Members from SI Winchester have been involved in the Beyond the Bonnets exhibition marking 250 years since the birth of Jane Austen, along with Joshua Raffell whose installations accompanied it in the ARC Winchester.
Some members went to the opening launch of the exhibition in the ARC at the end of July and met one of the descendants of Jane Austen who gave a very interesting and lively talk on her ancestor.
Then a couple of weeks later 13 members headed off to Chawton House where we were intrigued to discover the history of the house, its family lineage and links to Jane Austen. All of this of course followed by lunch in the old kitchens, now a lovely tearoom.
Did you know that by 1775 there were more books published by women than men? This lady did, Sandy Lerner, the American co founder of Cisco Systems and Jane Austen enthusiast came to the rescue of Chawton House. She funded restoration and generously installed her collection of women’s literature – some 12,500 books. By 2003 the library became a centre for the study of early women’s writing 1600 – 1830. Now run by trustees, the house is more widely open to the public but still retains its study function.
For the club the visit fitted well with the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen and our recent involvement with the Beyond the Bonnets exhibition in the ARC in Winchester.
The House functions as a library where people can register to borrow books but only on the premises, you can also stay here too! For the club this fitted well with the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth and our recent involvement with Beyond the Bonnets at the ARC. This moves to Basingstoke’s Willis Museum in the autumn.
Sandy Lerner sounds like she might be a Soroptimist!