Past Events

2025

Apr. 27, 2025: Our special concert program celebrating Jane’s 250th anniversary year featured chamber music by Haydn and Pleyel, English country dances, and more!  The event was held at the Lyceum in Alexandria, VA, and featured players from the Alexandria Chamber Music Society.

Mar. 1, 2025: JASNA-DC member Dr. Margie Burns presented on her new book, “Jane Austen, Abolitionist,” at the MLK, Jr. Memorial Library in downtown Washington, DC.

Jan. 26, 2025:  Dr. Rachel Gevlin of Virginia Commonwealth University spoke on “Jane Austen and the First Divorced Husband”, a reprise of her Cleveland AGM breakout session, virtually on Zoom.

2024

Dec. 7, 2024: Our annual Austen birthday luncheon was held at Maggiano’s Little Italy in Friendship Heights. Our speaker was Dr. Anne Fertig, who spoke on her upcoming podcast, “Finding Jane Austen.”

Nov. 3, 2024: Cleveland AGM recap with our good friends of the JASNA-MD region on Zoom.

June 23, 2024: Dr. Gillian Dooley, author of She played and sang: Jane Austen and music presented a virtual program on Zoom.

Mar. 3, 2024: Prof. Damianne Scott of “Black Girl Loves Jane” presented a talk “Welcome in; Do not enter: A thoughtful exposition on the encouragement and the disappointment of diversity in Austen adaptations”. 

Jan. 28, 2024: Dr. Rachel Gevlin, Term Assistant Professor of English, Virginia Commonwealth University, reprised her breakout session from the 2023 JASNA AGM in Denver: “Jane Austen: Protofeminist, Postfeminist, Bad Feminist.”

2023

Dec. 9, 2023: Our annual Austen birthday luncheon was held at The Hamilton, 600 14th Street NW, Washington, DC, with special guest Dr. Juliette Wells, who spoke on her new book, “A New Jane Austen: How Americans Brought Us the World’s Greatest Novelist.”

Nov. 19, 2023: AGM recap with JASNA-Maryland on Zoom. Members shared stories, thoughts, and highlights of the Denver 2023 AGM.

Oct. 21, 2023: JASNA-DC hosted a screening of “Sense and Sensibility” (1995) – starring Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, and Greg Wise; and directed by Ang Lee – at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Crystal City.

June 24, 2023: Members visited St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Haymarket, VA, to see the gravesite of one of Jane Austen’s nieces.  The Rev. Sean Rousseau spoke on the history of the church. JASNA-DC member Summer Grace Garcia described how she came across the record for Jane Austen’s niece Catherine Anne Hubback, buried in the church cemetery. Regional co-Coordinator Alice Moore spoke about Catherine Hubback and what brought her to Virginia. Past Regional Coordinator Linda Slothouber described some of Virginia’s efforts in the 19th century to attract immigrants from England. The gravesite visit was followed by lunch hosted by the church.

May 21, 2023: JASNA-DC members and guests toured Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens in Northwest Washington, D.C., followed by afternoon tea.

April 23, 2023: Author Kim Wilson, a 2022-23 JASNA Traveling Lecturer, presented a talk on “Love in the Shrubbery: Austen’s Garden Legacy.”

March 12, 2023: Dr. Daniel Josell, a scientist with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, discussed collecting Austen editions.

Feb. 12, 2023: Dr. Julie Taddeo, University of Maryland research professor of history, presented an overview of the social, financial, and cultural characteristics of the Regency London Ton in her talk, “Regency London’s Ton and the Business of Pleasure.”

Jan. 15, 2023: JASNA-DC member Harper Sutherland presented a talk on “Brandon in India: Colonialism and Masculinity in the Late 18th Century.”

2022

Sept. 11, 2022: Delia Bisgyer, Lily Dow, and Emily Gold shared highlights and some of their favorite photos from the JASNA England Tour.

June 12, 2022: Dr. Roger Moore discussed “The Prehistory of the Spa: Bath and Sanditon in Medieval Perspective.”

April 24, 2022: A virtual screening of the one-man play “Being Mr. Wickham,” featuring Adrian Lukis, who played Wickham in the 1995 “Pride and Prejudice” miniseries.

