SCS Call for Proposals

Creativity and creative thinking played an important role in the lives of the Alcotts and their circle of friends. From Abigail May and A. Bronson Alcott’s unique methods of childrearing and nurturing their daughters’ talents, to their outlook on educational and social reform and the literary and artistic efforts of their offspring, the family embodied the spirit of creativity in their very way of life.

Their Transcendentalist friends—Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Elizabeth Peabody, and others—also embraced creative thinking in forging their own paths and inﬂuencing others to expand their horizons.

Louisa May Alcott’s impulse to write “in a vortex” and ignore critics who advised her to “stick to your teaching, you can’t write” is evidence that her creative spirit could not be quelled.

Finding creative solutions to challenges and allowing oneself to grow and change were driving forces in the Alcott family, as reﬂected in Miss Alcott’s landmark novel, Little Women, which champions meeting life’s hurdles with positive energy and innovative spirit. The examples of their family and the bold reformers with whom they surrounded themselves taught the Alcott sisters that they could embrace the freedom of making mistakes as they moved forward, while nurturing an openness to new ideas and alternative viewpoints.

During this year’s Summer Conversational Series, participants will explore the creative spirit in Louisa May Alcott, her family, and her role models, and discuss how creativity may be nurtured in all of us.

Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House

Summer Conversational Series Adult Education

Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making of something out of it after it is found.

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.

To be considered as a Series Presenter:

Creativity takes courage.