Ambitious plans to transform the
English literary landscape were announced today in the historic Hampshire
village of Chawton, where Jane Austen wrote her most famous novels.
Chawton House, the Elizabethan
mansion that once belonged to Jane’s brother, Edward, is to be restored as part
of a major international project to establish a new centre for the study of
early English women’s writing. It will
house a magnificent collection of over 6,200 books from the period 1600 – 1830,
together with some related manuscripts, now located in the USA. The centre will play a leading role in the
rediscovery of forgotten women writers of earlier centuries, and the rewriting
of Britain’s literary and cultural history.
The
project is being run by a British charity, Chawton House Library, which is
chaired by Sandy Lerner, the American businesswoman and driving force behind
the acquisition of the house and its 280 acre estate. Addressing the launch of today’s appeal for £3 million to
complete the restoration of the house, Sandy Lerner said:
I’ve been
asked to speak at many Jane Austen meetings around the world about my
commitment to this amazing adventure.
The global interest in the project is very gratifying and assures me
that we can find the funds that we need to complete the work on the house. I am eager to move forward with great speed.
Chawton House
Library’s educational outreach will extend beyond universities and colleges to
schools and institutions of continuing education. Local schools will be encouraged to participate in the
investigation of the estate’s ecology, for example, while interpretation of the
whole project on-line will make the activities and publishing programmes of the
Centre accessible to people throughout the world.
The first of the
Centre’s ‘Novels On-Line’ – Rachel Hunter’s The
Unexpected Legacy (1804) – is now on the Chawton House Library
website, chawton.org.
The
costs associated with the early stages of the Chawton House Library project,
including the acquisition of the collection, ran into many millions of pounds,
and were covered by generous grants from the Leonard X. Bosack and Bette M.
Kruger Charitable Foundation in America.
The project now needs a further £3 million to complete the work on the
house.
Ms
Lerner announced today that every sum donated towards the restoration work
would be matched by the Bosack-Kruger Foundation in the form of endowment funding to cover the future
running costs of the library.
She
added:
We
must begin the work this year if we are to meet the goal of welcoming our first
readers in July 2003. We are now
seeking sponsorship and donations from companies, trusts and individuals. We are very keen to talk to donors who might
wish to be associated with specific aspects of the project, such as the costs
of restoring different parts of the house and grounds.
Trustee Graeme
Cottam said:
British
donors can see that this project reverses the usual flow of their national
heritage across the Atlantic, and will wish to reciprocate the generosity of
the American foundation. Overseas
donors recognise that the project will provide unique international educational
and research opportunities for people from their own countries who wish to
study at Chawton.
For further information please contact either of the Directors:
Jane Alderson, Director
of Chawton Estate ([email protected]) and Professor Michael Wheeler,
Director of Chawton House Library ([email protected]), both at Chawton House Library,
Chawton, Alton, GU34 1SJ, tel 01420 541010, fax 01420 542680