A new exhibition about the life of Charlotte Brontë has opened at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York.
Charlotte Brontë: An Independent Will celebrates the two-hundredth anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth and marks an historic collaboration between the Brontë Parsonage Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and the Morgan, which holds a significant collection of Brontë manuscripts and letters. Items on loan from the Parsonage’s collection include Charlotte’s earliest surviving miniature manuscript, her portable writing desk and paintbox, and a blue floral dress she wore in the 1850s.
Ann Dinsdale, Principal Curator at the Brontë Parsonage Museum said, “It’s over two years since we first discussed a collaboration with the Morgan and it’s wonderful to see it come to fruition. The Morgan’s Brontë collection is world-class and the Brontë Society is thrilled to have items from its own collection on display in New York. It’s the perfect way to round off Charlotte’s bicentenary year.”
Sarah Laycock, Curator at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, who accompanied the Parsonage’s exhibits to New York added, “Travelling to New York to work on the exhibition was a fantastic experience and it was a huge privilege to assist the Morgan team with their displays. I felt hugely protective of all the Brontë objects and am really proud that they hold such significance for a worldwide audience.”
Charlotte Brontë: An Independent Will runs at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York until 2 January 2017. A new Brontë Society publication to mark Charlotte’s bicentenary: Celebrating Charlotte Brontë: Transforming Life into Literature in ‘Jane Eyre’ by Christine Alexander and Sara L Pearson is available to buy from the Morgan, the Brontë Parsonage Museum and online here.
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