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Changing Prospects

The View from Mount Holyoke

2002
Susan Danly, Martha Hoppin, and Ethan Carr With a foreword by Christopher Benfey
Hardcover, 84 pages 
$27.50

Mt. Holyoke has been a tourist destination as well as an inspiration for artists and writers for almost two centuries.  The view from its summit attracted the Hudson River School artist Thomas Cole among many others, including literary visitors such as Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.  In 1836, Cole created the most famous painting associated with the mountain, based on sketches he made during his visit to the site.  Bringing together an array of paintings, prints, photographs, and other fascinating objects, this publication conveys the story of how this mountain became a cultural icon in the 19th century and continues to exert influence today.