In 1775, in a village in Hampshire, England, an author was born who would go on to be among the most influential and beloved in the world. In the state of New Hampshire this year, fans of Jane Austen are celebrating her 250th birthday in high style.
Students in English professor Carolyn Dever’s first-year seminar put together an exhibit of works from the late Jane Austen for their final project. On April 17, students and community members gathered in the lobby of Berry Library for the opening of the exhibition “For Love or Money? Jane Austen at 250.”
The exhibit includes display cases filled with first-editions of famous Austen novels, as well as music sheets, drawings and money from the early 18th century.
The exhibition was curated entirely by the ’28s in the seminar and aimed to bring awareness to the complexity of Jane Austen’s works, according to Dever.
“The project has given students the experience of working with their hands, with making decisions about how to represent these materials for writers or for viewers just coming by, maybe viewers who have never heard of Jane Austen,” Dever said. “It’s just really awesome.”
The exhibition featured first editions for four of Austen’s major novels: “Emma,” “Persuasion,” “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility.” At the beginning of the winter term, students were placed in groups, each tackling a different novel.
The exhibit encourages visitors to reconsider popular preconceptions of Austen, according to Eloise Taylor ’28, a student who helped create the exhibit for “Emma.”
“I really want people to see that Jane Austen’s books are more than just a romance novel,” Taylor said. “There’s a lot going on. They’re very satirical. There’s a lot of conversation about women, women’s rights [and] money.”
Max Liedtka ’28, a student in Dever’s class, said that the process of creating the exhibit encouraged him to dig deeper into the books. Dever encouraged students to delve into 18th-century contemporary themes, such as gender, wealth and class inequality.
Addison Verrill ’28, who worked on “Pride and Prejudice,” said that covering a widely known novel was challenging.
“We were trying to go at it while acknowledging that a lot of people are familiar with it, but [we wanted to] shake their understanding [to] give it a new perspective,” Verrill said.
Verill said she had read several of Austen’s works before, but her project gave her a newfound appreciation and understanding of Austen.
“Now I think about [Austen] so differently than I used to, because there’s so much more hiding under the surface,” Verill said.
Taylor said that it “took a lot of time” to condense the material in a way that made it accessible for everyone.
“You’re trying to tell everyone something about the book for people that have never read it, but also you want it to be fun and engaging,” she said.
Students worked closely with the head of Rauner Library special collections and archives Jay Satterfield for their project research. Satterfield and Dever developed the class structure after conversations about broadening the scope of the class and enriching the first-year seminar experience.
“I remembered that Jane Austen’s 250th birthday was coming up,” Satterfield said. “I approached Carolyn because I knew she taught classes, and I asked if she wanted to do something with an exhibit. And from there, she and I came up with the idea of doing a class exhibit.”
Satterfield worked hand-in-hand with the students to curate the primary source materials that are now displayed on the first floor of the Baker-Berry Library.
“We had so many questions, and [Satterfield] was always ready to answer them,” Taylor said.
Grace Winters ’28, whose group worked on “Sense and Sensibility,” said that developing the exhibit required a lot of thought.
“We just looked through parts of many, many old books,” Winters said. “And then, as the journey went on, we narrowed down what we wanted to talk about. Then we selected themes that present themselves over and over again in Jane Austen.”
Head of teaching and learning at Dartmouth Library, Laura Barrett — who also helped students with research — said it was “very fun” to work alongside the students and her colleagues in Rauner.
“[Students] were so into it, and very curious,” Barrett said. “They were really learning and exploring and taking a lot of joy in that.”
Holding the first editions of Austen’s work was an exciting hands-on experience for many students. Liedtka and Winters said that it was the first time they had a chance to work with physical primary source materials.
“I think it’s just amazing that we have access to these really priceless artifacts, but at the same time, we’re actively using them to enhance our learning,” Winters said.
“It doesn’t hit you while you’re working with them,” Liedtka said. “It hits you when you walk out and you realize, ‘Okay, I’m gonna go eat lunch now. I was just holding pieces of history.’”
During the celebration, students received awards for their hard work, and each group briefly discussed their exhibit to the growing crowd.
“I hope [the exhibit] brings us together around an author who’s really, really important,” Dever said. “I love how the resources of Dartmouth Library have given us a way to see Jane Austen, and just take a look around.”