Emma Lazarus is best known for the lines from her sonnet “The New Colossus” (1883) —“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”—immortalized on the Statue of Liberty. In 1876, when she was invited to the Emersons’ Concord home, she was an emerging poet whom Ralph Waldo Emerson had taken an interest in. Lazarus came to stay with the Emerson family for a week, arriving on August 25th— one hundred and fifty years ago today.

A biographical sketch of Edward Waldo Emerson’s development as an artist continues our celebration of his second career. A special exhibition of Edward’s art is on display at the Concord Free Public Library from July 30-September 10, 2026, presenting a rare opportunity for the public to view pieces held in private collections for generations.

Shared from the Substack Once Upon a Moment on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence, this essay explores the complicated history of freedom in America, and Lidian and Waldo Emerson’s involvement in Concord’s antislavery movement.

A press release from the Ralph Waldo Emerson Memorial Association (RWEMA) announcing expanded leadership and the 2026 opening date for the Emerson House.

Highlights from the special exhibition on Emerson’s daughters, Ellen Tucker Emerson and Edith Emerson Forbes, held at the Emerson House in Concord during our 2025 season.

Photos from an Emerson family album from the 1890s capture scenes from a Concord, MA winter over a century ago. Part of the greater Emerson House collection, this album is usually tucked away in a drawer and is being shared here for the first time.

A wintertime reflection on the origin of the seashells adorning several mantelpieces in the Emerson House in Concord, MA, and their connection to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s untimely loss of his younger brothers Edward and Charles.

Sharing news of an exciting new addition to the Emerson Holdings in the William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library, which recently acquired a rare and previously unknown photograph of Ralph Waldo Emerson. The carte-de-visite portrait, from an original daguerrotype taken circa 1848, is believed to be among the earliest images of Emerson.

Highlights from the 2025 visitors’ season at the Emerson House and a thank you to all who made it such a success.

A biographical profile of Ralph Waldo & Lidian’s third child, Edith Emerson, who married William Hathaway Forbes in 1865. Sociable and well-organized, Edith continued to play a vital role in her parents’ and siblings’ lives after marriage, including overseeing the repairs of the family home after the 1872 fire and working with her father on assembling the poetry anthology Parnassus.

Celebrating the occasion of Lidian Jackson Emerson’s 223rd birthday and her inclusion in Randall Fuller’s recent group biography, Bright Circle: Five Remarkable Women in the Age of Transcendentalism.

Ellen Tucker Emerson and Edith Emerson Forbes’ lives are often treated as a footnote to their famous father, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Kate Culkin’s recent dual biography, Emerson’s Daughters: Ellen Tucker Emerson, Edith Emerson Forbes, and Their Family Legacy (University of Massachusetts Press, 2025) brings these women’s stories to the fore, inviting interest in Ellen and Edith for their own sakes. Join Culkin at the Emerson House on Sunday, September 28, 2025 for an author’s tour of the special exhibition celebrating the sisters’ lives.