Emerson’s “Aunt Mary” helped raise him after his father died and had a profound influence on his life and works. Self-educated, widely read, and a prolific letter writer and diarist, she was described by her nephew as “the best writer in Massachusetts.” Emerson copied out a selection of her letters and maxims into four substantial notebooks and frequently referred back to them for inspiration in his own writing.

A Genius always new, subtle, frolicsome, judicial, unpredictable…

Mary exhorted her nephews to “always do what you are afraid to do,” and by her insistence set standards for their intellectual growth.