May

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In 2025, the world is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen. The news media is full of stories about balls and events you can attend, museum exhibits to view, books to buy, and films to watch.

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At Chawton House, you can view a new exhibition, Sisters of the Pen: Jane Austen, Influence, Legacy. Learn about Frances Burney, Maria Edgeworth, and Ann Radcliffe as well as the less-well-known Jane West and Susan Ferrier. The exhibit will showcase books from the collection and a special feature will be Drama in the Drawing Room, which highlights the role of theatre in Austen’s world.

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On display will be one of Chawton House’s greatest treasures—a manuscript in Austen’s hand of the play adaptation of Samuel Richardson’s novel Sir Charles Grandison written in collaboration with her niece. The exhibit will run through February 2026.

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North American Friends of Chawton House also has a special way of celebrating the big 2-5-0. This year, we will launch Genius Jane, our fifth—and final—bobblehead figurine.

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Genius Jane can be had for a donation to the North American Friends of $250 or more, and all proceeds go directly to Chawton House to help with its current large-scale project: cataloguing and organizing the donated archive of Deirdre Le Faye (1933–2020), one of the leading authorities on Jane Austen and her times. You probably have one of her books  on your shelf, maybe Jane Austen’s Letters, now in its fourth edition, The Jane Austen Cookbook, or the monumental A Chronology of Jane Austen and her Family: 1600–2000, which brings together every single piece of information available about the Austen family before, during, and after Jane's lifetime.

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Some items are already on display. You may have seen the framed actress portraits in the Servant’s Passage, one of last year’s NAFCH funding projects, or the copperware in the Old Kitchen—those are all Deirdre’s gifts to Chawton House. Her books and papers will join the materials in the Library and help the next generation of both academic researchers and “sisters of the pen.”  She was a generous scholar in her lifetime, always willing to share her vast knowledge, and her legacy will make the Chawton House library an even greater resource.

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As the archive was boxed up in haste during the COVID pandemic (and there were at least 150 boxes), the cataloging will require the knowledgeable attention of a part-time curator working with assistants and volunteers. It is the goal of the North American Friends in 2025 to provide the funds for at least the salary of that curator as our birthday tribute to Jane Austen.

 

Please give generously—and welcome Genius Jane into your home as our gift.​

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