Emily Dickinson Museum Awarded Prestigious IMLS Grant

November 18, 2005
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AMHERST, Mass.—The Institute of Museum and Library Services has awarded the Emily Dickinson Museum a grant of $105,703 to extend its interpretive plans for the Dickinson Homestead, The Evergreens and their shared landscape.

The museum was one of 169 museums which vied successfully with 543 applicants nationwide for funding from the highly competitive Museums for America grant program. The program helps museums sustain the world's cultural heritage, support lifelong learning and serve as centers of community engagement.

The Emily Dickinson Museum's three-year grant project will build on the research and recommendations of the architectural consulting firm Mesick, Cohen, Wilson, Baker, whose master plan for the museum will be completed by the end of the year. The IMLS grant, to be matched on a one-to-one basis by the museum, will fund the creation of a furnishings plan for The Evergreens and a furnishings and exhibit plan for the Homestead. Curatorial consultant Nan Wolverton will develop the plans for interpreting the two houses through the Museum's large collection, stored primarily at The Evergreens. Landscape consultant Marta McDowell will create a self-guided tour of the historic Dickinson landscape that allows visitors to explore the family's varied interests in nature, while also fulfilling the museum's long-term programmatic goal of offering a range of interpretive options to its visitors.

“The components of this project mark the culmination of a long process, begun more than 10 years ago, to determine the potential of the Dickinson houses and landscape to convey accurately and effectively the Dickinson family story,” said Cindy Dickinson, the museum's director for programming and interpretation. “We are so pleased to have IMLS support for a project so fundamental to the mission of our museum.”

“Museums for America grants help museums position themselves to play a vital role in the development of strong learning communities,” said IMLS acting director Mary Chute. “The museums will match the federal dollars with an additional $32,891,246 to fund educational and cultural exhibits, digitize and integrate collections for greater access, work with schools to develop curricula and programs and conduct research that will encourage civic participation, build 21st-century skills, invest in our youth and reach out to seniors. The grants are investments in museums and in America.”

As IMLS's largest grant program, Museums for America provides more than $16 million in grants to support the role of museums in American society. The grants build the capacity of museums to sustain our cultural heritage, support lifelong learning and serve as centers of community engagement. Museums for America grants strengthen the ability of museums to serve the public more effectively by supporting high-priority activities that advance the institutions' mission and strategic goals. The flexible grants can be used by a museum for ongoing activities, research, planning and behind-the-scenes work, new programs, the purchase of equipment or services or technology upgrades and integration to improve overall institutional effectiveness.

The Institute for Museum and Library Services is an independent federal grant-making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners by helping libraries and museums serve their communities.

The Emily Dickinson Museum, comprising the Dickinson Homestead and The Evergreens, two historic houses in Amherst, is devoted to the story and legacy of poet Emily Dickinson and her family. The Dickinson Homestead was the birthplace and residence of the poet (1830-1886). The Evergreens was the 1856 home of the poet's brother and sister-in-law, Austin and Susan Dickinson. Merged into a single museum in 2003, both properties are owned by the Trustees of Amherst College. For more information on the Emily Dickinson Museum, please visit the museum's website.

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Nobel Laureate Anthony Leggett To Speak at Amherst College Dec. 1

November 29, 2005
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AMHERST, Mass.—Nobel laureate Anthony Leggett, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor and Center for Advanced Study Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will give a Five College “What's New in Physics” talk on the topic “Does the Everyday World Obey Quantum Mechanics,” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1, in the Pruyne Lecture Hall (Fayerweather 115) at Amherst College. Sponsored by the Departments of Physics at the Five Colleges and with the support of Five Colleges, Inc., Leggett's talk is free and open to the public.

A pioneer in the field of superfluidity, Leggett received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2003 for his research in the theory of low-temperature physics. Leggett's work has shaped the theoretical understanding of normal and superfluid helium liquids and other strongly coupled superfluids, set directions for research in the quantum physics of macroscopic dissipative systems and use of condensed systems to test the foundations of quantum mechanics.

A member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences, Leggett is also a Fellow of the Royal Society (U.K.), the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics. Leggett is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Physics (U.K.) and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 “for services to physics.”