March 31, 2022: A virtual Spring Evening Chat with Jennifer Abella and Professor Elizabeth Child. They shared their knowledge of the wealth of Austen online links and the experience teaching Austen to first-generation college students, respectively.

Jan. 15, 2022: Dr. Susan Allen Ford reprised on Zoom her presentation from our in-person event Dec. 12, 2021. 

2021

Dec. 12, 2021: Jane Austen Birthday Lunch at Carmine’s, Washington, D.C.  Dr. Susan Allen Ford, Professor Emerita, Delta State University, and editor of the Jane Austen journal Persuasions, presented on “Just in a Happy State for a Flounce: Jane Austen’s Economies of Alteration.” 

Nov. 13, 2021: Dr. Will Glovinsky, Columbia University, on Zoom, “Austen, Imperialism, and the Management of Feeling in Mansfield Park and Persuasion.” 

Sept. 11, 2021: Dr. Miguel Angel Jordan, on Zoom, “Jane Austen in Spain.” 

June 12, 2021: Dr. Roger E Moore, Vanderbilt University, on Zoom, “Mansfield Park and the Sacred Landscape.” 

May 8, 2021: JASNA-DC Study Day: “The Georgian Gentleman in Fact and Jane Austen Fiction,” featuring Gillian Williamson, historian and committee member, Women’s Studies Group, UK;  Rachel Gevlin, professor of literature, Monmouth College; and Jason Solinger, professor of literature, University of Mississippi.

April 10, 2021 Book Talk: Ladies of the House: A Modern Retelling of Sense and Sensibility, Lauren Edmondson, author.

March 13, 2021: Book Talk: Publishing Northanger Abbey, Margie Burns, Author and Professor, University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Feb. 13-27, 2021: The “Emmeline” challenge. Book group.

2020

Dec. 19, 2020: Virtual holiday program featuring Susan Allen Ford.

Feb. 15, 2020: “Bloodletting and Bodice-Ripping: Creating a Regency-Enough Wardrobe,” with Debra Roush, past D.C. Regional Coordinator and current Vice President for Regions, JASNA.

2019

Dec. 7, 2019: Austen birthday brunch, with Dr. Sarah Marsh.

Oct. 12, 2019: English Paper Piecing Workshop and Reception, with Sue and Martyn Dell.

April 27, 2019: JASNA-DC Study Day. “Life in the Regency,” with Anthony Batterton, Janet Mullany, Moriah Webster, and Amy Stallings.

2017

July 26, 2017: “Dining with Jane Austen,” with Julienne Gehrer.

April 26, 2017: Happy Hour.

2016

Dec. 10, 2016: “Miss Austen at Home” with Laura Rocklyn.

Sept. 11, 2016: Discussion of Emma.

June 4, 2016: “How Would Jane Austen Dance?” with Susan de Guardiola.

April 2, 2016: “Lizzie + Darcy 4Ever: All About Jane Austen Fan Fiction” with Zoe Burton, Rose Fairbanks, Cat Gardiner, Victoria Kincaid, and Pamela Lynne.

2015

Dec. 13, 2015: Chawton House Museum with Dr. Sandy Lerner.

June 7, 2015: “Jane at the Movies: Austen’s Novels on the Screen” with Alden O’Brien, Curator of Costume at the DAR Museum in Washington, D.C.

June 14, 2015: “The Regency Era and the Making of Modern Morality” with Mike Bevel, Facilitator, Bethesda Library’s Classics in Context Program.

June 21, 2015: “Begrudgingly Yours: Jane Austen, the Prince Regent, and Emma” with Mike Bevel, Facilitator, Bethesda Library’s Classics in Context Program.

June 28, 2015: “The Prussians are in the Woods!: England’s Role in Napoleon’s Defeat at Waterloo” with Myron Peterson, Amateur Historian and Living History Re-enactor.

2014

Dec. 7, 2014: “Edward Austen Knight: Family, Commerce, and Community” with Linda Slothouber.

Sept. 7, 2014: “Austen’s Sea-Change: Re-Writing Sense and Sensibility” with Tara Wallace, George Washington University.

May 5, 2014: “Tea with Jane Austen” with food historian Joyce White.