Exhibition in Baltimore

Thanks, Randall Grimsley, for the reminder that this exhibition is still running. So if you're in Baltimore.......

The exhibition first appeared at the University of Virginia in 2006 and featured materials from the teaching collections of Rare Book School. Founded in 1983, the school moved to its present home in 1992. It is an independent non-profit educational institute for the study of the history of books, printing and related subjects. More info from www.rarebookschool.org

Tamar Yellin in Haworth

Deputy Director Andrew McCarthy writes:

Tamar Yellin, author of Kafka in Brontëland and other stories, will be reading from and discussing her work and the influence of the Brontës at the West Lane Baptist Centre in Haworth on Wednesday 17 October at 2.00pm. This event takes place as part of the Brontë Parsonage Museum’s contemporary arts programme.

Kafka in Brontëland and other stories was longlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and received the Reform Judaism Prize 2006. Born in Leeds to Jewish parents, Tamar Yellin moved to Brontë country at the age of 21 and has lived there ever since. Her novel, The Genizah at the House of Shepher, based on her Jerusalemite ancestry, has received several awards including the international Sami Rohr Prize for emerging Jewish writers which carries a $ prize.

The museum’s arts programme has featured lots of well known writers but it’s wonderful to have an opportunity to highlight the work of a writer living and working so close to the home of the Brontës. It shows that Haworth still has an inspirational attraction not only for readers of the Brontës' books but also contemporary writers and artists.


Admission is £2.75 on the door. Advance booking is not required. Free to day ticket holders to the Brontë Parsonage Museum. For further details and bookings please contact the Brontë Parsonage Museum, / andrew.mccarthy@bronte.org.uk

Below, Tamar Yellin:

Fund-raising and filming

Director Alan Bentley writes:

Along with a number of other historic houses and museums, we are participating in a fund- raising effort on eBay.

Top Lots is a partnership between heritage organisations and EBay to auction “experiences” to raise money. We are auctioning Ann Dinsdale, or to be more exact we are offering the following –

An evening for a group of up to 15 people with exclusive access to the Parsonage and Garden, an introductory talk and tour followed by a unique behind-the-scenes look at items from the collection with Ann Dinsdale, Brontë Society Collections Manager and author. Wine and nibbles and entertainment with a chance to meet Branwell Brontë.

Find out more at http://www.toplots.co.uk/lots.php?id=37

On the topic of the forthcoming new film Brontë, director Charles Sturridge and his team have visited the Parsonage recently, mainly to take mouldings of stonework (and photographs) of the exterior, because it will soon be reconstructed at a location near Sheffield in South Yorkshire. Other locations will include Brodsworth Hall, near Doncaster, and Cannon Hall, near Barnsley. Haworth village will feature too – but at the moment it is not known how much.

The cast list has been changing recently, which has given rise to plenty of speculation. The latest names for the Sisters, as conveyed to me, are as follows:

Rebecca Hall (seen recently on TV as Antoinette in Wild Sargasso Sea) as Emily Brontë.

Natalie Press (seen recently on TV in Bleak House) as Charlotte Brontë.

Evan Rachel Wood (well-known from the film Running with Scissors) as Anne Brontë.

In addition, John Hurt replaces Brian Cox as Patrick Brontë, Geraldine Chaplin plays Aunt Branwell, Joan Plowright plays Tabby and Kristin Scott-Thomas plays Lady Robinson.

Brussels scenes will not be filmed in Brussels – but in Luxemberg.

Richard Wilcocks adds:

Rebecca Hall, I suspect, will be an excellent Emily, judging from her remarkable performance on BBC Four’s Wild Sargasso Sea recently. In this she is the perfect Antoinette, who can only assert herself occasionally. Her yearning for love from the cold, authoritarian Rochester is painful to watch, her vulnerability and indecisiveness beautifully conveyed. She is a creature of nature, at home in a hallucinatory landscape, who will do something mad if she is unnaturally confined, and we see that in her well before the end.


Below, Rebecca Hall

This Saturday

A reminder : poet Amanda Dalton will be resident at the Parsonage on Saturday 6 October to mark National Poetry Day - which is officially tomorrow, 4 October. See the post for 9 September below.

