Help Match the HHA Grant!

Much to our delight, the North American Friends have raised the matching funds for the HHA grant that the staff at Chawton House secured last winter for capital improvements and collection care.

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That match makes possible the following projects, to be undertaken this fall and winter:

• repressuring the heating system,

• replacing two pumps connected to the heating system, and

• applying UV filters to the windows in the Oak Room.

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Going forward, Chawton House should be more comfortable for the staff, scholars, volunteers, and visitors, who found themselves donning hats and gloves indoors last winter because of inadequate heating.

 

In addition, collections in the Oak Room will be protected from fading and damage caused by ultraviolet rays.

 

We promise to post photos when the work is complete.

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The early completion of the match allows us to consider our “stretch goals.”

 

• Eminent scholar Deirdre Le Faye left Chawton House her collection of eighteenth-century actress portraits, so our next project is seeing that these pictures are archivally mounted for display in the heavily trafficked Servant’s Passage that leads to the Tearoom.

• In addition, we will contribute toward improvements for the Great Hall, which will be made more accessible and which will be refurbished in keeping with images of the House from 1904.

 

Chawton House currently can cover about 80% of its annual budget through its activities but depends on fundraising and NAFCH to close that gap and to cover the costs of one-time, critical projects like these. Every dollar helps.​​