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‘My trifling pen’: Intrigue, Invention, and Intimacy in 18th-century British Letters

Event
A young woman wears a white dress and white fabric on her head, gazing to the right with her elbow resting on an open letter. A large tree takes up most of the background, and a small patch of blue sky with white clouds is visible

Wed., April 29, 2026, 6–7 p.m.

Free with reservation

Rothenberg Hall

Reserve
Join Karen Harvey, professor of history at the University of Birmingham, U.K. and the Fletcher Jones Distinguished Fellow of British History and Culture, for a lecture that reinterprets The Huntington’s manuscript collections of 18th-century British letters.
Lectures

Why write a letter? Why read a letter? How does a handwritten letter work? And what work can a handwritten letter perform? In the thousands of 18th-century British letters between family and friends surviving today, many denigrated the letter as "trifling" things full of "nothing very particular." And yet–whether crushingly mundane, painfully upsetting, or replete with scandals worthy of Bridgerton’s Lady Whistledown–these letters held indisputable power. Using letters penned by domestic servants to titled aristocrats, Harvey will explore how men and women recast the letter to transform not only the way they wrote but how they felt and related, transforming British society more broadly. The lecture will draw extensively on the Huntington Library’s rich manuscript collections, including those related to Jane Austen’s maternal relatives (the Leighs), as well as other archives.

This is the Fletcher Jones Distinguished Fellow Lecture and part of The Huntington Research 2025-2026 "Active in the Archive" lecture series.

Know Before You Go

  • A post-lecture reception will take place in front of the lecture hall at the Rose Hills Foundation Garden Court at 7 p.m.
  • Doors to the lecture hall will open at 5:30 p.m.
  • If you are visiting the gardens during the day and plan to stay for the lecture, please note that all guests must clear the grounds when The Huntington closes at 5 p.m. 

Top image: Richard Cosway (British, 1742-1821), Margaret Cocks, later Margaret Smith, 1787. Oil on canvas, 36 x 27 3/4 in. (91.4 x 70.5 cm). Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Clifford E. Clinton. | The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.