In the year 2025, hearing the name Jane Austen might conjure images of Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, Alicia Silverstone as a modernized Emma in Clueless, or the hours you likely spent in high school English analyzing the sisters of Sense and Sensibility. But Austen is more than a teenage literature standard or an IP treasure trove, and the Morgan Library and Museum’s new exhibition, A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250, sets out to prove that fact. Through letters, documents, and even some of Austen’s personal effects, the show paints a full picture of the storied author—on the eve of her 250th birthday—as well as those who supported her ambitions, both during her life and following her early death.
“If you were marched through Pride and Prejudice in 10th grade and that was not the right time in your life, you are retaining an idea of Jane Austen that does not serve you,” says Juliette Wells, professor of literary studies at Goucher College in Baltimore and cocurator of the exhibition. Her goal with A Lively Mind is to engage every visitor, “regardless of their prior knowledge” or opinions on Austen, and to portray her as a witty, well-rounded young woman, one who even Pride and Prejudice’s Caroline Bingley would be forced to call “accomplished.”
Autograph letter to Cassandra Austen, Godmersham, June 20–22, 1808.
Photograph by Janny Chiu
The show already has at least one convert: Wells’s co-curator, Dale Stinchcomb, the Drue Heinz curator of literary and historical manuscripts at the Morgan. Stinchcomb entered the world of Austen “with fresh eyes”; her humor stuck with him throughout the curation process. That side of the author is on display throughout the 51 letters within the show, mostly sent between Austen and her older sister, Cassandra. Through these letters and other artifacts, viewers are able to trace Austen’s life, from her teenage years, when she first began writing, to her lasting legacy, which has transcended the years.
The exhibition begins by setting the scene with walls covered in leaf-patterned paper, a recreation of the same design that once lined Austen’s home. Set mostly chronologically, a highlight of the collection appears early on, in the form of a book filled with Austen’s teenage writings. The blank, pre-bound book was a gift from the author’s father, George—and a pricey one at that. “This is tangible evidence that Jane Austen’s father supported her writing, supported her ambitions,” says Wells.
That’s a major theme of A Lively Mind—the community, which aided Austen and fostered her creativity. Later, following George’s death, Jane, Cassandra, their mother, and a friend, Martha Lloyd, moved into a house in Chawton, England. There, Austen began to write in earnest. One artifact on view illustrates life in the cottage, where Austen played piano in the morning before making breakfast for her housemates. “That was her only contribution,” says Stinchcomb. “The folks in the household made sure she could carve out time for her writing.”
Emma, 3 vols. London: printed for John Murray, 1816.
Courtesy of The Morgan Library & Museum; Photograph by Janny Chiu
Elsewhere, a loan from The British Library displays multiple opinions on a draft of Emma. Living in a small village in East Hampshire, Austen had no literary circle with writerly contemporaries. Instead, she created her own workshop in the confines of her world. The document is a recording of her friends’ and family’s responses to the new work, with many comparing it to her previous novels. One family friend, Mrs. J. Bridges, prefers Emma “to all the others,” while Cassandra ranks it above Pride and Prejudice, but below Mansfield Park.
Of course, Austen’s writings didn’t always remain in Chawton. Eventually, the author published six novels, with a seventh, Lady Susan, released over fifty years after her death in 1871. Many first editions of these books are on display in the exhibition, as are four unauthorized copies of Emma, printed in Philadelphia in 1816. It was this printing which helped introduce Austen’s work to the U.S., a topic Wells explores in her 2017 book, Reading Austen in America. In doing research for the book, Wells tracked down the six surviving Philadelphia copies and studied the owners. “Each one bears the marks of its readers,” says Wells. They represent those who supported Austen without the author’s knowledge, and helped spread the word of her talent to a whole new continent of fans.
Opinions of Emma. Autograph manuscript, ca. 1816.
From the British Library archive /Bridgeman Images
Alberta Burke falls under a similar category, and the exhibition ends with an exploration of the American scholar and philanthropist, who spent much of her adult life collecting books, manuscripts, and documents relating to Austen. Burke, who passed away in 1975, eventually donated her extensive assemblage to the Morgan, as well as her alma mater, Goucher, in many ways making this exhibition possible.
Amy Sherald, A Single Man in Possession of a Good Fortune, 2019.
Collection of Lizbeth and George Krupp © Amy Sherald. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Joseph Hyde
Before exiting the show, visitors will see a final, anachronistic addition: A 2019 painting by Amy Sherald titled in a reference to Pride and Prejudice: A Single Man in Possession of a Good Fortune. From the very start, Wells knew she wanted to include the painting as part of the exhibition, and the work’s owners generously lent it to the Morgan for use.
“I love the way it connects with the world of Austen fandom, which is increasingly inclusive, global, and reinforced by adaptations that show us a world of Austen that is not the white world that one might have imagined in past generations,” Wells says. It’s the perfect way to cap off the exhibition, to transport the viewer back into the present day—where Austen is just as influential, even 250 years after she first entered the world.
A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250 is on display at the Morgan Library & Museum from June 6 to September 14, 2025.