Brontë Circles

Robert Barnard - pictured here with Director of the Parsonage Museum Alan Bentley - gave a talk entitled People the Brontës Knew in Haworth yesterday, to a large and appreciative audience. It was to mark the recent publication of A Brontë Encyclopedia: the indefinite article signifying academic modesty is officially favoured, but this major (definitive?)work should soon be up there with the likes of Juliet Barker's The Brontës. Up there with Clement Shorter too.

Magazine editor Shorter produced Charlotte Brontë and her Circle in the 1890s, and it was his title which provided Dr Barnard with the talk's structure. "Some might think that she didn't have a circle....but everyone has one....although you would be hard-pressed to find one for Emily.

"I am going to talk about two or three circles. The first is the one which Patrick and Maria gathered around themselves at Thornton."

Thornton was described as a place where the gentry (which included the clergy) was "not really impressive" but where it was more numerous than in Haworth. Thanks to Miss Elizabeth Firth of Kipping House, who welcomed the Brontës there in 1815, we know about most of the social engagements of the time. Less than three months after Maria's death, "Patrick contacted Elizabeth, then aged about twenty-one, and must have proposed marriage, because she records that she wrote back to him telling him that it was her last letter to him."

She probably considered him to be of too lowly an origin. And he was Irish, too: "Attitudes to the Irish were perhaps a little similar to some present-day attitudes to immigrant groups like West Indians or the Poles.....It was not usual for people of a humble Irish origin to espouse English conservatism."

Quoting from Dudley Green's The Letters of the Reverend Patrick Brontë, Dr Barnard showed how Patrick, "although he cringed to the gentry he met at Thornton", and although he wrote that "a warmer or truer friend to Church and State" could not be found, nevertheless found himself bound to "advocate the cause of temperate reform".

The end of Patrick's association with "extreme conservatism" and the Thornton Circle was marked by his letter to Dr Outhwaite of 20 September 1844:

Sir,
I thank You for your Laconic Letter - I will try to abide by your - prescription for in good sooth, I have much need of patience, especially, when under affliction, such as may arise from Old Age, and Old Friends. - But that God to whom you refer, will judge You and [me], on the day of Doom, when we shall be more on a Level than we are now are - You have in times past done me [and mine]good for which I shall ever be thankful, whatever you now do, or may do, in time to come -

I remain, Sir
Your most obedient Servant, P. Brontë


The second group of people which Dr Barnard selected was the clergy - part of Charlotte's circle. "We can guess her opinions from reading the opening chapter of Shirley in which clergymen are ridiculed." Clergymen were the only ones who could be regarded as matrimonial prospects, and Charlotte did not think much of most of them - for example the one who absconded with charity money (Smith), the one with profligate habits (Collins) who was physically cruel to his wife and children, infecting her with syphilis, and her father's close friend William Morgan, referred to as a boring "fat Welshman", and whose visits she detested.

"For Charlotte, the majority of clergymen were stupid and mediocre, with few prospects. All they did was to pass the time between meals quarreling. They lacked any zest for life.

"So what an eruption of vigour it must have been when William Weightman arrived! He was exceptionally lively and outgoing, with a wonderful warmth emanating from him......such a contrast with her brother Branwell, always looking in on himself.....Weightman had a sense of love, of humanity.....all the Brontës were in love with him.....he sent them all Valentines, including Ellen Nussey."

The third circle selected was Charlotte's society of her equals. "This was the sort of society which she had been aiming for all her life. The evidence is in the Juvenilia, which is full of literary controversies."

Most of the members of this circle were connected with London, a place of "venomous literary quarrels" which Charlotte had long been aware of before her visits. She knew about disputes surrounding MacPherson (alleged Ossian translator) and Byron, and the vicious denigration of John Keats and Leigh Hunt in Blackwoods magazine ("the Cockney School of English Poets"), so she was well-primed when she met a collection of in-the-flesh critics at a dinner organised by George Smith. She found, unsurprisingly, that critics were more presumptuous and domineering than the actual writers.

