Book Group: Miss Austen by Gill Hornby
NEW Date: Sunday, May 26, 2024
Author: Jane Austen
Facilitator: Laurie Power
Location: Zoom – contact Lynn Harlan at jasnamaine@gmail.com
Time: 3p.m.
Spring Tea by the Sea
The Jane Austen Society of North America invites you to a spring “Tea by the Sea” in honor of Jane Austen.
New Date: Sunday, April 28, 2024
Time: 1:00-3:00pm
Location: Misty Harbor Condo Chart Room 73 Misty Harbor Drive
Winter Harbor, Maine
Costumes HIGHLY encouraged! Space is limited so RSVP to 646-327-1572.
Merry Post, JASNA Maine member and food historian will give a
presentation entitled, “Pride and Partridge: Jane the Foodie.” There will be door prizes and “Jane” games.
Please bring a sweet or savory to share.
Historic House & Garden Tour
Date: Sunday, June 9, 2024
Location: Nickels-Sortwell House (1807)
121 Main Street, Wiscasset, Maine
10:00 am Guided House and Garden Tour
*Please note that the tour requires a considerable amount of standing and climbing stairs. The site is not equipped with ramps, elevators, or lifts.*
11:45 am Bring your own lunch and picnic on the grounds or choose a lunch spot nearby.
The Nickels-Sortwell House is a historic house museum built in 1807 by a wealthy shipping magnate, William Nickels. The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 as an exceptionally high-quality example of the Federal style of architecture built in the United States following the American Revolution. Nickels’ ships traveled to Europe and the West Indies, bringing back fine imported goods for wealthy Wiscasset households. William and Jane Nickels’ lavish lifestyle abruptly ended when Thomas Jefferson’s Embargo of 1807 devastated the East Coast economy by prohibiting international trade. By the time of his death in 1815, William Nickels was bankrupt, Jane had died, and their children were left with nothing but debt.
The Nickels house became a hotel for many years. In 1899, it was purchased by industrialist Alvin Sortwell as a summer home for his family. The Sortwells lovingly restored the house over a period of years and decorated it in the Colonial Revival style with fine antique furnishings.
REGISTRATION: Admission fee is $15 per person and is required in advance using PayPal on the website. OR pay by check to JASNA-ME and mail to 148 Hennessy Drive, Portland, ME 04103 no later than the May 26 deadline. There will be no day of event admission.
The Nickels-Sortwell House needs a confirmed number of attendees 2 weeks in advance of June 9 to schedule sufficient tour guides for our group.
Any questions, please email janeite2@gmail.com.
Past Events
Book Group: Mansfield Park
Date: Sunday, February 11, 2024
Author: Jane Austen
Facilitator: Susan Burnett
Jane’s Birthday Meeting: Fashion’s Transition in Jane Austen’s Lifetime
Date: Saturday, December 16, 2023
Location: St. Mary’s Episcopal Church Parish House
43 Foreside Road, Falmouth
10:30am Registration
11:00 am Presentation
12:00pm Lunch, Birthday Cake, and Toasts
Business Meeting and Reports
Remarks by Susan Claska Burnett, Regional Coordinator
Learn how, during Jane Austen’s lifetime, fashion underwent one of the most extreme changes to ever occur in the history of Western (European) women’s dress. This illustrated talk will adventure through the changes and consider them in the social context and custom of this period––the backdrop of Jane Austen’s novels.
About our speaker: A recent JASNA member, Jacqueline Field is a textile and dress historian and author. She taught at USM and Westbrook College, is now retired, but remains active in her field. She was a speaker for Maine Historical Society’s (2022)
costume exhibition Northern Threads and authored the MHS Historic Dress Collection narrative and site overview for the Society’s MMN portal, accessible online where clothes from the Jane Austen era may be seen. Jacqueline is the author of the new book, Textiles & Designs: Bates Mill 1930-1990, (2020), and co-author of the award-winning book, American Silk, 1830-1930, (2007), and numerous articles.
Book Group: Lover’s Vows
Updated Date: Sunday, November 19, 2023
Author: Elizabeth Inchbold & August von Kotzebue
Facilitator: Lynn Harlan
Book Group: Pemberley: Mr. Darcy’s Dragon
Date: Saturday, September 30, 2023
Author: Maria Grace
Facilitator: Lynn Harlan
Quilling Program at Falmouth Memorial Library
Updated Date: Saturday, September 23, 2023
Location: Falmouth Memorial Library
5 Lunt Road, Falmouth, Maine
1:30 – 2:00pm Registration
2:00 – 2:30pm Presentation
2:30 – 3:30pm Craft & Refreshments
Learn a little bit about the history of quilling before diving into the craft and making your own filigreed note card, ornament, or piece of jewelry to take home.
Quilling or filigree was a popular pastime for ladies in Regency England. Common items like jewelry boxes, screens, picture frames, and tea chests were often adorned with filigree accents.
From Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 23:
“…I should have been at my filigree already…”
About our speaker: A life member of JASNA, Lynn Harlan joined the ranks of Austen aficionados in 2011. A reference librarian at Bangor Public Library, Lynn has led library programs and book discussions about Jane Austen for multiple libraries throughout the United States. She has taught classes on Children’s Literature and led professional development sessions on Library Partnerships, Blackout Poetry, #MeToo, Afrofuturism, and Soothing Reads for Stressful Times. Lynn’s favorite Austen novel has been Sense and Sensibility since she picked up her first copy for fifty cents at Scholastic Book Fair in junior high school.
This free event is co-sponsored with Falmouth Memorial Library.
Historic House Tour
Date: Sunday, June 18, 2023
Location: Hamilton House (c. 1785)
40 Vaughan’s Lane, South Berwick, Maine
10:00 am Guided House and Garden Tour
11:45 am Bring your own lunch and picnic on the grounds
In a picturesque setting overlooking the Salmon Falls River, this striking Georgian
mansion, a National Landmark c. 1785, and its landscape share a history that mirrors
that of its Southern Maine region. Hamilton House is located on the homeland of the
Wabanaki. After European colonists took ownership of the area known as South
Berwick, Maine, the site was purchased by merchant Jonathan Hamilton for his
shipping business in the eighteenth century, farmed by the Goodwin family in the
nineteenth century, and restored as the summer retreat of Emily Tyson and her
stepdaughter Elise at the turn of the twentieth.
Book Group: Juvenilia of Jane Austen
Date: Sunday, April 16, 2023
Author: Jane Austen
Facilitator: Misty Krueger
Book Group: Jane Austen the Secret Radical
Date: Sunday, February 5, 2023
Author: Helena Kelly
Facilitator: Barbara Briggs
Jane’s Birthday Meeting: “Domestic and Public Music Making in the Age of Austen”
Date: Saturday, December 10, 2022
Location: St. Mary’s Episcopal Church Parish House, 43 Foreside Rd, Falmouth, ME 04105
Speaker: Justin Murphy-Mancini, Ph.D., is an artist faculty member for organ at the Osher School of Music at the University of Southern Maine. He is a graduate of Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music, where he earned degrees in historical performance, organ, composition, and philosophy. Justin is a keyboardist, composer, and liturgical musician who specializes in the performance of music from the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque at the organ and harpsichord. He is Music Director at the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Newburyport, MA and also performs as a musician throughout New England.
Click Here to check out Justin’s YouTube Channel before the event!
10:30 am Registration
11:00 am Presentation and Q & A
12:00 pm Lunch, Birthday Cake, Toasts, Raffle
Member Profile: Lynn Harlan
Business Meeting and Reports
Remarks by Susan Claska Burnett, Regional Coordinator