July 26 @7:00 pm

Born in Concord, Mary Moody Emerson (1774-1863) grew up in near by Malden, Massachusetts, but her connection to her native town remained close throughout her life. The aunt of Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mary Emerson was a brilliant intellectual in her own right. Not only did Bronson Alcott and Henry Thoreau compliment her “wit and genius,” but Thoreau also called Emerson at age eighty-one “the youngest woman in Concord.” Mary Emerson’s most significant writings are a series of unpublished manuscript journals, which she kept for over half a century. in this talk, Sandra Petrulionis will discuss her collaboration with Noelle Baker to produce a digital edition of these writings, Mary Emerson’s long history with Concord, and her overall significance to American women’s intellectual history.

Sandra Harbert Petrulionis is Distinguished Professor of English and American Studies at Pennsylvania State University, Altoona. This lecture is cosponsored by the Concord Free Public Library.