In London, she met people she would never have been allowed to see previously, and her attitudes and opinions were suitably amended. Thackeray "fell off his plinth" after her earlier infatuation with him. She became disillusioned with him "and his duchesses". She also stayed in Ambleside with Harriet Martineau - an atheist. "Of course she was lucky to have such friends and guides as George Smith and W S Williams."

"I cut down on the Juvenilia in the Encyclopedia. Some characters are referred to only fleetingly, and they are all covered by Christine Alexander."

Copies of the book (read the review by M. on Brontë Blog at http://bronteblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/bront-encylopedia-review.html) sold well after the talk.

Here are the details if you (or your library) want a copy. Order it from the Parsonage Shop:


Europe / Rest of World £55.00
Australia / New Zealand A$198.00
ISBN13: 9781405151191
ISBN10: 1405151196

Publication Dates

USA: Aug 2007
Rest of World: Jul 2007
Australia: Sep 2007

Format : 246 x 171 mm , 6.75 x 9.75 in

Details : 416 pages, 50 illustrations.

Robert and Louise Barnard's A Brontë Encyclopedia is an A- Z encyclopedia of the most notable literary family of the 19th century highlighting original literary insights and the significant people and places that influenced the Brontes' lives.
• Comprises approximately 2,000 alphabetically arranged entries
• Defines and describes the Brontes' fictional characters and settings
• Incorporates original literary judgements and analyses of characters and motives
• Includes coverage of Charlotte's unfinished novels and her and Branwell's juvenile writings
• Features over 60 illustrations

Remarkable Children

Mary Haigh writes:

To all who have waited for the arrival of my children's book -

The Brontës Remarkable Children of the Moors in Their Everyday World

I am honored to have received the gift of inspiration to write and illustrate this book. At last, it is listed on www.xlibris.com

The book is self-published by XLIBRIS, and they have produced a truly beautiful book - a joy to look at, capturing the watercolors just as I painted them. The text is full of subtle biographical occurrences that were important in the development of the Brontë children's lives. It is all very exciting making use of this unseen technology available at the touch of a keyboard. All the details are available on:

http://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=37513

Barnards in Haworth

Bob and Louise Barnard will both be in Haworth today (Wednesday) at 2pm for a talk entitled People the Brontës Knew. This will be upstairs at the Baptist Chapel in West Lane.

The talk relates to the recent (July) publication of a major work - The Brontë Encyclopedia. The definite article needs a strong emphasis, I think. More later.

*Go to Bob's obituary page here

Listen to Agnes Grey again

It's currently the turn of Agnes Grey to be on BB7. Blog readers outside the UK are reminded that the BBC's Listen Again facility is well worth investigating:

www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7

Wuthering Heights on the Radio

Thanks, James, for reminding us about what is coming up on the radio - BBC7 to be precise. Wuthering Heights begins next Monday 17 September with an hour-long episode beginning at 11am, which will be repeated on Tuesday morning at 5am. Stand by your DAB!

The five-part adaptation runs throughout the week. John Duttine, Amanda Root and Sharon Duce are the principals. Mary Barton is coming as well...

Find out more by going to http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/drama/7drama.shtml

If you are somewhere which can't receive BBC7 (North America for example) please note that the whole lot is available as an audiobook (four CDs) which can be purchased for fifty dollars - BBC Radio Collection ISBN-13: 978-0-7927-3987-6

John Duttine (best known perhaps for his role in The Day of the Triffids) is pictured below:

Amanda Dalton: Poet in Residence

SATURDAY 6 OCTOBER

To mark National Poetry Day, poet Amanda Dalton will be resident in the Parsonage for one day. She will be working in the Parsonage, exploring its collections and engaging with museum visitors to produce material which will be developed into a series of audio installations in the rooms of the house.

Visitors will have the chance to contribute material which will feature as part of the installations. These will be in-situ from Saturday 17 November to Friday 14 December.

Amanda Dalton’s first full length collection of poetry, How to Disappear, was published by Bloodaxe Books and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. She has worked extensively in theatre and radio drama and is currently working on her second poetry collection for publication in 2008.

Amanda has also worked in education, as Centre Director for the Arvon Foundation at Lumb Bank, and is Associate Director (Education) at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.

Free on admission to the Parsonage.

