Archival Picture Gallery
The Alcott Family
Bronson Alcott, age around fifty, `Mr. March` of Little Women Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Abigail May Alcott, age around fifty, `Marmee` of Little Women Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Louisa May Alcott in her mid-twenties, `Jo` of Little Women Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Anna Alcott, age twenty-seven, `Meg` of Little Women Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Elizabeth Alcott, in her early twenties, `Beth` of Little Women Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
May Alcott in her late teens, `Amy` of Little Women Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Youth To Age
A sketch, probably of Louisa, by a family friend. Houghton Library, Harvard University
Daguerreotype of Louisa at age 25 Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Louisa as a young woman Concord Free Public Library
Louisa in middle age Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Louisa lost a great deal of weight in her last illness Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
The Family's Early Years
Bronson traced three year-old Louisa`s hand on a page of his journal Houghton Library, Harvard University
The short-lived Temple School was Bronson`s educational achievement Bostonian Society
The Temple School classroom was elegant and airy - an innovation Houghton Library, Harvard University
The Temple School curriculum stressed discussion, outdoor play, and journals Houghton Library, Harvard University
Louisa`s doll (replica), made by `Marmee` for her seventh birthday Fruitlands
The Alcott Circle
Ralph Waldo Emerson: poet, essayist, Transcendentalist, and Louisa`s literary mentor Library of Congress
Henry David Thoreau: essayist, naturalist, and Louisa`s guide to the natural world Concord Free Public Library
Nathaniel Hawthorne was Louisa`s reclusive neighbor and author of The Scarlet Letter and The Blithedale Romance (about utopian settlement Brook Farm). New York Public Library
Margaret Fuller, co-editor (with Emerson) of the Dial, and much admired by Louisa, met with a tragic fate. Library of Congress
Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison ran `My Contraband` in the Liberator; the Atlantic feared Southern reaction. Getty Images
John Brown, abolitionist: a man Louisa was proud to know. Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Sojourner Truth: born into slavery, abolitionist, preacher, advocate of women`s rights New York Public Library
Frederick Douglass: abolitionist, orator, author, escapee from slavery New York Public Library
Harriet Tubman: fugitive from slavery, liberator of the enslaved, scout and nurse for the Union Army New York Public Library
Charles Lane: English member of Alcott House, co-founder of Fruitlands Fruitlands Museum
Ednah Dow Littlehale Cheney: Bronson`s admirer, Alcott family friend, and Louisa`s authorized biographer Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Reverend Samuel May: Abigail`s brother, constant support, and dedicated abolitionist Cornell University
Reverend Theodore Parker: fiery abolitionist and Louisa`s comfort in vicissitudes of independent city life. Schlesinger Library, Harvard University
Where They Lived
Orchard House, home of the Alcotts, 1857-1877 Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Boston, where Louisa spent her early years: aerial view from a balloon Boston Public Library
Dove Cottage, the Alcott`s first home in Concord Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Concord, 1840 Concord Free Public Library
Map of Concord Concord Free Public Library
Sketch of Hillside by Bronson Alcott, 1845 Concord Free Public Library
Fruitlands, scene of Bronson Alcott`s Utopian experiment Fruitlands Museum
A Boston dwelling, ca. 1850 Bostonian Society
A Boston dwelling, ca. 1850 Boston Public Library
Orchard House: Abby, Bronson, Anna, baby Fred, Louisa (sitting on the ground) Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
10 Louisburg Square, Boston: the Alcotts lived in luxury, supported by Louisa Historic New England
Louisa's Jobs
Laundress: a low-status position Library of Congress
Seamstress: LMA planned stories while she worked Library of Congress
As a governess, Louisa enjoyed the relief of pleasant surroundings. Library of Congress
Louisa acted on the amateur stage, wrote plays, and hoped to work in theater. Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
She found teaching difficult and her patience inadequate. Library of Congress
Louisa's Writings Covers
Thrillers were sometimes published in a `dime novel` format. New York Public Library
Moods was rewritten several times, never satisfactorily. Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
As editor of Merry`s Museum, a children`s magazine, Louisa wrote most of it. Concord Free Public Library
One of many covers of Little Women Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Work depicted Louisa`s many jobs Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Louisa's Writings and Illustrations
Union Hospital near Washington, DC, where Louisa served as a Civil War nurse Schlesinger Library, Harvard University
Louisa`s letters home became Hospital Sketches, her first modest success. Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Louisa’s thrillers featured cliffhangers. American Antiquarian Society
Jo March, who wouldn’t quit running to be `genteel` Little, Brown and Co. 1886 edition, Little Women, Frank Merrill, illus.
Success
She said she `either looked like the tragic muse or the smoky ruins of the Boston fire` in her formal photos. Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Collectors bought `cabinet cards` like this one. Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Once she revolved so an audience could see her from every angle. Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
This portrait shows Louisa with very red cheeks, possibly a `butterfly rash` indicative of lupus. Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Celebrity had its privileges: with distinguished actor James Murdoch Concord Free Public Library
Louisa much admired actress Charlotte Cushman, who played Hamlet and Macbeth in male costume. Houghton Library Theatre Collection
The Next Generation
Anna Alcott met John Pratt acting with the Concord Dramatic Union Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Anna and John Pratt’s sons, Louisa`s nephews Fred and John Pratt, circa 1870
Ernst Niereker, May Alcott`s husband and seventeen years her junior, in 1878. Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Louisa`s niece `Lulu` Niereker and her doll, mid 1880s. Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Lulu, age about eight Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association
Louisa hosted the children at her summer home in Nonquitt, 1880s Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association