Blogs & News

: Friends Open Day

Come to the Friends of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House Open Day and help us to raise funds for the House*. Visit the House, meet some of The Friends and see the benefits of becoming a Friend of one of Manchester's Literary and Historical Treasures. From 12 noon to 3pm listen to short talks about William’s chair, Charlotte Bronte’s portrait, the servants’ exhibition, the garden and the “Manchester quilt”. For younger visitors, there will be a quiz about the servants

: The Manchester Quilt

The Elizabeth Gaskell's House Sewing Bee present their Manchester Quilt in this temporary exhibition over February Half Term. Take a closer look at the beautiful quilt made by the group, find out more about quilt making in the 19th Century and read about Elizabeth's own sewing habits in this mini-exhibition. There will also be family craft sessions running on Wednesday 21 February. The exhibition is in the Servants' Hall and is included in admission. There will be a

: ‘Household Commotion’: Elizabeth Gaskell and the ‘awful treasure’ of her servants, 1832-1865.

This new interactive exhibition explores in detail some of the individual servants that worked for the Gaskell family including Hearn, Elizabeth’s faithful housekeeper, and Will Preston, the outdoor servant from Cumbria, whose letter was found during the renovation work. A Letter to William In July 2016, while working on the Coach House at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House, workmen discovered a letter wedged between the brickwork and roof trusses in what is now the Nightingale room. Although the pages were

: The Gaskell Legacy

Elizabeth Gaskell's 'bustling life' filled 55 years of hectic energy as she combined the demands of a busy domestic life with those of a writer, achieving an international reputation that continues to this day. In this latest exhibition you'll learn more about Elizabeth as a wife, mother and author within the family home she lived in from 1850-1865. The exhibition includes early editions of her works, showing the formats in which Elizabeth Gaskell's novels first appeared, sometimes in