Jane Austen’s heroines value happiness, trust their own judgment, and love wholeheartedly. They act with conviction despite challenging circumstances and formidable opposition. In novels including Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Persuasion, Austen (1775–1817) created engrossing narratives by exploring the everyday experiences and emotions of English gentlewomen. Her works, first published anonymously in the 1810s, have since resonated powerfully with readers across the centuries and throughout the world. Many have found inspiration, too, in Austen’s life, which was less conventional than the courtship plots she transformed in her fiction. Imaginative and ambitious from an early age, she was supported by her family, especially her father and her sister, Cassandra, her lifelong confidante. In the last decade of her life, she rejoiced in her modest success as a published novelist.
Nineteenth-century American publishers and writers were vital to introducing Austen’s novels to later generations and to offering fresh perspectives on her authorship. In the twentieth century, American collectors played essential roles in preserving Austen artifacts. This exhibition celebrates not only the 250th anniversary of Austen’s birth but also the 50th anniversary of the landmark bequest of her manuscripts to the Morgan by Alberta H. Burke of Baltimore.
A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250 is made possible by generous support from the Drue Heinz Exhibitions and Programs Fund, Cynthia H. Polsky, Martha J. Fleischman, the Caroline Morgan Macomber Fund, and the Lucy Ricciardi Family Exhibition Fund, with assistance from the Morgan's Literary and Historical Manuscripts Committee, Alyce Williams Toonk, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, and Susan Jaffe Tane.
Hello. I’m Colin B. Bailey, Director of the Morgan Library and Museum, and I’m delighted to welcome you to A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250. This exhibition explores Austen’s authorship and legacy from her teenage writings through her rise to global fame. Along the way, it sheds new light on her earliest readers, particularly the creative household that encouraged her ambition to publish and the Americans who first encountered Austen through an unauthorized edition of Emma. Letters, manuscripts, and first editions from the Morgan’s rich collection are joined by objects from a dozen institutions, as well as iconic artifacts from Jane Austen’s House in Chawton, England, that have never been shown in the US before.
The presentation also commemorates the 50th anniversary of a significant gift to the Morgan by Alberta H. Burke of Baltimore, who over several decades accumulated one of the foremost Austen collections in private hands. Objects originally part of Burke’s collection are designated on exhibition labels with an icon bearing her initials.
As you move through the gallery, look for the audio symbols to discover commentary from the exhibition’s guest curator, Juliette Wells, Professor of Literary Studies at Goucher College in Baltimore.
Thank you for joining us at the Morgan. We hope you enjoy your visit.