The Alcott Family — Lessons from the 19th Century

Progressive school founder, collector and bibliophile Kent Bicknell will present on his Alcott Family Collection, winner of a recent prize from the New England-based Ticknor Society. Built around the lives and work of Louisa May Alcott (Little Women), her talented sister, the artist May Alcott Nieriker, and her parents, social worker, Abigail Alcott and progressive educator and reformer, Bronson Alcott, highlights include an account of Bronson Alcott’s famed Temple School in Boston; Louisa’s annotated copy of A Memoir of Ralph Waldo Emerson; and four unpublished letters from the artist, May Alcott Nieriker, along with images of her paintings. Through more than thirty years of collecting, Kent has assembled a group of primary and secondary source materials related to this relatively “modern” family, and will share select manuscripts, rare books, letters and artwork to reveal stories that connect the Alcott family to each other, to the larger community of the 19th century, and to our own lives today.

A virtual presentation by Kent Bicknell, author, scholar, and collector