January at the Academe
A Quick Look at the Academe classes coming up next month.
This course will spread out over the course of the year. Each month introduces a new book that you may not have heard of but that your heroine might well have read! We’ll be looking at some famed reads and some that are less well-known today in order to explore what women were writing and reading in the Georgian and Regency Periods.
- January 2026: Fantomina – Eliza Haywood (1725)
- February 2026: An Apology for the Conduct of Mrs T C Phillips – Teresia Constantia Phillips (1748-9)
- March 2026: Millenium Hall – Sarah Scott (1762)
- April 2026: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral – Phillis Wheatley (1773)
- May 2026: Letters on the Improvement of the Mind – Hester Chapone (1774)
- June 2026: The Recess, or a Tale of other Times – Sophia Lee (1783-5)
- July 2026: Selected poems from Anna Laetitia Barbauld
- August 2026: Romance of the Forest – Ann Radcliffe (1792)
- September 2026: The Emigrants – Charlotte Smith (1793)
- October 2026: Letters written during a short residence in Sweden – Mary Wollstonecraft (1796)
- November 2026: Castle Rackrent – Maria Edgeworth (1800)
- December 2026: Zofloya, or The Moor – Charlotte Dacre (1806)
Registration closes November 10, 2026
In Regency England, gardens and conservatories served a variety of purposes, including aesthetic display, social gathering venues, areas of private reflection, economic production, and scientific study. They were far more than just planted spaces; they were an extension of the home that reflected the owner’s wealth, taste, and interests.
In this class we will discuss every aspect of the gardens and conservatories of the era. From garden planning and design to their upkeep and renovation topics will include the important garden designers of the day, the various types of gardens, plants best suited to various climates and to conservatory keeping, the well-known gardens throughout the United Kingdom, the various purposes of gardens and of conservatories, and the costs of their construction and maintenance.
Gardens and conservatories were a statement of wealth, an expression of aesthetics, a declaration of interest in botany and other scientific endeavors, and for some a labor of love. They expressed wealth, beauty, humor, an appreciation of other cultures, grief, and sometimes obsession. Many were legacies passed on from generation to generation.All had and still have stories to tell about those who owned them, designed them, and kept them. Stories this class will explore.
Registration closes January 13, 2026