The Letters to Brussels

Deep in the heart of the British Library are four letters written by Charlotte Brontë to her Belgian teacher Constantin Heger. It is nothing short of a miracle that the letters have survived at all. They were torn into small pieces, repaired with needle and thread and then left forgotten in a drawer until 1913.


The importance of these letters can hardly be underestimated. They are essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the true nature of Charlotte Brontë’s feelings for Monsieur Heger when she wrote to him from Haworth:


I would rather suffer the greatest physical agony than always have my heart lacerated by painful regrets. If my master withdraws his friendship from me entirely I shall be altogether without hope; if he gives me a little – just a little – I shall be satisfied – happy; I shall have a reason for living; for working.


It takes a certain dogged persistence to gain access to the letters, but Derek Blyth of the Brussels Brontë Group recently saw them for himself. With the letters on the table in front of him, he was able to obtain a better insight into Charlotte’s mind when she sat down to write to Heger. Study of the originals also helps to pinpoint the moment they were torn up, and to identify the person who saved these outstanding literary documents for posterity. Derek Blyth, a Brussels-based writer who has written guide books on Belgium, will be talking about the letters at the Cercle des Voyageurs Café in Brussels on Thursday 18 October.


More information on the talk at: http://www.thebrusselsbrontegroup.org/index.html


Or contact helen.macewan@ec.europa.eu


Brussels tourist information: www.brusselsinternational.be


The Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent is currently organising a major exhibition titled British Vision that highlights some 200 years of British painting. The earliest works date from the Victorian period when Charlotte Brontë and her sisters were writing their novels and so provides some interesting insights into the artistic mind of the time. Held in Ghent’s recently restored neoclassical museum, this is a unique opportunity to discover the British imagination in all its richness.


More information on British Visions at www.mskgent.be




Images below:


Derek Blyth, drawings from Charlotte Brontë's tale High Life in Verdopolis, the story that she presented to Heger and that turned up mysteriously in a Brussels secondhand bookshop in the early 1890s - now in the British Library. "Portrait of a Young Woman" c. and "King of Angria, Duke of Zamorna" c. 1834.

The Gondal Trio

Paolo Mencarelli writes:

My great passion for the Brontë sisters originated by chance from a desire to deepen my knowledge of female literature. English literature, from this point of view, is full of extraordinary examples: Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Virginia Woolf to mention only a few, and the Brontë sisters, of whom until 2006 I had never read anything.

I started with Jane Eyre, a novel that impressed me deeply for the extraordinary character of the protagonist and her moral strength. After this, I continued with another enchanting Charlotte Brontë novel - Villette, then The Professor, Shirley and (with growing interest and passion) The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne - and finally Emily’s poems.

These, in particular, struck me so much that I decided to postpone my reading of Wuthering Heights until August 11, 2007, at Haworth, after coming back from a wonderful walk on the moors.

This interior path urged me to involve my literary experiences also in my daily life. I am a cellist and together with my wife, Maddalena, a violinist, I am a permanent member of the orchestra of the theatre La Fenice in Venice. Our life-long interest in music prompted us to develop other experiences besides that in the orchestra and so, many years ago, we founded a piano trio. Recently we had to find another pianist for our group, and so, while looking for the name of our new trio, it was natural for me to suggest 'Gondal'.

The idea was accepted with great enthusiasm, since our new pianist, whose name is also Maddalena, is very fond of English Literature: she has prepared a dissertation on Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and a doctoral dissertation on the vocal chamber music of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gerald Finzi.

The repertoire of our Gondal trio is mainly Romantic, centred on the trios of Brahms and Mendelssohn (our favourite) and for the next year we have many projects including the performance of the entire chamber music production of Beethoven next spring and the trios of Dvorak and Villa-Lobos.

I would like to spend a few words on my recent visit to Haworth in August with my wife. We arrived Friday 10 and we stayed in a nice B&B near Main Street.

