Editing Emily: Players

Alfred Leete Hampson

Photo (of photo) by Jerome Liebling, The Dickinson's of Amherst

When Martha [Dickinson Bianchi] died, first Alfred Hampson, then his wife Mary, succeeded her as keeper of Emily's flame and the Dickinson family secrets. All three were very selective in admitting visitors to the house or permitting access to its archive. They are, in fact, suspected of having destroyed documents inconsistent with the image they wished to propagate of Dickinson respectability and family harmony.

In 1951 Alfred Hampson sold many Dickinson books and manuscripts, as well as some furniture associated with Emily, to a Harvard alumnus who donated them to the Houghton Library.

Editing

Papers

Hampson, Alfred Leete, collector. Correspondence concerning Emily Dickinson's papers: Guide.
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library

"The collection concerns the permanent placement of the Emily Dickinson manuscripts and the publication of various editions of her works including a one volume edition of the complete works published by Little, Brown. The main correspondents are Hampson; his wife, Mary; Gilbert Montague, a NY lawyer and collateral relative of Dickinson who provided the funds that enabled Harvard to buy the collection from Hampson; William McCarthy, curator at the Rosenbach Foundation in Philadelphia, who was instrumental in arranging the sale; and Arthur Thornhill of Little, Brown. Also contains a few clippings."

Regarding the sale:

"Hampson, her heir and executor, was plagued by ill-health and barely outlived her, but prior to his 1951 death Madame Bianchi's friends helped him find a way to preserve the literary property in the estate. With the assistance of William H. McCarthy, Jr., a librarian-archivist loyal to Hampson and Bianchi since 1930, a sale was negotiated through the Rosenbach Foundation. Madame Bianchi's fifth cousin, Gilbert Montague, a wealthy corporate lawyer, bought the Dickinson papers, memorabilia, and Bianchi's share of the rights for $40,000." [Source: The Emily Dickinson Journal, "To Market: The Dickinson Copyright Wars" by Elizabeth Horan]

Attempt To Control

When Theodora Ward sought to publish with Harvard a book of Emily Dickinson letters to the Hollands, Ward's grandparents, Hampson initially planned to prevent the publication because Ward had spoken with [Millicent Todd] Bingham at the onset of her work. After McCarthy interceded to convince Hampson that Ward had talked to Bingham out of ignorance, the book was permitted; although it was "non-royalty," Ward was allowed "a small fee" (McCarthy for Alfred Leete Hampson, letter to T. J. Wilson, Apr. and May 1950). [Source: The Emily Dickinson Journal, "To Market: The Dickinson Copyright Wars" by Elizabeth Horan]