Emily Dickinson Museum Comprehensive Interpretive Planning

FAIN: BP-266365-19

Amherst College (Amherst, MA 01002-2372)
Brooke M. Steinhauser (Project Director: January 2019 to present)

Planning for a new interpretive plan and public programs at the home of poet Emily Dickinson (1830–86).

The Emily Dickinson Museum (EDM) seeks funding of $63,025 through the NEH public humanities projects grant for historic places at the planning level. Having achieved major master plan goals in its 15-year history, the EDM is now focused on uniting its historic spaces, collections, and narratives to serve a growing contemporary audience. A new mission, completed infrastructure work, and past and impending restoration all highlight the stark need for an interpretive plan. The planning process will incorporate current scholarship to revise the EDM interpretation goals, themes, and methods. This grant will result in a written plan that considers multiple approaches and methods and takes an inclusive approach to audience engagement.

Associated Products

Comprehensive Interpretive Plan Emily Dickinson Museum (Report)
Title: Comprehensive Interpretive Plan Emily Dickinson Museum
Author: Matt Kirkman
Author: Brooke Steinhauser
Abstract: In 2019 Museum staff acquired funding through the National Endowment for the Humanities public humanities projects grant program to create a new Comprehensive Interpretive Plan (CIP). Through this planning process, the Museum sought to develop an actionable document that incorporates new scholarship; considers multiple approaches and methods of interpretation; utilizes a fully activated collection and appropriate restoration work; incorporates the organization’s strategic goals; highlights the social impact of our cultural programming; brings immediacy to the Museum’s interpretation; and takes an inclusive approach to audience engagement.
Date: 05/01/2021
Access Model: n/a
ISBN: n/a

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