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Sociologist Ira Silver '91 To Speak on “Urban Crises” at Amherst College Dec. 8

November 28, 2005
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AMHERST, Mass.—Ira Silver, an assistant professor of sociology at Framingham State College and a 1991 graduate of Amherst College, will speak on “What Do Urban Crises Tell Us About the Poverty in Our Midst?” at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 8, in the Babbott Room of the Octagon at the college. The second lecture in the series “Old Students with New and Nifty Ideas,” sponsored by the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Silver's talk is free and open to the public.

As did the news reports after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the mass media in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina presented poverty as stemming from inequality of opportunity. This portrayal contrasted with Americans' prevalent view that poverty derives chiefly from individual pathology. Both events—Hurricane Katrina and the Los Angeles riots—fueled massive charitable concern, suggesting that the underlying crisis for many was not the physical devastation wrought by fire or flood, but the unmasking of stark and uncomfortable truths about poverty in the U.S.

After graduating summa cum laude from Amherst with a degree in sociology, Silver continued his studies at Northwestern University, where he received the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. He has published widely and is currently completing a book titled The Elusive Quest for Community Empowerment: Private Philanthropy and the Embattled Legacy of the War on Poverty.

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Stanislavsky Theater Studio To Present “ Babel ” at Amherst College Dec. 4

November 28, 2005
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AMHERST, Mass.—Andrei Malaev-Babel, the producing artistic director of the Stanislavsky Theater Studio in Washington, D.C., will perform Babel: How It was Done in Odessa, a dramatization (in Russian and English) of three short stories by Isaac Babel, his grandfather, at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 4, in the Amherst Center for Russian Culture in Webster Hall at Amherst College. Free and open to the public, this performance and a reception to follow are sponsored by the Vadim Filatov '86 Memorial Lecture Fund.

The Stanislavsky Theater Studio created the performance of Babel: How it Was Done in Odessa in 2004 in celebration of the 110th anniversary of Isaac Babel's birth. An international organization of artists practicing what they call “fantastic realism,” the Stanislavsky Theater Studio is creating theater that draws upon traditional theatrical concepts to establish new and innovative styles of performance and to create a repertory company based on international theatrical traditions. Founded in 1997, the theater strives to merge, not separate, culturally diverse audiences in the positive and enlightening forum of communication, using bold theatricality and a striking visual aspect.

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Amherst College Writing Dean Susan Snively Publishes in Poetry Daily

November 22, 2005
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AMHERST, Mass.—Susan Snively, the director of the Writing Center and associate dean of students at Amherst College, will publish a poem in the popular online anthology of contemporary poetry in print Poetry Daily on Dec. 3. The poem, “A Riff of Zoloft,” appeared in her new book of poems, Skeptic Traveler (2005), and in the fall issue of The Antioch Review.

Skeptic Traveler explores Snively's travels through the United States and Europe in accessible and artful verse. William Pritchard wrote, “ Skeptic Traveler is a collection graced by intelligence, wit, and also by a feeling heart. Susan Snively's skepticism, whether exercised in traveling to other countries, to her familial past, or to the nooks and crannies of a complicated present, is a humane one.” Richard Wilbur described Snively's work as “clean-cut, fluent, witty, direct, full of personality and surprise. [She] can also be deeply meditative, grave and affecting, uproarious.”

Snively is a graduate of Smith College and received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Boston University. She has been writing and teaching at Amherst College since 1981. In addition to her newest release, Snively has published several books of poetry, including From This Distance (1981), Voices in the House (1988) and The Undertow (1998).

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Art Historian Jean Sorabella To Speak on “The Barberini Faun” at Amherst College Dec. 5

November 22, 2005
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AMHERST, Mass.—Jean Sorabella, professor of art and art history at Adelphi University, will give a lecture titled “The Barberini Faun and Hellenistic Royal Fantasy” at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 5, in Pruyne Lecture Hall (Fayerweather 115) at Amherst College. Sponsored by the classics department at Amherst College, this talk and a reception to follow are free and open to the public.

