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Harrison Hayford Emily Dickinson Collection

The Carol Ann Haenicke American Women's Poetry Collection contains first editions of the first three printed collections of the poems of Emily Dickinson. This subcollection of the American Women's Poetry Collection was donated by Professor Harrison Hayford of Chicago, IL.

He gave Western Michigan University his first editions of Emily Dickinson's poetry, a daguerreotype portrait that may be of Emily Dickinson, and a sheet of U.S. Post Office commemorative stamps. This collection, residing in Special Collections, contains over 100 volumes of books about and by Emily Dickinson.

Despite the fact Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) never published her work within he own lifetime she continues to be a popular poet today. Her family published all her work posthumously. Most of her poems are unnamed, only numbered, and those which have titles were given them by her family.

Emily Dickinson Stamps