Volume I, Issue I, August 2006
Letter from Chawton House Welcome to our first letter from Chawton House
Welcome to our first letter from Chawton House. With so much going on at the Library we wanted to find a way of telling you all what we’re doing. And what better way than by letter? Of course, we are still producing The Female Spectator, which I know many of you enjoy. We see our Letter from Chawton House as a companion to The Female Spectator, highlighting news and events, and the people who make what we do here possible. Please let us know what you think of it. We’d love to hear from you. It’s a great thrill to be launching our Letter in my first month as Director. I came to Chawton House Library in December last year as Operations Manager and immediately I was hooked. The Acting Director, Graeme Cottam, hired me as part of a wider strengthening of the management team along with Sara Moger, our Head of Fundraising. When Graeme decided to step down, I was delighted to have the chance to play a greater part in the charity. We have a great opportunity here to bring our passion for early English women’s writing to the widest audience. Chawton House Library is a very special place that allows people to achieve a real understanding of the historical context of these women writers and also to benefit from the latest academic research. There is also a lot of work do to: we are currently formalising our plans to take the charity forward over the next five years. And we need your help to achieve our goals and realise Chawton House Library’s full potential. In the next year, we will need more volunteers in our reading rooms, estate and kitchen garden. We’ll be seeking sponsors to support our academic and fundraising events. And we will be improving the benefits our members and friends can receive. This is a very exciting time for Chawton House Library. We have come a long way since our official opening in 2003 and we can really capitalise on the progress now. Thank you so much for all that you have done and continue to do for us. And I look forward to meeting you soon.
Heather Shearer Director
ROYAL VISIT TO CHAWTON HOUSE HRH Princess Alexandra recently visited Chawton House Library. She enjoyed a tour of the house and spent time in the Library examining some of the more significant works in the collection. She was particularly interested in Sir Charles Grandison, which is Jane Austen’s only complete surviving manuscript.
LECTURE & EVENT PROGRAMME September to December 2006
Lecture tickets: £12.50 and £8.50 for Friends and students 6.30pm: Reception with complimentary wine and canapés 7.00pm: Lecture Thursday 14 September Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King Antonia Fraser Tuesday 26 September An Eighteenth-Century Free Spirit: the Lyrical Cumberland Poet Susanna Blamire (1747-1794) Dr Christopher Maycock Wednesday 25 October Highwaymen, Smugglers and Hangings: Crime and Punishment in Eighteenth-Century Hampshire Dr Julie Gammon, University of Southampton Thursday 2 November Polmear Ambache Duo – Words and Music with Jenny Agutter St Nicholas’ Church, Chawton, 6.45pm for 7.30pm. Performance lasts approximately 105 minutes including a 15-minute interval Tickets £25 to include a wine and canapé reception in The Great Hall, Chawton House Library
BECOME A CHAWTON HOUSE VOLUNTEER As the range and breadth of work undertaken at Chawton House Library continues to develop, we are increasingly looking for volunteers. We need you to invigilate in the Reading Rooms and to steward the house and gardens on Charity Open Days; to work in the organic Walled Garden and to help out on the estate; to sew Regency costumes and learn Regency dancing. Your interest may lie in our unique collection of English women's writing (1600-1830); in our beautifully restored Elizabethan manor house; in Jane Austen, her works and her family; in our 18th century sustainable estate; in fundraising to help our education programme. But whatever your interest, we want to hear from you.
Friday 10 November Why Jane Austen preferred Southampton to Bath. Professor Emma Clery, University of Southampton, & Ms Deirdre Le Faye Wednesday 29 November Reading from her latest novel: Hungry Ghosts Debbie Taylor, Novelist and Editor of Mslexia For more information, please contact Kathy Quinn on 01420 541010 or kathy.quinn@chawton.net
Contact Heather Shearer, Director, on the main Library number or email on heather.shearer@chawton.net.
The Republic of Pemberley visited Chawton House on Friday 4 August. Pictured here with (centre front), Julie Wakefield and the writer, Deborah Moggach, who was recently BAFTA - nominated for her screenplay of Pride & Prejudice.
A GIFT OF FRIENDSHIP You can make a gift of Friendship of Chawton House Library. It offers all the benefits you enjoy as a Friend and is totally flexible, starting whenever the recipient chooses. Annual Friendship costs £30. A special gift certificate will be sent either to you to present personally, or alternatively we can despatch it direct to the recipient with a message from you. Hampshire Regency Dancers encouraged audience participation at our Charity Open Garden Day on 6 June. See a full report in The Female Spectator (Summer 2006).
If you would like to give Friendship of Chawton House Library as a gift, please contact Sara Moger, Head of Fundraising on the main Library number or email sara.moger@chawton.net.
Chawton House Library, Chawton, Alton, Hampshire GU34 1SJ T: 01420 541010 F: 01420 595900 E: info@chawton.net W:www.chawton.org Registered Charity No 1026921