On the evening of Tuesday 30th September a Private View and Reception was held to mark the opening of our new Exhibition ‘Fans in the Time of Jane Austen’ for fellow Cultural and Museum Associates.
The event was well attended by representatives of other museums and cultural bodies with an interest in fans, including Harewoood House, The Royal Collection and The Costume Society UK. Other organisations such as The Fan Circle International, Le Cercle de l’Eventail, the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers and the Worshipful Company of Art Scholars were also represented. Our ”local” Museums, the Royal Museums Greenwich and the Old Royal Naval College, were represented by their Director and Chief Executive respectively. The Mayor of Greenwich (Cllr Linda Bird) was also present and played a part in the discussions about a possible schools initiative involving the Fan Museum in the future.
The event included a conversation with Hélène Alexander, the Founder of the Fan Museum, and an erudite, entertaining, and interesting talk (illustrated by slides) from Mary Kitson about fans and their use during the time of Jane Austen – as well as including the (few) refercenes to fans in her novels. Museum Assistant Vidita Gupta also showed guests in attendance around the exhibition, explaining the contents of the display cases in closer detail.
The exhibition is to run through until March 2026 and has been curated in such a way as to appeal both to the layman and the expert in fans – it also aptly marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen herself. We hope to see many visitors to our unique and world class Fan Museum in the coming months!
