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.

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.

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.

In his 2017 documentary film Henry David Thoreau: Surveyor of the Soul, Huey Coleman tells the story of Thoreau in his time and of the impact Thoreau’s writings and lifestyle have in our time. The film will be broadcast on Maine Public Television again this week and is also available to stream on demand.

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.

A 15-minute silent film about Ralph Waldo Emerson from the 1920s. Selections from his life and writings are illustrated with black-and-white footage from around the town of Concord, Massachusetts, including the Old Manse, the Emerson House, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, and the Old North Bridge.