Sorabella, a 1993 graduate of Amherst College with a degree in fine arts and French, attended the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, received a Ph.D. from Columbia University in the Department of Art History and Archaeology and has worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

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Kwanzaa Celebration at Amherst College Dec. 4

November 22, 2005
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AMHERST, Mass.—Amherst College will present its annual Kwanzaa celebration at 12 noon on Sunday, Dec. 4, in the Cole Assembly Room (Red Room) in Converse Hall. Sponsored by the Dean of Students Office and the Black Students Union at the college, the program and traditional feast are free and open to the public.

From the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” meaning “first fruits,” Kwanzaa is the week-long African American holiday observance held from Dec. 26 to Jan.1. Founded in 1966 by Ron Karenga (Ron Everett), Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday, but a cultural one based on first harvest celebrations celebrated in Africa. The seven days of Kwanzaa are dedicated to seven principles: Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity) and Imani (faith).

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Emily Dickinson Museum Names Cullen Murphy and Betsy McInnis to Board of Governors

November 18, 2005
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AMHERST, Mass.—Cullen Murphy and Betsy McInnis have been elected to the board of governors of the Emily Dickinson Museum, it was announced today by Polly Longsworth, the museum's chair.

“Cullen and Betsy are great additions to the museum's board of governors,” Longsworth said. “Their talents augment the effectiveness of an already strong small board. Betsy brings long experience helping community institutions thrive, while Cullen's management skills and literary steeping in Dickinson 's beloved Atlantic Monthly fit the museum well. We all look forward to working together.”

A 1974 graduate of Amherst, Murphy was elected to the Emily Dickinson Museum board on June 23. He has been the managing editor of The Atlantic Monthly, a general interest magazine, since 1985. He is the author of the magazine's monthly column, “Innocent Bystander,” in which he once suggested that a revised edition of the Bible might be well served to substitute Dickinson's poems for the Book of Psalms. Founded in 1857, the magazine is devoted to politics, literature, science and the arts, and has a current circulation of 500,000. During Murphy's tenure, The Atlantic, which is about to move from Boston to Washington D.C., has been a finalist for 65 National Magazine Awards, winning 13 times.

For 30 years, Murphy has written the syndicated comic strip Prince Valiant, which appears in some 350 newspapers worldwide. Author of three books, including Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage (1992), with William L. Rathje, he currently has two other books in progress.

In addition to his work with the Emily Dickinson Museum, Murphy is a member of the usage panel for the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, a member of the boards of trustees of Amherst College, the Folger Shakespeare Library and the American Society of Magazine Editors, vice president of the board for the Massachusetts Foundation of the Humanities, member of the advisory board for the Boisi Center for Religion in American Public Life at Boston College and on the board of judges for both the Richard J. Margolis Award of the Blue Mountain Center and the Michael Kelly Award.

A native of New Rochelle, N.Y., Murphy grew up in Greenwich, Conn., and was educated at Catholic schools in Greenwich and Dublin, Ireland. He resides in Massachusetts with his wife, Anna Marie, and their three children.

Betsy McInnis is a former marketing executive who applies her business background to developing innovative programs and strategies in the non-profit sector. McInnis has worked in publishing, education, cable television and financial services. Named October 27, she is the 10th person voted to the museum's board.

Some of McInnis's career highlights include assignments with American Express in New York, London and Paris, where she marketed the American Express Card to some of France 's finest restaurants. She has also been a vice president at Citibank, as well as a vice president of marketing at Katherine Gibbs Schools, where she directed a successful turnaround and repositioning of the school during its ownership by Macmillan.

Her extensive non-profit work includes serving as president of the board and interim managing director of the Alliance Francaise de Houston, a French language school and cultural institution in Houston, Texas. She has been a board member of the Alley Theater, the Friends of the School of Music of the University of Houston, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation of Houston and the Gladney Center for Adoption (Houston Chapter). McInnis is on the advisory board for Family Outreach of Amherst, a human services agency dedicated to helping families in crisis; the Amherst Town Committee for International Studies; and Round the World Women. She is also active with the gala committee for the Fine Arts Center of the University of Massachusetts and with fundraising for the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies.

A native of Chicago, McInnis lives in Amherst with her husband, Bruce, and daughter Micki.

