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The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT) is an independent registered educational charity based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, that came into existence in 1847 following the purchase of William Shakespeare's birthplace for preservation as a national memorial. It can also lay claim to be the oldest conservation society in Britain. Receiving no government funding or public subsidies, it is totally dependent upon the public for support, and relies on donations and the income generated from visitors.
Contents
- Origins of the Trust
- Properties
- Library and archive
- Museums department
- Education and activities
- References
The SBT is considered the most significant Shakespeare charity in the world, and endeavours to internationally promote the appreciation and study of the plays and other works of William Shakespeare, and general advancements of Shakespearian knowledge. The Trust maintains and preserves the Shakespeare Birthplace properties, a museum, library of books, manuscripts, records of historic interest, pictures, photographs and objects of antiquity with particular reference to the life and times of William Shakespeare, and is also home to the headquarters of the International Shakespeare Association.
Origins of the Trust
For more than 200 years after the Bard's death, his birthplace was occupied by the descendants of his recently widowed sister, Joan Hart. Under the terms of Shakespeare's will, the ownership of the whole property (the inn and Joan Hart's cottage) passed to his elder daughter, Susanna; and then on her death in 1649, to her only child, Elizabeth. Elizabeth died in 1670, bequeathing it to Thomas Hart, the descendant of Shakespeare's sister, Joan, whose family had continued as tenants of the cottage after her death in 1646. The Harts remained owners of the whole property until 1806, when it was sold to a butcher, Thomas Court. When it was again put up for sale in 1846 on the death of Court's widow, the American showman P. T. Barnum proposed to buy the home and ship it "brick-by-brick" to the US. To purchase the property for the Nation, the Shakespeare Birthday Committee was formed, and such luminaries as Charles Dickens helped the Committee raise £3,000 and bought it the following year. Incorporated by a private Act of Parliament, the Birthday Committee became the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
Properties
The headquarters of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is the Shakespeare Centre, a glass and concrete structure next to the Birthplace. The driving force behind its construction and opening in 1964 was Dr Levi Fox, OBE, Director of the Trust from 1945 to 1989, with a view to properly housing its library, documents and collections which attract scholars from all over the world.
The Trust currently owns and cares for a number of houses relating to Shakespeare in and around the town of Stratford-upon-Avon as well as for Harvard House:
Library and archive
The Library and Records Office, now amalgamated to form the Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, house the Shakespeare and Local Collections:
Museums department
The Museums Department is responsible for the care and display of all the historic museum items that the trust owns, principally items that relate to Shakespeare's life and times, which encompass a wide range of material. Other collections include items that represent the social and economic life of Stratford-upon-Avon, and a special collection of pewter, dating from Roman times until the present day. The Trust's Collections and Conservation Department is based in the Shakespeare Centre in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The Trust owns various extensive collections:
Education and activities
The Trust hosts a variety of events and provides talks, lectures and courses related to Shakespeare for the general public, and for students at all levels ranging from primary school pupils (with the Heritage Education team) to university students. Through its education department, the Trust also runs international programmes throughout the year on Shakespeare's writings.
The SBT runs the Stratford-upon-Avon Poetry Festival, the oldest in the UK. The SBT introduced the new Shakespeare Film Festival to its events calendar in 2012, the first festival of its kind in the UK.
At Mary Arden's Farm the SBT rears prize-winning livestock including Cotswold sheep and Longhorn cattle.