will make American women what they just fail over being, the bravest, brightest, happiest, and handsomest women in the world!
Stand up among your fellow men , Joseph May had said to his son on the completion of his man’s education. Improve your advantages. Go anywhere.
A woman can accomplish as much as a man , Abigail had told her daughters so often they came to believe her. Educate yourself up to your senses. Be something in yourself. Let the world know you are alive. Push boldly off. Wait for no man. Have heads full of new and larger ideas. And proceed to the great work God gives humanity.
Map of Boston in 1840, when seven-year-old Louisa and family departed after a stay of five years. The 21 dots on the map indicate locations where the Alcotts lived in Boston. At least four additional locations are off the map to the west: Dunreath Ave. at Warren St. in Roxbury, the nursing home in which Louisa died; and 81 West Cedar St., 29 Dedham St., and 26 E. Brookline St. in Franklin Square, all in the South End. The larger dot A marks Abigail’s birthplace, and B marks her childhood home on Federal Court.
Abigail May Alcott in her sixties. No earlier image of Abigail survives.
Bronson Alcott in his sixties.
Louisa May Alcott as a young woman.
Anna Alcott, Louisa’s older sister, as a young adult.
May Alcott in her thirties, painted by Rose Peckham, her Paris roommate.
Drawing of Elizabeth “Lizzie” Alcott a few years before she died.
Freddy and Johnny Pratt, Anna’s sons, c. 1869, at six and three years old.
Louisa May Nieriker, May’s daughter, “Lulu,” at about age ten. Her aunt Louisa raised her after May’s death.
Louisa seated on the lawn of Orchard House in front of Abigail, Anna and her baby Freddy, and Bronson, c. 1865. This is the only surviving image of Louisa and Abigail together.
A painting of Boston in 1843. Thirteen years earlier, Abigail and Bronson were married in King’s Chapel, visible at center with columned portico.
Charlotte May Wilkinson, Samuel Joseph’s daughter and Louisa’s close cousin, as a young woman.
Abigail’s brother Samuel Joseph May, Louisa’s Uncle Sam, in his fifties, when he preached in Syracuse, New York.
Syracuse, New York, in 1852, when the Alcotts often stayed here with the Mays. The new railroad, the Erie Canal, and a floating barge are visible to the right of a brick building in the lower right foreground.
Leading abolitionists, or “Heralds of Freedom, Truth, Love, Justice,” in 1857: publisher William Lloyd Garrison at the center, surrounded by writer Ralph Waldo Emerson on top and, clockwise, lawyer Wendell Phillips, legislator Joshua Reed Giddings, Rev. Theodore Parker, politician Gerrit Smith, and Abigail’s brother Rev. Samuel Joseph May.
The Mill Dam and Boston’s Back Bay in 1860, two years after Louisa stood on the banks of the dam, contemplating suicide.
Louisa in her early fifties, after her mother’s death, when she and Anna were raising Anna’s two sons and May’s daughter.
Exploring the America of Abigail and Louisa May Alcott
O rchard House, a museum and educational center in Concord, Massachusetts, that receives tens of thousands of visitors each year, is a fine start to a tour of the landscapes of Abigail and Louisa May Alcott. My first visit to Orchard House was in the summer of 1968, exactly a hundred years after Louisa wrote Little Women there in her bedroom overlooking the front yard and the road. Nine years old, I arrived with my mother and our elderly aunt, Charlotte May Wilson, who announced on crossing the threshold, “Cousin Louisa’s house!” Aunt Charlotte, a feisty Victorian spinster who ran an inn at the tip of Cape Cod, was a woman who wore a dress, nylon stockings, and leather shoes even to the beach. Proud keeper of the family tree, she was devoted to our ancestors but rarely amused by children.
“Well, well, here we are at Cousin Louisa’s,” Aunt Charlotte repeated. I wanted to hide, but the Orchard
Stand up among your fellow men , Joseph May had said to his son on the completion of his man’s education. Improve your advantages. Go anywhere.
A woman can accomplish as much as a man , Abigail had told her daughters so often they came to believe her. Educate yourself up to your senses. Be something in yourself. Let the world know you are alive. Push boldly off. Wait for no man. Have heads full of new and larger ideas. And proceed to the great work God gives humanity.
Map of Boston in 1840, when seven-year-old Louisa and family departed after a stay of five years. The 21 dots on the map indicate locations where the Alcotts lived in Boston. At least four additional locations are off the map to the west: Dunreath Ave. at Warren St. in Roxbury, the nursing home in which Louisa died; and 81 West Cedar St., 29 Dedham St., and 26 E. Brookline St. in Franklin Square, all in the South End. The larger dot A marks Abigail’s birthplace, and B marks her childhood home on Federal Court.
Abigail May Alcott in her sixties. No earlier image of Abigail survives.
Bronson Alcott in his sixties.
Louisa May Alcott as a young woman.
Anna Alcott, Louisa’s older sister, as a young adult.
May Alcott in her thirties, painted by Rose Peckham, her Paris roommate.
Drawing of Elizabeth “Lizzie” Alcott a few years before she died.
Freddy and Johnny Pratt, Anna’s sons, c. 1869, at six and three years old.
Louisa May Nieriker, May’s daughter, “Lulu,” at about age ten. Her aunt Louisa raised her after May’s death.
Louisa seated on the lawn of Orchard House in front of Abigail, Anna and her baby Freddy, and Bronson, c. 1865. This is the only surviving image of Louisa and Abigail together.
A painting of Boston in 1843. Thirteen years earlier, Abigail and Bronson were married in King’s Chapel, visible at center with columned portico.
Charlotte May Wilkinson, Samuel Joseph’s daughter and Louisa’s close cousin, as a young woman.
Abigail’s brother Samuel Joseph May, Louisa’s Uncle Sam, in his fifties, when he preached in Syracuse, New York.
Syracuse, New York, in 1852, when the Alcotts often stayed here with the Mays. The new railroad, the Erie Canal, and a floating barge are visible to the right of a brick building in the lower right foreground.
Leading abolitionists, or “Heralds of Freedom, Truth, Love, Justice,” in 1857: publisher William Lloyd Garrison at the center, surrounded by writer Ralph Waldo Emerson on top and, clockwise, lawyer Wendell Phillips, legislator Joshua Reed Giddings, Rev. Theodore Parker, politician Gerrit Smith, and Abigail’s brother Rev. Samuel Joseph May.
The Mill Dam and Boston’s Back Bay in 1860, two years after Louisa stood on the banks of the dam, contemplating suicide.
Louisa in her early fifties, after her mother’s death, when she and Anna were raising Anna’s two sons and May’s daughter.
Exploring the America of Abigail and Louisa May Alcott
O rchard House, a museum and educational center in Concord, Massachusetts, that receives tens of thousands of visitors each year, is a fine start to a tour of the landscapes of Abigail and Louisa May Alcott. My first visit to Orchard House was in the summer of 1968, exactly a hundred years after Louisa wrote Little Women there in her bedroom overlooking the front yard and the road. Nine years old, I arrived with my mother and our elderly aunt, Charlotte May Wilson, who announced on crossing the threshold, “Cousin Louisa’s house!” Aunt Charlotte, a feisty Victorian spinster who ran an inn at the tip of Cape Cod, was a woman who wore a dress, nylon stockings, and leather shoes even to the beach. Proud keeper of the family tree, she was devoted to our ancestors but rarely amused by children.
“Well, well, here we are at Cousin Louisa’s,” Aunt Charlotte repeated. I wanted to hide, but the Orchard
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