The Emily Dickinson Museum, comprising the Dickinson Homestead and The Evergreens, two historic houses in Amherst, is devoted to the story and legacy of poet Emily Dickinson and her family. The Dickinson Homestead was the birthplace and residence of the poet (1830-1886). The Evergreens was the 1856 home of the poet's brother and sister-in-law, Austin and Susan Dickinson. Merged into a single museum in 2003, both properties are owned by the Trustees of Amherst College. For more information please, visit the Emily Dickinson Museum.

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Classicist Michael Putnam Will Speak at Amherst College

November 16, 2005
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AMHERST, Mass.—Classicist Michael Putnam, a member of the faculty at Brown University, will speak at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16, in the Babbott Room of the Octagon at Amherst College. His lecture is open to the public at no charge.

Putnam's primary interest is in Latin literature, and his specialty is the poetry of Republican and Augustan Rome. His books include The Poetry of the Aeneid, Virgil's Pastoral Art, Virgil's Poem of the Earth and Horace's Carmen Saeculare. Among his awards are the Rome Prize and the Charles J. Goodwin Award of Merit.

A member of the Institute for Advanced Study, he is also a member of the Comparative Literature faculty and of the Committee on Renaissance and Early Modern Studies.

The event is sponsored by the Eastman Fund. A reception will follow the talk.

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Dorothy Huff Oberhaus To Speak on Emily Dickinson's Fascicles at Amherst College Dec. 8

November 16, 2005
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AMHERST, Mass.—Dorothy Huff Oberhaus of Mercy College will lecture on " Emily Dickinson 's Fascicles: The Fox & The Hound" at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 8, at the Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Frost Library. Co-sponsored by the Emily Dickinson Museum and the Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, the talk will investigate Emily Dickinson's fascicles, which are at the heart of the poet's work and at the center of Dickinson studies.

A professor of English at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., Oberhaus is the author of Emily Dickinson's Fascicles: Method and Meaning (1995), which describes the aesthetic principles underlying Dickinson 's 40 fascicles. Oberhaus posits that each fascicle is a carefully constructed poetic sequence, and together the 40 form a long single work, which make up Dickinson's magnum opus.

The Emily Dickinson Museum, comprising the Dickinson Homestead and The Evergreens, two historic houses in Amherst, is devoted to the story and legacy of poet Emily Dickinson and her family. The Dickinson Homestead was the birthplace and residence of the poet (1830-1886). The Evergreens was the 1856 home of the poet's brother and sister-in-law, Austin and Susan Dickinson. Merged into a single museum in 2003, both properties are owned by the Trustees of Amherst College. For more information on the Emily Dickinson Museum, visit www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org.

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Emily Dickinson Museum Celebrates the Poet's Birthday Dec. 10

November 16, 2005
Director of Media Relations
413/542-8417

AMHERST, Mass.—The Emily Dickinson Museum will host its annual Open House on Saturday, Dec. 10, from 1 to 4 p.m. in honor of Emily Dickinson's 175th birthday (Dec. 10, 1830). The event is free and open to the public. The Emily Dickinson Museum is composed of the Dickinson Homestead, birthplace and home of the poet, and The Evergreens next door, the home of Austin and Susan Dickinson, the poet's brother and sister-in-law.

The Museum's 10th annual "At Home" celebration will include self-guided tours of the Homestead and The Evergreens, parlor music, poetry reading and special cakes from Dickinson family recipes. In addition, visitors will be invited to write their own birthday tributes to Emily Dickinson. And as is tradition, this year the first 175 guests to the Museum will receive a rose, offered by an anonymous donor.

The Museum is located on Main Street in Amherst and is owned by the Trustees of Amherst College. For more information about the Open House, please call 413/542-8161 or visit www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org. Accessible parking is available at the Homestead; all other vehicles are asked to park on the street or in an Amherst College lot on Spring Street. Call for more information about accessibility. The Museum will be closed for the winter from Dec. 12 through March 1.

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Scholar of Slave Literature Joan Dayan To Speak at Amherst College Nov. 30

November 16, 2005
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AMHERST, Mass.—Colin (Joan) Dayan, Warren Penn Professor in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University, will lecture on “Legal Terror” at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 30, in the Pruyne Lecture Hall (Fayerweather 115) at Amherst College. Sponsored by the Office of the President, this talk is free and open to the public.

