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.

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.

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.

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.

Kate Culkin’s new book, Emerson’s Daughters: Ellen Tucker Emerson, Edith Emerson Forbes, and Their Family Legacy (University of Massachusetts Press, July 2025), is a dual biography of the sisters who worked behind the scenes to shape the image of their famous father. In honor of the book’s release this month, the Emerson House will be showcasing items from our Ellen and Edith collections, some of which will be on display to the public for the first time.

To read more about the people and places of Concord, Massachusetts, we invite you to explore the current and back issues of Discover Concord, a visitor-focused magazine available in print and online. The Emersons and their friends are frequent subjects of articles, some of which are penned by our own Emerson House guides.

Celebrating the occasion of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 222nd birthday with a look back at the world into which he was born, and the beliefs that shaped his lasting impact on it.

Introducing another of the strong women in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s life with a profile of his aunt Sarah Alden Bradford Ripley, a scholar and educator who was a lifelong friend and one of his staunchest supporters. Sarah loved learning and continued her own broad studies while caring for a growing family and working as an esteemed teacher. She was one of the five female members of the Transcendental Club.

The opening battle in America’s war for independence took place at Concord’s Old North Bridge on April 19, 1775—an event later memorialized by Emerson as the “shot heard round the world.” On the 250th anniversary of that fateful day, we look back at the Emerson family’s connections to April 19th: from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s grandparents witnessing those first shots in 1775, to his role in Concord’s centennial celebrations in 1875.