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Follow on Google News | Co-Founder of Cisco Systems awarded Honorary OBE for Services to UK CultureAward recognises importance of unique library of women’s writing
By: Ayrshire Farm Lerner, like many avid readers, loves the work of Jane Austen. This led her to explore the work of her influences and contemporaries. She discovered lesser-known women writers – many hugely popular in their day – who had been forgotten by mainstream publishing and popular culture. Speaking on this, Lerner has said “All of a sudden, Jane Austen made a whole lot more sense. It wasn’t like she’d dropped in from outer space with six of the best novels in the English language and left. You could see her in the context of things she’d read.” This interest led to Lerner building up a private library of early English women’s literature, 1600 – 1830. On hearing that the Elizabethan manor house once owned by Jane Austen’s brother, Edward Austen, later Knight, and referred to in her letters as the ‘Great House’, was for sale in a dilapidated condition, Lerner paid £1.25 million to buy it on a long lease from Edward’s descendent, Richard Knight. A further £10 million was spent on its restoration, thereby saving it for Chawton, Hampshire and the nation – as well as for admirers of Jane Austen worldwide. Chawton House Library has since become established as a world-renowned research and study centre for early English women’s writing. Lerner’s entire collection of around 8,000 books was donated to start the Library, which has grown considerably since then. A remarkably generous gift fired by passion and commitment to widening the literary horizon. The Library, house and estate is open to the public and runs a varied events programme. This includes international conferences, talks on women writers in the collection and on all aspects of eighteenth-century literature and culture. There is also a visiting fellowship programme, allowing scholars to study and stay on site, which is run in partnership with the University of Southampton. As a registered charity, the Library does not receive UK Government support. It therefore continues to be dependent upon donations and grants from individuals and trusts and foundations to help support the care and maintenance of the house and the unique book and manuscript collection alongside fulfilling its educational objectives. Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s Librarian at the University of Oxford said, “As a Trustee of Chawton House Library, I am thrilled that the Chairman of our board has been awarded this honour in recognition of her tremendous passion and commitment to women’s writing. It is particularly pleasing as the award also reflects the importance of libraries in the intellectual life of the UK.” Dr Linda Bree, editorial director of arts and literature at Cambridge University Press and herself a scholar of eighteenth-century women's writing, said, “I'm delighted to see this recognition of Sandy Lerner's wonderful achievement in founding Chawton House Library, and giving women writers of the past, at last, a home of their own in Britain.” As a foreign national, the award of an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen recognises the significance of Lerner’s cultural contribution to the UK. Although such awards are usually recognised at the British Embassy in the recipients country of residence, when Lerner was first advised of the award over a year ago, she requested permission to delay announcing the honour and wait to hold a celebratory event at Chawton House Library itself. The celebration took place on Wednesday 20th May, with Hampshire’s Lord-Lieutenant, Mr Nigel Atkinson, in attendance to congratulate Lerner on the very special contribution she has made to UK culture. ENDS NOTES TO EDITORS For more information or photographs contact: Shelley Hughes: shelley.hughes@ About Chawton House Library (www.chawtonhouselibrary.org) Chawton House Library is one of the world’s leading centres for the study of the lives and works of women writing in English between 1600 and 1830 and home to a unique collection of rare books and manuscripts. Writers whose work is held in the collection include Jane Austen, Aphra Behn, Frances Burney, Mary Robinson, Mary Shelley, Frances Sheridan and Mary Wollstonecraft. Chawton House Library opened as a UK-registered charity in 2003 after seven years of extensive restoration work on the historic house and gardens, which are open to visitors and sit within the South Downs National Park. The house itself is more than 400 years old and its history is interwoven with the family story of Jane Austen, whose brother inherited the house in 1826 after being adopted in 1784 by the Knight family who owned the estate. Chawton House Library enjoys close links with the University of Southampton and provides research facilities for their students studying for an MA in Eighteenth-Century Studies. The charity also runs education and outreach services, offering educational visits to schools, colleges and universities. This includes working in partnership with the Jane Austen House Museum, also in Chawton, to provide Austen-themed visits to support school curriculums. In 2012, Chawton House Library was awarded the Sandford Award for Heritage Education in recognition of their work. Photo:from left to right—Richard Knight; Mrs. Maldwin Drummond; Len Bosack; Sandy Lerner; Richard Atkinson Esq. HM Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire, in the dining room at Chawton House Library. End
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