As part of the Concord Museum’s 2021 Holiday House Tour, the Emerson barn was decorated to reflect a nineteenth century holiday dining space.

In the 19th century as it is today, December was a time of celebrations and gatherings. For Ralph Waldo Emerson, it was also a month when he experienced many life changes. 

In the spring of 1857, a group of like-minded men met at Boston’s Parker House Hotel brainstorming ideas for a new magazine. The co-founders of what would become The Atlantic Monthly included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and several others. The magazine—now known as The Atlantic—has been published continuously since its first issue in November 1857.

On July 15, 1838, Emerson delivered what became known as the “Divinity School Address” to the graduating class of Harvard Divinity School. Arguing that every person could have a relationship with the divine without the mediation of the church or clergy, Emerson’s speech sparked great controversy and he was not invited back to his alma mater for another 30 years.

On this Father’s Day, a look back at the father figures in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s life and his own role as a devoted father to the four children he shared with Lidian: Waldo, Ellen, Edith, and Edward.

A virtual peek at early-summer blooms in the garden of the Emerson House in Concord, Massachusetts.

In the spring of 1871, Ralph Waldo Emerson joined John Murray Forbes—his daughter Edith’s father-in-law—and family on a train trip to California. After Emerson gave a series of lectures in San Francisco, the party moved on to Yosemite Valley, where a young John Muir arranged to meet the man he so admired.

Starting in 1833, Ralph Waldo Emerson earned his living by lecturing across the country, and eventually in Europe as well. Leveraging a rising enthusiasm for the lyceum movement, he spoke to audiences on a broad range of topics and maintained a rigorous schedule of speaking engagements.

A biographical profile of Ralph Waldo & Lidian’s second child, Ellen Tucker Emerson. A lifelong companion to her parents in their Concord home, Ellen was very active in the community and accompanied her father on lecture tours later in his life. She was an avid correspondent and her surviving letters offer many insights into Emerson family life

Ralph Waldo Emerson met Abraham Lincoln on two occasions. First in January 1853, when Emerson was lecturing in Springfield, Illinois and a then-unknown Lincoln was in the audience—and again in February 1862, when Emerson was invited to the White House to meet with President Lincoln. Initially unsure of his feelings about the President, Emerson was soon won over. He conveyed his admiration in a moving eulogy delivered after Lincoln’s assassination in 1865.

A biographical profile of Ralph Waldo & Lidian’s youngest child, Edward Waldo Emerson. Trained as a doctor, Edward practiced medicine until his father’s death, after which he left the profession and spent his time writing, painting, and editing his father’s manuscripts.

A virtual tour of the historic barn behind the Emersons’ Concord home with architectural historian, Anne Forbes; Concord Museum Curator, David Wood; and Bay Emerson Bancroft of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Memorial Association. Created in partnership with the Concord Museum.