Victoria here. On May 14 Sue Forgue and I enjoyed the Spring meeting of the Minnesota Region of JASNA at the historic Woman’s Club of Minneapolis, where we presented our talk from the Louisville 2015 AGM “London High Society in Austen’s Novels.”
Above and Below, Minneapolis JASNA Regional Coordinator Candice Hern presides.
Later, Victoria posed at the lectern
The tea/feast was scrumptious.
In attendance were my cousin Julie and her granddaughter Marnie.
Candice charmed us with her exhibition of antique scent vials. These were used to hold samples of perfume and intended to be discarded. However, many have survived, probably due to their beauty and craftsmanship. More on Candice’s Collections can be viewed on her outstanding website, here.
After the program, we drove over to the Minneapolis Institute of Art to see the Jane Austen Room.
Actually, there were two rooms from the museum’s collection of decorative arts. The paneled room was fitted as a library with exhibits and the books of Jane Austen and some of her comptemporaries for the reading pleasure of visitors. Here Sue Forgue reads the text panels above the fireplace while an unidentified young lady sits and reads.
The main room was furnished as a drawing room from Emma Woodhouse’s home, Hartfield.
Not only were the furnishings perfect; there were also two special surprises portraying scenes from the novel Emma, this year celebrating its 200th anniversary.
Above, a card table, showing the letter game from Emma in which the word is “blunder.”
Below, Emma’s painting of Harriet Smith, by which Emma is hoping to interest Mr. Elton in her friend as a possible match. Thanks to Sue and her phone for these two close-up pictures.
A first edition of Emma, 1816.
Fashion plates from an 1816 magazine.
Marnie and Julie accompanied us to the MIA.
The MIA website is here.
The Jane Austen Reading Rooms, on display through October 20, 2016, are here.