Dayan is an expert on Caribbean literature and the literature of slavery. Her works include Haiti, History, and the Gods (1995), Fables of Mind (1987) and A Rainbow for the Christian West (1977). In addition, she has published several papers in prominent scholarly journals. In 2004, she was selected as a Guggenheim Fellow for the 2004-05 year, an award she used to study slavery, incarceration and the law. Her forthcoming book, Punishments Cruel and Unusual, will be published by Princeton University Press next year.

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Arthur Vining Davis Foundations Make Grant to Amherst College

November 15, 2005
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AMHERST, Mass.—The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations have awarded $200,000 for the construction of the new earth sciences and museum of natural history building at Amherst College.

Scheduled to open for teaching early in 2006, the new building will serve as a research laboratory and exhibition hall, allowing students and visitors to view and work with its impressive collections. The public exhibits are expected to open in the summer. The first dinosaur tracks ever documented in New England, the highlight of former college president Edward Hitchcock's vast collection, will be displayed in the main atrium, along with the full skeleton of a mastodon. The walls of this space, constructed almost entirely of glass, promise to showcase the illuminated mastodon for special nighttime viewing. Additionally, the building will feature several research laboratories with adjoining student project rooms. In this way, the building will connect students and faculty in the same research space. Finally, the new museum will contain four shared teaching laboratories, further facilitating the faculty-student interactions that define teaching and learning at Amherst.

Based in Jacksonville, Fla., the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations are a national philanthropic organization established through the generosity of the late American industrialist Arthur Vining Davis. The purpose of the foundations is to provide financial assistance, primarily in the areas of private higher education, secondary education, graduate theological education, health care and public television. An 1888 graduate of Amherst, Davis was a lifetime supporter of the college, contributing, for example, support for the construction of Davis Hall.

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Christmas Vespers at Amherst College Dec. 4

November 15, 2005
Director of Media Relations
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AMHERST, Mass.—The annual Christmas Vespers service will be held on Sunday, Dec. 4, at 4 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. in Johnson Chapel at Amherst College. The “Festival of Lessons and Carols ” is sponsored by the Amherst College Christian Fellowship, the Newman Club and the Protestant and Roman Catholic Religious Advisors. Admission is free, and the public is invited.

Mallorie Chernin will direct the Amherst College Choral Society, assisted by Rachel Dunham '05. Jay Buchman '06 and Andrea Kahn '07 will direct the Amherst College Madrigal Singers. Other musicians will include organist James Maes and trumpeters Douglas Purcell and Kevin Daly '05, of the Amherst College Music Department.

The Choral Society will perform music of Mendelssohn, Schütz, Leontovich, William Dawson and others. Members of the college community will read the scripture lessons. The congregation will be asked to join in the singing of traditional carols and the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel's Messiah.

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Dean Onawumi Jean Moss of Amherst College Receives Storytelling Award

November 11, 2005
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AMHERST, Mass.—Onawumi Jean Moss, associate dean of students at Amherst College, has received the Zora Neale Hurston Award for Storytelling, the highest award given by the National Association of Black Storytellers (NABS). This award is given in acknowledgement of a body of work that preserves the tenets of African and African American storytelling through performance, publications, recordings and service to national and regional storytelling organizations. Previous recipients have included the legendary theatrical couple of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee and Oscar Brown Jr., jazz singer and storyteller.

Known professionally as Onawumi Jean Moss, The Soulful Storyteller, Moss is also the founder and director of the Keepers of the Word Storytelling Festival, an annual event in Amherst. With her original stories, fairy tales, cautionary tales, folk tales and personal narratives, she encourages appreciation of cultural differences, pride of heritage, recognition of kinship, reflection and inquiry. Her soulful narration, a capella singing, dramatic facial expressions and animated movements bring to life the worlds of adventurous girls and women, charming creatures, scheming tricksters and wicked demons.

Her new book, Precious and the Boo Hag (2005), a collaboration with acclaimed author Patricia C. McKissack and illustrator Kysten Booker, was praised in the School Library Journal as “an enchanting tale that is a pinch scary but a peck of fun,” and Booklist noted it had “the grand feel of a folktale.” Precious and the Boo Hag was recently selected by the New York Public Library as one of its top 100 “must- read” books, an honor given to the best achievements in children's publishing.

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