Misty Krueger

On July 10 and 11 I officially began my stewardship at Chawton House Library (CHL) and Jane Austen’s House Museum (JAHM), respectively. I volunteered on Monday at CHL and Tuesday at JAHM. See the pics above which show my badges and nifty lanyards. On Monday I began by opening the house. This process includes opening…

Ah, there is some lovely green water. Don’t you want to just go take a long, hot bath in the waters of Bath? No? Perhaps you want to drink the “spa water”? No, again? Well, how about just visiting the baths of Bath and learning a little bit about its history? OK, then. Good. Last…

In 1801, Jane Austen (JA) and her father, mother, and sister moved to Bath. She lived in various places in Bath for five years. Although Austen supposedly was not fond of the town, she set two of her novels in Bath. Strangely enough, these novels were posthumously published, so she technically did not see one of…

Yes, I know that this blog is supposed to be about MK and JA, as the title explains, but sometimes on this trip MK does something totally unrelated to JA. My husband and I decided to take a trip to Stonehenge on Sunday. While I visited the greatest henge of all ten years ago, Adam…

When I was in high school, I went to the prom. It was awful. When I was in Alton I went to the Proms. It was awesome. Last Saturday night, after the JAS AGM, I went to a local version of a very English event called The Proms. Proms is short for promenade concerts. Apparently,…

On Saturday, July 8, I attended the Jane Austen Society’s (JAS) Annual General Meeting (AGM). This event was held in a marquee on the Chawton House Library’s lawn on a sunny, hot day. The day began with some shopping–no joke. There was a series of stalls located on the grounds, and the vendors distributed information…

  On Friday, July 7, 2017, Chawton House Library (CHL) and Jane Austen’s House Museum (JAHM) hosted “Talks and Tours Day: Jane Austen in Chawton.” The day began with a series of talks; it concluded with tours of CHL’s current exhibit on Austen and Germaine de Stael–alliteratively called “Fickle Fortunes”–and JAHM’s wallpaper and Wedgewood dishes!…

Normally Chawton fellows and the international visitor (that’s my role) stay in the Chawton House Library Stables. Because CHL Stables is booked for the next few weeks, I am staying at the wonderful Sarah’s house in Alton for the time being. I found this place through Airbnb. It’s a wonderful house with wonderful hosts, including Sarah’s…

Last night I helped the Chawton House Library (CHL) staff set up for an event: the live recording of BBC Radio4’s “Kitchen Cabinet.”  The show changes locations weekly (I presume) and invites an audience of hundreds to attend the recording. It goes like this: people can request free tickets, show up, and hope to get…

Yesterday I made my first official trip to Jane Austen’s House Museum (JAHM). From 1809-1817, Austen lived with her mother and sister in a Chawton cottage that is now known as Jane Austen’s House Museum. She revised Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice while living in Chawton, and she wrote Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion,…