Jane Austen — with a Halifax twist.

By Lisa Bower, History Collections Curator/Registrar

On December 16th, we’re joining readers around the world in celebrating the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth — with a Halifax twist.

Two small, witty watercolours in the Nova Scotia Museum’s Cultural History collection were painted in Halifax, ca.1819, by Christian Ramsay, Countess of Dalhousie (1786-1839), and wife to the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. Recent research by Dr. Juliette Wells (of Goucher College and co-curator of A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250 of the Morgan Library & Museum) has identified the figures as Lady Dalhousie herself and her husband, Lord Dalhousie, welcoming guests at a ball.  

Lady Dalhousie’s drawing - 85.119.32 D-2

Lady Dalhousie’s drawing - 85.119.32A

Lady Dalhousie was an avid Austen reader. During her years in British North America, she recorded reading Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, and Mansfield Park, and she carefully listed her treasured copy of Emma while preparing to move from Halifax to Québec in 1820.

Lady Dalhousie's copy of Emma. Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Goucher College Library.

Lady Dalhousie's copy of Emma. Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Goucher College Library.

These caricature-like ballroom scenes were rediscovered in a ribbon bound portfolio in Scotland, in December 1984 --nearly 150 years after they were first created by the NSM’s Chief Curator Dr. Marie Elwood. They were acquired by the NSM a year later in December 1985—forty years ago this month.

Scholars, such as Marie Ferron-Desautels of the Université du Québec, now see Lady Dalhousie as part of a wider – and often overlooked – community of women caricaturists who like Austen, used wit and humor to observe and gently poke fun at elite social life. Her lively, exaggerated figures show that women of her class were not just readers and viewers, but active image-makers whose work circulated within family and friendship circles.

This past summer, the drawings travelled again—this time to New York City—on loan to The Morgan’s exhibition which explored Austen’s life, authorship, and global legacy where they were seen by more than 119,000 visitors.

From Halifax to Scotland and back again, these sketches help demonstrate how Austen’s appeal, stories— and her readers — have crossed oceans.