Gaskell House Blogs

Our blog post cover everything that happens at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House from the stories discovered about objects and furnishings, to family connections and past residents. You can read about the garden and the plants we grow as well as the volunteering experience we offer to our brilliant team. The majority of the posts are written by volunteers.

 


Searching For Saffron: souvenirs of a joyous trip to Rome

I have visited Italy several times and of course a highlight is always wonderful food. Usual attempts to recreate memorable meals at home often don’t quite work, but last year, thanks to an Italian friend, I made a discovery that may help

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Rome 1857 & 2023

'We are really truly coming to Rome!!!!!!....I don’t believe it. It is a dream! I shall never believe it, and shall have to keep pinching myself!' So wrote Elizabeth Gaskell to her friend Mrs Story in February 1857. Elizabeth did indeed travel

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3. The Life of Charlotte Brontë – The Aftermath

Elizabeth’s plan was to reframe Charlotte Brontë as a proper lady in order to counter the scathing reviews of Jane Eyre by Lady Eastlake, who accused the author of: ‘a total ignorance of the habits of society, a great coarseness of taste,

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2. The Life of Charlotte Brontë – Collecting Resources

Once the commission to write the biography of Charlotte Brontë had been accepted, Elizabeth needed to collect information from as many sources as she could. Her first two points of contact were Ellen Nussey, Charlotte’s friend, and George Smith her publisher. George

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1. The Life of Charlotte Brontë – An Invitation to Write

Two months after the death of her friend, Charlotte Brontë, Elizabeth Gaskell wrote to George Smith (their publisher) asking for a copy of an engraving of daguerreotype, of the 1850 Richmond portrait of Charlotte; the one we have hanging in the drawing

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