Jane Austen Society of North America, Southwest (JASNA-SW)
JASNA-SW Events & MoreComing Up
Save the date 19 May 2012 for a seaside holiday with Jane Austen at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica.
Events Gone By
On Saturday, 3 December 2011, we learned about Regency women's health issues at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
Our first-ever super-regional weekend at the Huntington Gardens & Library and the Westin Pasadena was a spectacular success. Click on the title above for a photo recap.
Our first-ever JASNA-SW booth at the Festival was a resounding success. Please click on the title above for photos.
Please click on the title above for a recap and photos of this event.
Please click on the title above for a report of this exciting event!
Please click on the title above for a text-and-photo recap of this program.
Please click on the title above for a text-and-photo recap of this program.
Click on the title above for a recap and photos of this event.
Click on the title above for photos and a recap of this event.
Click on the title above for a recap of this event.
JASNA members were treated to a sneak preview of the film about Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Click on the title above to see a trailer of the movie.
"Silver Forks, Golden Memories, and Library Treasures." Featured talk: Ed Copeland on Silver Fork Novels.
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If you missed out on this exciting event, you can click on the title above for a recap of our program.
Domestic Entertainments in Jane Austen's Time
History
Diana Birchall and People take us on a nostalgic journey.
In Memoriam
Sundries
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A Recap of JASNA-SW's Annual Spring Meeting, April 10, 2010
Dr. Sandy Lerner
JASNA-SW Devotes Day to 19th Century Transportation by Jaye Scholl Bohlen Run, don’t walk to a lecture by Sandy Lerner if your local JASNA group is lucky enough to secure an appearance by her. Dr. Lerner, as most Janeites know, co-founded Cisco Systems, the internet communications company, and in 1992, she used some of her fortune to save Chawton House from hotel developers. Jane Austen lived in a cottage on the Hampshire, England estate for the second half of her life, and the now-restored manor house is a center for women’s writing from 1600 to 1830, stocked largely with Dr. Lerner’s donated book collection. Dr. Lerner can also add “19th Century Transportation Expert” to her impressive resume, which includes, partially, restaurateur, bibliophile, organic farmer, animal-friendly cosmetics company founder, preserver of heritage livestock breeds, restorer of 19th Century coaches and accomplished coach driver. In a riveting lecture to guests attending JASNA-Southwest Region’s spring meeting in early April, Dr. Lerner showed how Austen used carriages, coaches and curricles as a way to advance characterization in her novels, in much the same way that her descriptions of estates like Pemberley and Rosings Park reflect Austen’s attitude toward their owners. Dr. Lerner’s lecture took place at the Calamigos Equestrian Center in Burbank, California, a perfect setting for her recounting of the role that horse-drawn carriages played in Regency England. As stylish equestrians took jumps in nearby riding rings and grooms brushed horses outside rows of stables, Dr. Lerner traced the history of carriages from their first appearance in Hungary in the mid-15th Century to their rise in dominance beginning in 1775 to their fading importance by the 1830s, when trains began to replace them. British coaches earned a reputation as the best built, she said, while the French excelled at decorating them. Not surprisingly, given her computer background, Dr. Lerner researched her topic by creating a spreadsheet detailing the 394 times that Austen mentioned vehicles in her six novels. Because of the immense expense of stabling and feeding horses as well as employing grooms, Dr. Lerner equated owning a carriage in Regency England to owning a Lear jet today. Only one percent of the population owned a carriage—and everyone else walked. Austen’s heroes and even heroines (driving was one of the rare activities that women could engage in alone) drove vehicles that were first and foremost practical. Less sympathetic characters in Austen novels are depicted as owning or coveting carriages as status symbols, Dr. Lerner said. The social-climbing Mrs. Elton in Emma repeatedly name drops her sister and brother-in-law’s barouche-landau, a vehicle that was extremely expensive to maintain with its four, or sometimes six, horses. JASNA-Southwest Region’s all-day meeting included readings from Austen’s novels, songs about Austen characters with lyrics by JASNA-SW board member Jana Bickel, and a personal account by Dr. Alice Villaseñor, former JASNA-SW board member, about her experiences studying at Chawton House as a Jane Austen Society International Visitor. Carla Washburn, JASNA-SW’s vice president in charge of programs, Nancy Gallagher, regional coordinator, and Claire Bellanti, past president, organized the event. JASNA-SW’s Winter Meeting will be held Saturday, December 4, 2010 at the Los Angeles Athletic Club in downtown Los Angeles. Look for details later this year on the region’s website www.jasnasw.org. 
Here is Dr. Sandy Lerner revealing the mysteries of the barouche landau, the laundaulette, and every other equipage alluded to in the novels.
Dr. Alice Villaseñor talked about her unforgettable summer in Chawton as a JASNA International Visitor
Jana Bickel (L) subsituted popular song lyrics with her own humorous lyrics about carriages in Austen's novels.
Lunch in the lovely Equestrian Center banquet room.
John & Shirley Kosgrove, proud winners of the raffle basket.
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