Amherst Historical Society and Museum

History Begins at Home

Explore the Museum

The Amherst History Museum opened in 1916 and is governed by the Amherst Historical Society, which was founded in 1899. Housed in the 1750-era Simeon Strong House, the Amherst History Museum takes visitors on a journey from the town’s colonial past, through its industrial age and into the computer-driven present.

The Museum is filled with decorative arts, paintings, household implements, agricultural tools and other pieces of history from the nearly three hundred years since Amherst was settled. The collections range from the ordinary to the unique, and capture a sense of every day life often missing from history books. In addition to rotating exhibits and special programming, the Museum provides educational tours for school children and students throughout the year.

We regret that the Museum will be closed for the 2020 season. Call 413.256.0678 for more information, or email info@amhersthistory.org.

About the Amherst History Museum

Poet Robert Francis’ birthday is coming on August 12 – he was born in 1901, so he would have been 119 years old

Robert Churchill Francis, once described by Robert Frost as “the best neglected poet,” was born on August 12, 1901 in Upland, Pennsylvania. He attended Harvard University; he moved to Amherst in 1926, where he taught high school for one year, and then devoted his life to writing poetry. He was friends with Robert Frost during the years that Frost taught at Amherst College. Francis lived in Cushman in a small house he built in 1940 that he named “Fort Juniper,” which inspired editors at the University of Massachusetts Press to name their poetry award the Juniper Prize.

 

“My speciality has been not to earn much but to spend little,” Mr. Francis told The Daily Hampshire Gazette in a 1981 interview.  His collections of poems include The Orb Weaver, Like Ghosts of Eagles, and the posthumous collection Late Fire, Late Snow.

The Amherst History Society is fortunate to have a video of Henry Lyman’s lecture on Robert Francis and his poetic work.

The mission of the Amherst Historical Society is to connect people to the town of Amherst, its history, and its culture.

The Society was founded in 1899 by Mabel Loomis Todd, and in 1916 it moved into the historic Simeon Strong house. Over the years, the Society has collected a wide variety of resources for learning about the town of Amherst. We have artifacts dating back to the earliest days of the town, and papers and photographs from more recent years. On our website you may find links to walking tours of Amherst, a list of books about Amherst, and even a collection of historic postcards.

We host a biweekly lecture series, ‘History Bites,’ as well as evening performances and historic tours. Our eighteenth-century garden is maintained by the Garden Club of Amherst, and last year we hosted a Thursday evening farmers’ and artisans’ market on our front lawn.

Little Women Bookclub Schedule

“Keep good company, read good books, love good things and cultivate soul and body as faithfully as you can.”— Louisa May Alcott

Reading Little Women and other works of Louisa May Alcott — a book discussion group at the Amherst History Museum

Louisa May Alcott’s classic Little Women will be released as a film for the 8th time this December 25th. This version is directed by Greta Gerwig (see the trailer here) and appears more aligned with the spirit of the book than the story on the page. The costumes, the manners, the hair styles and sets emphasize character traits but do not accurately present the historic setting. We want to go back to the story of Little Woman, the biography of Louisa May Alcott and the Emerson family of Amherst with a desire to better understand women’s lives in the 3rd quarter of the 19th century in fact and fiction.

Beginning on October 24, these discussions are scheduled for the third Thursday of the month from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Simeon Strong House (see the complete schedule at amhersthistory.org). Refreshments will be served. Interested? Let us know by sending an email with Little Women as the topic to info@amhersthistory.org.

Schedule

October 24 – Discuss the first half of Little Women

November 21 – Discuss the second half of Little Women and Presentation on and discussion about the Sally Cheney Emerson Family

The widow Sally Cheney Emerson and four daughters moved to Amherst in 1846 to be near her Amherst College student son. She purchased the Strong House in 1853 and it remained the family home until Felicia Emerson Welch died in 1916 when it became the permanent home of the Amherst Historical Society. Find out what our Emerson family had in common with the Alcott family and the March sisters.

January 23 – Discuss reactions to the movie. [Viewed on your own or with the group prior to the discussion.]

We will try to see the movie as a group—but it is released on December 25 so participants may be away for holidays or school breaks.

February 19 – Discuss Louisa May Alcott’s experiences as a Civil War nurse, Hospital Sketches. 

March 18 – Discuss Alcott’s An Old-Fashioned Girl — POSTPONED

Summer 2020 (date to be decided by group) – an excursion to Concord to visit Orchard House, the Ralph Waldo Emerson House and other places of interest.

Resources

Want to do a little research of your own?  Check out the interview with Greta Gerwig about Little Women (2019) in the November-December issue of Film Comment or take one of these personality quiz to see which of the three March sisters you might relate to most!  Or check out 36eggs.com for some historical recipes covering how to make all manner of tasty treats from the pages of Little Women!

About the Museum

Visit the Amherst History Museum, located at the Simeon Strong House, 67 Amity St., Amherst MA. We held our first exhibition in 1899, received our charter in 1903, and are celebrating over 100 years of the Society’s ownership of the c.1759 Simeon Strong House.

The Amherst History Museum is closed for the 2020 season due to the coronavirus. You can find directions here.

READ MORE

Support Us


The Amherst History Museum accepts donations of any size at any time of the year. We hold our Annual Appeal in late November and renew all memberships in the Spring.

A gift to the Amherst History Museum, whether in memory of a loved one or in honor of a special accomplishment, is always a unique way to help the Amherst Community and recognize an extraordinary individual.

BECOME A MEMBER

Amherst A to Z

Want to know where Amherst’s Cold War bunker is located? Or where the “curragh” district of Amherst was? Or learn about a local factory that made “collapsing skirts!”

These are all entries under the letter “C” in the book Amherst A to Z, written by Elizabeth Sharpe. The book is illustrated with pictures of artifacts from the Amherst History Museum, historic images from the Jones Library’s Special Collections, as well as photographs of our town and the folks who live here.

BUY THE BOOK