Louisa May Alcotts Orchard House Inc.

Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House is charged with preserving Orchard House (c 1650), where Louisa May Alcott wrote and set Little Women (1868), as an historic site and educational center, and fulfills this mission by 1) conducting tours, educational programs, and special exhibits/events to educate the public about the interests and activities of the Alcotts in the 19th C., and 2) undertaking preservation work in consultation with experts to maintain to the highest degree possible the structures and artifacts in our collection.

Maintaining and broadening access to our award-winning tours, programs, and events is of paramount importance, as Orchard House has been a pilgrimage site for visitors from across the country and around the world for over 150 years. The Alcotts' visionary, compassionate, and inclusive approach to life inspires and nurtures visitors, while the life lessons reflected in Louisa May Alcott's beloved novel, Little Women, have been aspirational for generations of readers. Continuing to offer glimpses into the Alcotts' life, work, and social reform activities to present and future visitors not only enhances appreciation for the vital sense of place that Orchard House conveys, but also encourages each person who crosses the threshold to commit themselves, as the Alcotts did, to bettering society and the environment, engaging in lifelong learning, participating in responsible, sustainable living, and being mindful of a common conscience.

Goal One: Guided tours, educational programs, and living history events will be enhanced to focus on four centuries of courage, determination, and empathy embodied in Orchard House, its residents, and grounds.

Goal Two: Thoughtful, strategic efforts to preserve and protect our site, structures, and irreplaceable material culture must continue in order for our interpretive programming to succeed.

Goal Three: Without responsible fiscal growth, our capacity to maintain and enhance innovative educational programming and undertake necessary yet very costly historic preservation projects would be impossible.

Our Board actively participates in team-building experiences prior to the start of their meetings that focus on examining the many layers of significance Orchard House, the Alcotts, and Little Women hold for our constituents. This allows them to more effectively serve as "ambassadors" with friends, neighbors, colleagues, and the community-at-large in order to increase awareness of Orchard House's mission, vision, and goals. In addition, Staff and Volunteers participate in training sessions and invited to attend special events with scholars and researchers to broaden their knowledgebase, increase their ability to accommodate the diverse needs of our visitors, and feel a personal sense of fulfillment and joy working/volunteering here. Staff are also encouraged to attend workshops or conferences relevant to their work at Orchard House.

As with many other organizations, the recent past -- tinged with COVID-related losses and the re-organization of society on almost every level -- has impacted Orchard House tremendously. Our 17-month pandemic-related closure was a blessing in disguise or, as we like to call it, a "COVID Rainbow." It allowed us to take stock of our practices and protocols and pivot to adopt new, innovative practices in nearly every aspect of our operations. The loss of daily interactions with our Staff/Volunteers was very keenly felt, but we kept engaged with them through weekly Zoom Meetings, which also served as enhanced training sessions. These were warmly received not only as an educational resource [for an already excellent Staff], but also as a means of maintaining connection to each other on a very human level. As we inched closer to re-opening, our systems and processes needed to change with the circumstances as well. Implementation of a new POS system, timed-entry admission, environmental enhancements ("air scrubbers" for our geothermal climate control system), and a new touring format made for a sea change in our visit experience, the benefits of which are still being felt to this day. Overall, we consider the COVID-related adaptations we had to undertake as making for a more meaningful affinity among visitors, Staff, Orchard House, and the Alcotts themselves, as hallmarks of our "new" visit experience are a more complete, unified understanding of historical/biographical information, deeper connection to the powerful sense of place contained within the rooms of Orchard House, and more personalized post-tour interactions between Staff and visitors. The recent past has also allowed us to prioritize interpretive updates and necessary preservations efforts so that we can more readily achieve our goals of educating the public and protecting our incredible collection of original Alcott artifacts.