NEWS AND KEY EVENTS
NEWS in 2023/4
January 2024 - January 2025 - Eleanor’s work is set to be included in the AHRC funded exhibition INSPIRED – The Art Of Making Historical Fashion at the Bankfield Museum, Halifax, in collaboration with the Centre for Fashion Curation.
March to October, 2023 - The ‘Brontë Series’, first exhibited at the Brontë Parsonage, was moved to Chawton House Library to be shown alongside four, newly commissioned Austen artworks, inspired by printed cottons found in Jane and Cassandra Austen's surviving quilt thought to have been made in 1811.
2022/3 - Eleanor’s exhibition, ‘Defying Expectations: Inside Charlotte Brontë’s Wardrobe’ drew a great deal of attention in the press with articles appearing in The Times, The Guardian, Yorkshire Life and British Vogue.
NEWS IN 2021/2
February 2022 - Eleanor’s exhibition, Defying Expectations: Inside Charlotte Brontë’s Wardrobe opened at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, Haworth. It ran from January 2022 until January 2023 and placed focus on some of the garments and accessories that challenge many of our long held preconceptions about the famous author, Charlotte Brontë.
Summer/ Autumn 2021 - Eleanor worked for the The Exploring Eliot project, funded through the Esmeé Fairburn Collections Fund, which explores the fantastic George Eliot collections at Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery, Nuneaton Library, Coventry Archives and the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum.
Eleanor worked on the surviving clothing of the nineteenth century novelist, George Eliot before training staff on how to tell stories thorough dress.
Eleanor worked as historical costume consultant to Emma Rees, costume designer for BBC production of The Gallows Pole, directed by Shane Meadows.
Eleanor worked as historical costume consultant on the large-scale, period Disney Plus production The Ballad of Renegade Nell written and directed by Sally Wainwright. Watch this space for more details!
June 2021 - Eleanor has been signed by the literary agency Mushens Entertainment for her upcoming book, The Plain Truth. She will be working closely with the brilliant and utterly delightful Liza DeBlock to bring this innovative, myth-busting biography of Charlotte Brontë to life. An exciting new adventure has begun!
June 2021 - Eleanor’s edited book, Charlotte Brontë, Embodiment and the Material World has gone into paperback!
January 2021 - Eleanor has been asked to curate a large, in-house and online exhibition for the Brontë Parsonage Museum on the immensely revealing clothing collection of the Brontë family. Exciting discussions are ongoing, watch this space for more information!
January/February 2021 - Eleanor has begun work on her next project—the dramatisation of a gripping, real-life crime that took place in the heart of London in the 1850s.
NEWS IN 2020
Autumn/Winter 2020 - Eleanor continued work as historical consultant on the brilliant, second series of BBC/HBO’s ‘Gentleman Jack’.
September 2020 - Eleanor took part in the brilliant Brontë2020 conference day organised by Dr Claire O’Callaghan and Dr Sarah Fanning on behalf of The Brontë Society. The event was arranged to raise money for the Brontë Parsonage Museum during the significant challenges caused by COVID19. Eleanor opened the event with a keynote lecture on ‘Charlotte Brontë’s Moccasins’. The day was a triumph and included talks by Sally Wainwright, Isabel Greenberg, Adam Nagaitis and Adelle Hay. A great deal of money was raised for the ongoing, important work of the museum.
June 2020 - Sara Tor of The Times newspaper has published an article based on Eleanor’s research into Charlotte Brontë’s moccasins. A longer version of the article can be seen here.
June 2020 - The edited collection that Eleanor co-edited entitled ‘Charlotte Brontë, Embodiment and the Material World’ has now officially been published! You can visit the site and purchase either the book or individual chapters by clicking on the button below.
The book blurb…
Comprising nine original essays by specialists in material culture, book history, literary criticism and curatorial and archival studies, this co-edited volume addresses a wide range of Brontë’s writing and forges new connections between historical, material, and textual approaches to the author’s work.
The nine varied and vibrant essays have been written by prominent scholars in the field of Brontë Studes - namely, Prof. Cornelia Pearsall (Smith College), Prof. Valerie Sanders (University of Hull), Prof. Judith Pike (Salisbury University), Dr. Clare Broome Saunders (University of Oxford), Christine Nelson (Drue Heinz Curator, Morgan Library), Dr. Julie Donovan (George Washington University), Dr. Barbara Heritage (Rare Book School, University of Virginia), Dr. Justine Pizzo (University of Southampton) and of course Eleanor!
“This is a wonderful collection which explores issues of materiality and embodiment across a fascinating range of areas. Drawing on the expertise of museum professionals and historians of the book as well as that of literary critics, it offers new insights into Brontë’s modes of composition, and the forms of physicality in her fiction. It also answers questions you never thought to ask: how did those moccasins end up in West Yorkshire?”
Later in the Year (June 2020 Event postponed due to COVID-19) - Eleanor will be speaking at a Brontë Parsonage Unwrapped event on the exciting history of Charlotte Brontë’s Mohawk moccasins. An essay about these enigmatic beaded, deerskin shoes has been included in Eleanor’s recent publication, ‘Charlotte Brontë, 'Embodiment and the Material World’.
