Mabel Loomis Todd Letters
Scope and Contents
Dates
- 1932
Creator
- Todd, Mabel Loomis, 1856-1932 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Use
Biographical or Historical Information
In Amherst, Todd taught at private schools for young women, participated in church events, and helped to organize civic and literary groups, such as the Amherst Historical Society, the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Boston Authors' Club. She also became friends with William Austin Dickinson, brother of Emily Dickinson and the Amherst College treasurer. Publicly the two worked together to preserve the town's natural environment; privately they engaged in a thirteen year long affair while remaining married; apparently their spouses knew of the relationship. After Austin's death, his wife Susan successfully challenged his will, which left a major bequest to Mabel.
When Emily Dickinson died in 1886, over 1700 manuscript poems were discovered in her house. Todd began the arduous task of deciphering the handwriting, collating the variants, arranging the poems chronologically, and transcribing them for publication. She published two series of Dickinson's poems with Thomas Wentworth Higginson in 1890 and 1891, and a third series on her own in 1896. Mabel Todd was responsible for bringing the first volumes of Emily Dickinson's verse to the reading public, but her estrangement from the Dickinson family following Austin's death in 1895 forced her to postpone work on the remaining poems. Todd's daughter Millicent Todd Bingham drew upon her editorial work when she published her own edition of Dickinson's poems, Bolts of Melody, over a decade later.
In 1913 Todd became partially paralyzed, but in the last nineteen years of her life she continued to be culturally and socially active in Miami, Florida, where she wintered. She died in 1932 of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Her papers are in the Boston Public Library.
Extent
.02 Linear Feet (1 folder (3 letters))
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
This collection includes three letters (two from Loomis and one from her daughter) to Jane Summerell, a faculty member in the Department of English at Woman's College (now UNCG).
Method of Acquisition
Offensive Language Statement
Our finding aids and other collection descriptions may occasionally re-use language provided by creators or former holders of the materials, but we strive to place outdated or offensive terminology in context. That said, we recognize that we may not always make the right decision and welcome feedback from all sources so we can learn and adjust our practices. Please contact us at scua@uncg.edu if you encounter problematic language in our finding aids or other collection description. We will review the language and, as appropriate, update it in a way that balances preservation of the original context with our ongoing commitment to describing materials with respectful and inclusive language.
Processing Information
Creator
- Todd, Mabel Loomis, 1856-1932 (Person)
- Title
- Mabel Loomis Todd Letters
- Author
- archives staff
- Date
- 2009
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- eng
Repository Details
Part of the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives Repository