The preservation of Chawton House Library for future generations has been boosted by a six-figure legacy pledge, the charity’s first legacy promise in its 11-year history.
The US dollar-pledge from Professor Joan Ray, a retired English professor from the University of Colorado and trustee of Chawton House Library, will help support the future of the Hampshire study centre’s collection of early English women’s writing, as well as Chawton House itself, an Elizabethan manor that was once owned by Jane Austen’s brother, Edward Knight.
By making a legacy pledge, Professor Ray has become the first member of Chawton House Library’s new 1817 Legacy Circle, which has been set up to recognise and thank supporters who have decided to remember the charity in their will.
Membership includes an invitation to a special annual event at the house in Chawton near Alton, regular news on the library’s collection, including new additions, research and exhibitions, and a quill lapel badge.
Keith Arscott, Development Director at Chawton House Library, said: “In 1817, Jane Austen signed her last will and testament in Chawton so our 1817 Legacy Circle is our way of acknowledging the support and generosity of people who have pledged their own legacy to Chawton’s future.”
The charity aims to educate and inspire people of all ages to read the works of early English women writers from 1600 to 1830, such as Jane Austen and Mary Shelley, and preserve the literary heritage for academics and non-scholars for generations to come.
The house itself is regularly open to visitors, alongside library readers, for tours and during public events. It also provides research facilities for Visiting Fellows from around the world, learning projects with local schools and colleges and fosters links internationally through seminars and conferences.
It costs more than £2,500 a day to maintain and run the house and estate, which are part of the South Downs National Park, making legacies vital to the charity’s long-term financial security.
Professor Ray decided to pledge a gift in her will to Chawton House Library in recognition of her time spent there and the support she received whilst researching material for her two-volume contribution on Jane Austen for the Dictionary of Literary Biography, published in the US by the Gale Group.
She said: “A study centre like Chawton House Library is what preserves our history and our culture for future generations. With the beautiful landscape, which includes a ha-ha, shrubbery and wilderness just as in Jane Austen’s novels, this is living history that you can walk on and touch.”
Professor Ray added: “I like to think that when you come to Chawton and you see the cottage where Jane Austen lived and the big manor at Chawton House, you get the full experience of what life was like in the world of Jane Austen and other writers of the period.”
There are other ways to help aside from legacies, such as making a one-off or regular donation of any amount or by becoming a friend of Chawton House Library. For more information call (01420) 541010 or email info@chawton.net.