The following day we went to St Michael's and All Angels. I was a bit excited when I crossed the threshold of the church. Inside there were only two people: a woman polishing the brass and the organist. The atmosphere, in that absolute silence interrupted only by the wonderful playing of the organ and the view of the beautiful stained glass windows was really breathtaking. At 10.30 am we started our walk to Top Withins and the Brontë Waterfalls. The pathway on the moors was enchanting: the heather was blooming and the wind modified in a few seconds the colours of a bright blue sky covered by dark and white clouds.

On Sunday 12 August we went to the Parsonage Museum. It’s difficult to forget the emotion of the visit. To look at the dining room with the black sofa, Emily’s piano, the small dress and Charlotte’s shoes, Branwell’s paintings, the wonderful embroideries of the sisters, the brooches, the pins and all those photographs was something really interesting and touching.

Two memorable days, but too, too short! Many things still remain to be seen and discovered ..... we will surely come back!

Below, pictures of us, of La Fenice, Top Withins in the distance and a patch of wild Rosebay Willow Herb:

Friends raise more than £300

The day dawned fine and sunny for the Yorkshire Day event held by the Friends of the Parsonage. After a slow start lots of people found their way to the small field next to the Museum where the recently purchased gazebos made a colourful sight.

The tea and home-made cakes proved very popular. The Book and Craft stalls also did a good trade, and it was noticed that many who bought went away only to return for a repeat visit to find another bargain.

Many people appreciated the tranquil setting, an oasis of calm away from the busy Main Street of Haworth, lingering over their drinks whilst enjoying the first fine day for weeks. A total of £337.24 was raised and The Friends would like to thank everyone who came and supported them.

Pat Berry
Chairman of Friends

Well-dressed on Wednesday

Here's a reminder - on Wednesday next week (8 August) at 11am, 2pm and 4pm, History Wardrobe will bring Jane Eyre - The Well-Dressed Governess to the Parsonage.


Here is what they say about it:

The genteel, demure and modest fashions of the 1840s could sometimes clothe a woman of high intelligence and passionate intensity. Charlotte Brontë was one such woman. Her greatest fictional heroine - Jane Eyre - was another. Gillian Stapleton uses exquisite replica clothes and delightful original items to examine Jane's wardrobe in detail, following her fictional career from charity schoolgirl to governess then fairytale bride, exploring just how close the sartorial links between Jane and her creator really were.


Contact the Parsonage on 01535 640196 for the latest info

A surprise walk to Brontë Falls

Brontë Society member Maddalena de Leo left temperatures of forty degrees in Ascea – Velia (not far from Salerno in Italy) for a visit to Haworth, where the temperature was a little less. As arranged earlier this year, she met up with Richard Wilcocks and has now sent the following account:


On 5 July last, the morning appointed for our meeting, I found myself at the Brontë Parsonage meeting with Richard Wilcocks, the recent editor of BS Gazette and until the end of June Chairman of the Council.

I and my daughter Francesca had arrived at Haworth the evening before and it was just the first day of our holiday, our disappointment being the wet, cloudy and cold weather all around us. What a pity not to be able to go to the moors that day!

Mr Wilcocks was waiting for me when I came out of the Parsonage Museum and, just after we met and greeted he proposed on the spot to leave for the so longed-for walk to the moors, maybe arriving at Brontë Falls and not Top Withins as he had originally planned. At first I and my daughter were very perplexed – rain and wind are not at all congenial to Mediterranean people and also windcheaters and umbrellas are usually a burden even in winter – but we both took courage and willingly followed our guide along the moor path he firmly took.

And it was really a blessed walk, with green all around and Yorkshire sheep here and there nibbling at the grass. Once beyond Middle Intake Farm my daughter and Mr Wilcocks started taking photos and he also showed us a purple long flower called a foxglove growing surprisingly solitary just there.

Finally after a long windy walk we arrived at Brontë Falls and the view was really breathtaking. The waters coming down from the hills met fluently, chasing each other, and a nice little stone bridge was there just to sit on to think about the Brontë sisters chatting and resting on the same spot almost two centuries ago. There was also a group of young students there and I was able to have a talk with their teachers.

After some time and a little rest the way back seemed shorter. Thank you Richard with all my heart! Without your insistence I would have never ventured into the moors because of that awful weather and without a guide during this sixth wet stay in Haworth. I surely would have lost a new chance to breathe my Brontës magic scent.