Later in the Year (June 2020 Event postponed due to COVID-19) - Eleanor will be speaking on ‘Working as an Historical Consultant for Film and Television’ at the Gallery of Fashion, Bankfield Museum, Halifax. She will be joined by Tom Pye, award-winning costume and set designer for theatre, ballet, opera and television.
April 2020 - Eleanor has been asked to work as historical consultant on the second series of the BBC/HBO drama, ‘Gentleman Jack’. Depending on the changing impact of Covid-19, filming will begin in the summer. The series is due to be aired early next year.
To find out more about Eleanor’s work as Historical Consultant - click below. She will be happy to help.
March 2020 - Eleanor has been awarded her PhD. for her thesis, Charlotte Brontë, ‘Plainness’ and the Language of Dress. She will now begin the work of turning this innovative research into a commercial book.
Eleanor, with all three volumes of the manuscript ready for submission. If she looks tired, it is because she was.
To find out more about Eleanor’s doctoral research, click here. To find out more about what she plans to do with this ground-breaking and genuinely exciting interdisciplinary research, click the button below.
March 2020 - Eleanor’s detailed research on Charlotte Brontë’s Thackeray Dress has been used to create the museum board currently on display at Bankfield Museum’s acclaimed costume exhibition ‘As Seen on TV’.
February 2020 - Eleanor spoke at the historic Men’s Group, St Cross Church, Winchester on ‘The Mystery of Charlotte Brontë’s Thackeray Dress’. To find out more about the fascinating story of the ‘Thackeray Dress’, click below.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2O19
As well as getting through the final months of PhD., Eleanor (amongst many other things):
Began research on BBC/HBO’s series two of ‘Gentleman Jack’.
Spoke at the 'Reframing the Nineteenth Century Fashion and Dress Symposium’, University of Brighton.
Advised costume designers working on Netflix’s ‘The English Game’ on nineteenth century sexy nightwear…
Worked with The Brontë Parsonage verifying some exciting new acquistions.
Finished research on the first series of ‘Gentleman Jack’.
Completed work on ‘Charlotte Brontë, Embodiment and the Material World’. It features the work of some of the most renowned Brontë scholars from across the globe.
Starting selling her postcards featuring new illustrations at The Brontë Parsonage Museum.
Was asked to arrange a large-scale exhibtion that will feature the entire Brontë Clothing Collection.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM RECENT YEARS
‘Museums at Night: The Costumes of ‘To Walk Invisible’ – Tom Pye and Eleanor Houghton discussed the design of the historic costumes for the BBC Drama aired December 2017. Brontë Parsonage Museum.
‘Unpicking the Mystery of Charlotte Brontë’s Thackeray Dress’, - the story of the Thackeray Dress updated with new, innovative scientific experiments. – Academic Keynote, Brontë Society AGM.
Advised on costume installation for the new costumes made for the BBC production - Brontë Parsonage Museum – 'To Walk Invisible: From Parsonage to Production'
‘Porridge and the Big Pile of Poo’ is published.
Postcards featuring Eleanor’s artwork went on sale at The Morgan Library, New York.
BBC2’s 'Being the Brontë' – short appearance examining Charlotte Brontë’s corset.
Talk on ‘Unravelling the Mystery: Charlotte Brontë’s Thackeray Dress’, Sir John Soane Museum, London.
Talk on ‘Intimacies Revealed: Charlotte Brontë’s Corset’. A Bicentennial Celebration of her Life and Works.
Charlotte Brontë: A Bicentennial Celebration of her Life and Works, Two-Day International Conference, – Conference Organizer.
Keynotes: Professor Sally Shuttleworth (University of Oxford), Juliet Barker (author of 'The Brontës' and previous curator of the Brontë Parsonage Museum) and Justine Picardie (Editor of 'Harper’s Bazaar' and 'Town and Country' Magazines). Speakers and delegates came from USA, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, France, Sweden and Australia.
BBC2 'Being a Brontë' – researcher. Advised on Charlotte Brontë’s childhood, her relationship with clothing, food and her siblings.
Tracey Chevalier – (author of 'Girl with a Pearl Earring') - Advised on clothing choices for Tracy’s Brontë @200 exhibition at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
Sir John Soane Museum – April 2016 - Worked as advisor to Charlotte Cory, curator of 'Charlotte Brontë at the Soane'. Eleanor also installed Charlotte Brontë’s Thackeray Dress at the request of the Brontë Parsonage and prepared the mannequin on which it was placed.
Sally Wainwright’s BBC Production 'To Walk Invisible' researched/advised March/April/May 2016 – aired December 2016. Worked closely with Tom Pye, costume designer, on all aspects of the Brontës' dress. Eleanor advised on how character might be interpreted through dress and on a vast array of technical and sartorial details.
Worked as consultant to Christine Nelson, Drue Heinz Curator at The Morgan Library, New York, 'Charlotte Brontë, An Independent Will'.