But is it not possible that Dickinson herself might have attended the concert? It is likely that either her father or her brother or both attended this concert, which would easily explain the presence of a copy of the program floating around the Dickinson Homestead. What does all of this detail tell us about her? Having exhausted all of the verifiable facts in the case, we now step into the realm of speculation. Only the steeple of the church remains, next to the entrance of the Mead Art Museum.īut to return to Emily Dickinson and the torn scrap of manuscript that started this search. The chapel in question was featured here in July in a parallel campus tour of buildings that are no longer standing - Stearns Church. A fundraising concert for the benefit of the newly constructed College Chapel is likely to have brought at least one of these men to the concert, though we have no concrete evidence of either. 1873 is the year that father Edward Dickinson stepped down as Amherst College Treasurer and brother Austin Dickinson took up that post. It is highly probable that one, or possibly two, Dickinson men from Emily Dickinson’s family were also present. Or it could have been Edward Dickinson, also of Northampton, or Frederick Billings Dickinson of North Hadley - these last two members of the Class of 1876. Dickinson” who played the accompaniments for the chorus could have been Sidney Dickinson of Northampton, a member of the Class of 1874. One of the first things one learns about exploring the world of Emily Dickinson in and around Amherst is that Dickinsons are thick on the ground around these parts. Parkhurst’s file isn’t particularly full, but it does contain exactly what I hoped for: Sometimes these files are overflowing with manuscripts and photographs and invaluable details, but sometimes they contain nothing more than the form the alumnus filled out for an alumni directory or class reunion book.

The next stop was one of our Class Albums for the Class of 1873, so we can put a face to the name:įrom the Biographical Record and Class Albums I moved on to consult Parkhurst’s Biographical File - the Archives keeps a file for every student who ever attended Amherst College. Finally, Parkhurst settled in New York city where he taught music and published books about birds from 1884 until his death in 1916. From 1875 – 1882 he taught music and served as organist for various churches around Boston, then it was back to Germany for a couple of years to study with Rheinberger and Kellarmann.

It also tells us that he studied music in Stuttgart, Munich, and Berlin as well as Liverpool between 18. As it is, a quick check of the Amherst College Biographical Record (Sesquicentennial Edition, 1973) reveals that he was a member of the Class of 1873. If the program had been torn in half just a little higher up the page, the name Howard Parkhurst might have been lost.

Emily Dickinson by Melanie Hubbard