Vote for us now!

Vote Brontë Parsonage ‘Britain’s Best’ historical site with UKTV History!

This year, Brontë Parsonage is involved in UKTV History’s Britain’s Best campaign to find the nation’s favourite historic site. Hosted by Alan Titchmarsh, the campaign will involve two television series and a final programme presenting the winner as decided by you, the British public.

With voting drawing to a close, show your support for the Parsonage by voting online at www.uktvhistory.co.uk, call 09011 31 2007 (calls cost 50p) or text BEST BRONTE PARSONAGE to 83222 (texts cost 50p plus standard network charges). You can also vote in person using the voting boxes at the Parsonage.

With just 1,500 votes we need your support and as someone who values the Parsonage we would ask that you take the time to vote for us. The website also gives you the opportunity to express why the Parsonage is important to you by writing your own review and/or uploading any images you may have of the Museum.

Watch Britain’s Best on UKTV History (Sky channel 537, Virgin TV 203 and Freeview 12) from 23 July to 27 August, and don’t miss the result on 17 September to see whether your support has paid off!


Alan Bentley

Still on the subject of voting........make sure you have voted for our Collections Manager Ann Dinsdale's handsome recent book The Brontës at Haworth. This is up for a new award which celebrates the very best of Yorkshire writing. The winner will be announced at the end of September at the Richmond Book Festival by local MP William Hague.

Ready-made voting cards are available in libraries and bookshops or you could visit www.richmondbookfestival.com. The closing date is soon - 31 July.

Yorkshire Day at the Parsonage

The next event organised by the Friends of the Brontë Parsonage will be held on Sunday 29 July, the day that Haworth is celebrating Yorkshire Day. The Friends will be serving tea and home-made cakes in the small field next to the Parsonage from 10.30a.m. until 4.00p.m. There will also be a second-hand book stall, a plant stall and a craft stall selling items made by Museum staff.

So far this year the Friends have held a Ceilidh to celebrate Patrick Brontë's birthday and the Irish connection, sold tea and scones over two days at the Haworth 1940s event (the Parsonage remained open throughout the war years) and held a raffle at the Bronte Society AGM weekend in June.

In addition they have also served refreshments at various evenings organised as part of the Museum's Education Programme. It has been a busy six months and in this short space of time the Friends have raised over £1,000 for Museum projects, so please come along and support them.

Pat Berry

New Acquisitions

The Brontë Society has recently acquired three new items for the Museum Collection. They are:

A letter written to the Trustees for the Church Lands of Haworth, dated 1 February 1834, written by Charlotte Brontë and signed by her father. The letter concerns the rotation of the Trustees and the division of labour in collecting the rents. It was formerly owned by a descendant of James Greenwood of Haworth

The Society also purchased two letters which were auctioned at Christie’s on 3 July. They are Charlotte’s letter to W.S. Williams, written on 9 November 1849, and Patrick Brontë’s letter to George Taylor of Stanbury, dated 29 February 1844. Both letters were part of the huge collection of important historical letters amassed by Albin Schram, found in a filing cabinet in his laundry room.

Charlotte’s letter was written just days after the publication of Shirley, and expresses her disappointment on reading the first reviews. Charlotte was clearly missing the support and encouragement of her sisters Emily and Anne, who both died whilst she was writing the novel, leaving her vulnerable to the critics’ hurtful comments.

Patrick’s letter is a compassionate appeal written on behalf of Enoch Thomas, one of his churchwardens, said to be suffering a ‘very severe and great affliction’. He is clearly concerned about Thomas’s well-being and believes that ‘his friends ought to do for him all that lies within their power’. After attempting to interest George Taylor in Thomas’s plight, Mr Brontë goes on to enquire after Taylor’s own family. It is a letter which challenges the notion that the Brontës had little contact with the world outside their parsonage home, and that Patrick Brontëwas a selfish recluse who took little interest in the lives of his parishioners.

Details of the letter and a transcript will be published in the Society’s journal, Brontë Studies, and for those who are unable to visit the museum we are currently developing an online catalogue with virtual access to items in the Collection. It is our intention that this letter be appreciated by audiences beyond the locality of the Museum and access via the internet is one way in which this can be achieved.

