/edickinson/new_daguerreotype
http://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/new_daguerreotype

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.