Spring Family Fair

Drop-in Programs

Welcome Table & Raffle / J.P. Morgan Chase Lobby
Welcome to the Morgan! Check in at the welcome table to pick up a schedule and enter a raffle.

Garden Family Guide / Pick up at welcome table
Enjoy the Morgan Garden at your own pace with our family guide. Morgan Garden access subject to weather.

Poetry Wall: Dear Jane / Lower Level
Take a page from Jane Austen and write your own unique verses on the Morgan’s Poetry Wall.

Forget-Me-Not / North Parlor
Inspired by the exhibition Arresting Beauty: Julia Margaret Cameron, discover the secret symbolic language of flowers. Compose a message in dried petals and preserve it in a bookmark to take home.

Quiet Space / South Parlor
Take a quiet break in one of the Morgan’s historic rooms with sensory friendly supports such as fidgets, noise canceling headphones, and books.

Time-Specific Programs

Celebrate A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250 and join educator Lena Ruth Yasutake for hands-on activities in the Education Center. Yasutake will use her collection of antique and reproduction tools, costumes, and accessories to share experiences from Regency-era England.

2–3 PM, Education Center
Regency Letter Writing and Folding
Explore how to write, fold, and seal letters in the Regency style with a quill pen and ink. See a reproduction of a Regency writing slope, just like Jane Austen’s! Write, fold and take home your very own letter.

3–4 PM, Education Center
Getting Dressed with Jane Austen
Discover the fashions of Jane Austen’s time and handle articles of clothing such as a chemise, stays, bodiced petticoat, day dress, spencer, cap, and bonnet. Participants can help dress a mannequin as well as try on accessories themselves. Play games of the time such as a Jacob’s Ladder, and examine household objects Jane Austen would have used to start her day.

4–4:30 PM, Education Center
Tea Demonstration
Are you ready for tea? Practice how to hold a cup and saucer in high society, and observe 18th century tea accessories, such as sugar nippers. Prepare your proper tea etiquette and explore the social side of tea.

Lena Ruth Yasutake has been an educator for over 20 years. Lena has channeled her passion for Austen into creating engaging, interactive programming about Austen’s life and work. Through her nonprofit work with the Imaginists, she has co-conducted educational programs on Austen for all ages in libraries and schools in and around New York. She is dedicated to sharing Austen with new, inclusive and diverse audiences as well as fellow Janeites.

A member of the Jane Austen Society of North America since 2016, she has spoken at two Annual General Meetings and has adapted, costumed, and directed Sense and Sensibility for the stage. Lena is a historical costumer and costume designer who has a special love of Regency fashion. She has hosted 3 sold out Jane Austen Balls to benefit The Historic Joseph Teel House. She has been interviewed about her love for Austen in The Washington Post in 2016, The Guardian in 2019, The Daily Beast in 2020, and the Queen’s Chronicle in 2025. Most recently, she was delighted to present on Austen at the King Manor Museum in Queens.

Please e-mail familyprograms@themorgan.org with questions about accessibility or for more information about the program.