All three letters will be displayed at the Parsonage over the coming months.

Ann Dinsdale
Collections Manager

Brontë - the name

This is my report on the 'What's in a name?' campaign which began just before Easter. To illustrate it, thunder clouds, because Bronte means thunder in Greek.









The aim of the letter sent to named managing directors of about forty companies in March (and subsequent phone calls) when I was still Chairman of the Brontë Society was not just to obtain donations and sponsorship but to put the Parsonage in the public eye just before Easter. A media release was sent out on 19 March 2007 which resulted in substantial articles in the local and national press, ten minutes on the Radio 4 programme You and Yours and two sessions of a similar length on the Radio Leeds Breakfast Show.

John Roberts wrote an article which was prominently placed (page 2) in the Yorkshire Post of 20 March. An article by Louise Jury in the Independent on 21 March was well-informed and accompanied by three illustrations. There was also a 'third leader' about the letter by Charles Nevin on the editorial page. On the same day, a very good article by Clive White (who rang several companies in the local area) was published in the Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Other articles appeared in the Keighley News and on various blogs and websites.

The You and Yours interview (lunchtime 26 March) resulted in a number of phone calls and emails, all sympathetic. The programme had used no less than four researchers to phone around for reactions from companies found on the Internet, which made me jealous. One reaction, from a Mr Robert Bolton from Bronte Whirlpools Ltd of Silsden, turned out to be typical – “I chose the name because the company is in Bronte Country. Otherwise we would have been Aqua something.”

The Radio Leeds broadcasts resulted in phone calls to the station, one or two jokey but all of them sympathetic. The presenter mentioned that she had been impressed by the Parsonage Museum during visits there, and there was talk of the fact that it might be a good place to visit over Easter.

The companies which received the letters were sifted from a long list after a check (by a volunteer named Ruth Wilson at the Parsonage!) that they were still in business and that they were reasonably large. Many of them received follow-up phone calls from myself. Some replies were cautious or evasive (eg “I’ll ring back when I have discussed this with my partner/head office etc”), some were surprised (“What letter?”) and some were very friendly. Here is a selection:

Rita Marsden from Brontë Weaving Shed in Haworth (visited personally) said that she was sending the letter on to head office in Edinburgh but that she was “interested in collaboration”.

Miriam Spollen from Brontë Bridal in Dublin was very friendly, and would like to visit the Parsonage (she comes over to Harrogate frequently). She promised a cheque and said she would get back to me in the autumn.

Julie Eyre from Brontë Business Networks of Solihull said she chose Brontë because of her own name and because she used to live in Oakworth. She sent her best wishes but added that hers is a start-up company and unable to give donations at the moment. However, the company would be willing to give advice on websites.

Mrs Clare Pickles of Brontë Country Cottages “will ring back after I have discussed it with my husband”.

Mr H.S. Sohal of Brontë Countrywear Ltd (Manchester) “will ring back after I have discussed it with fellow directors”.

John Matthewman of Brontë Tweeds rang to invite me to tour his mill in Tingley, which I did. It has not changed much for a hundred years and produces mainly tartan blankets and lambswool scarves of high quality. Apparently the same products can be labelled 'Brontë' or 'Highland'.

“It’s to emphasise that they are British,” he explained. “We are one of the few working mills left around here. We have so much competition from India and China.” He is unable to donate money but told me about a deal he has with the National Trust. He can supply items like scarves “at cost price” for resale. This information has been relayed to Parsonage shop manager Sean Killian, who will pay a visit.

Stephen Leach from Brontë Engineering Technologies also invited me to visit his company in Bradford, which specialises in valves for desalination plants. He was very sympathetic, has visited the Parsonage, and spent much of the visit telling me about the uselessness of Bradford Council. He has asked for his company website (currently under construction) to be linked to the Parsonage website and the Parsonage Blog, and said that he will send a cheque.

Alan Hardie of Patterson Arran Ltd of Livingston, Scotland (Brontë Biscuits, Café Brontë) sent a letter saying that there were “opportunities to work with you” but claimed to have “limited funds”, so no donation.

Sir James Aykroyd Bt (of Birstwith Hall, Harrogate) sent a letter saying that he had bought Brontë Liqueur and related trademarks some time ago “but due to other interests have so far done nothing to commercialise the product”. He pointed out that Sir James Roberts was his grandmother’s father, and that he can do little to help us at the moment – but he attached a cheque for fifty pounds. He said that should Brontë Liqueur be reintroduced he would be happy to include in the selling price a small contribution to the Society for each bottle sold. He wished us good luck in our fund raising efforts. In a subsequent phone call he repeated what he had put in the letter. He was invited to visit the Parsonage.

Incidentally I did not stand for re-election as Chairman of the Brontë Society at the last meeting of Council. I can no longer spare the time because my small business (publications and design) is expanding.

Richard Wilcocks

Below, a reminder of the original letter:

REMINDER

Copy of the original letter below:

Dear (name of Managing Director)

I am writing to you for the simple reason that your company uses the name Brontë in its title. I am guessing that this was chosen because it confers a certain prestige upon you, associating you in the public’s imagination with the Brontë family and perhaps the Brontë Parsonage Museum as well. Bronte is both the name of a town in Sicily and the Greek word for thunder, and it was chosen by the Reverend Patrick Brontë (with the addition of the diaeresis) as a new version of his family name of Brunty early in the Nineteenth Century, mainly because of its associations with Lord Nelson, a national hero at the time.

I hope that «Company_Name» is currently prospering. I am wondering whether you have recently visited the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, which is run by the Brontë Society. If you have, you will know that the home of the Brontë family, the Georgian house where Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë wrote the books which made them world famous, is lovingly preserved by a dedicated staff in spite of a tight budget.

There is a programme of special events at the museum which runs throughout the year, which includes special exhibitions, talks, day-schools, courses, children’s holiday workshops, film, theatre and musical performances. Its education programme is ‘inspired’ according to the Judges’ Citation for winners of the prestigious Sandford Award.

The Brontë Society possesses one of the most important collections of Brontë items in the world, housed in the Parsonage, an invaluable resource for the many researchers seeking to shed further light on the Brontë writings, the Brontë family and the social, political and economic history of the Brontë times. Thus, there will always be a demand on the Society’s financial resources as newly-discovered and existing Brontëana come on to the market. There is also a considerable cost in the professional care, conservation, storage and management of the Society’s existing collection.

The Brontë Society gets no direct government assistance, so it is reliant on the generosity of its supporters and visitors to the museum. This is where you come in, because I believe that you could help. I am inviting you to make a donation to us, which would be gratefully received and publicly acknowledged.

Your company could sponsor an appropriate artefact, a special event, an exhibition, a children’s workshop…….the list is long. Or, you could contribute to our Acquisitions Fund, with a focus on a particular item. Your company’s name would feature in our publicity.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me by letter or email, or by ringing me directly on . I would be very happy to meet you personally to discuss how you could help us.

Best wishes,

Yours sincerely,

Two letters for the Parsonage

Good news! The Parsonage was able to buy the two Brontë-related letters which were auctioned at Christie’s yesterday as part of the Albin Schram collection which has been featuring in the national news.

The first is a letter from Charlotte to William Smith Williams written in November 1849, in which she flays the critics of Shirley. An extract from the letter is in Margaret Smith's collection, but the entire letter is unpublished. The Parsonage attempted to buy the letter in 1999 but missed out - so it is even more satisfying to have got it now at a good hammer price - £18,500.

The second letter is from Patrick: “In this letter, Mr Brontë writes to George Taylor, one of the trustees of Haworth Church, on behalf of Enoch Thomas, one of his churchwardens. He is clearly concerned about Thomas’s well-being and believes that ‘his friends ought to do for him all that lies within their power’. After attempting to interest George Taylor in Thomas’s plight, Mr Brontë goes on to enquire after Taylor’s own family.

"It is a letter which challenges the notion that the Brontës had little contact with the world outside their parsonage home, and that Patrick Brontë was a selfish recluse who took little interest in the lives of his parishioners.”

Again the letter was missed out on in 1999, but has now been purchased for a very reasonable £2600

Alan Bentley