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About the Project

‘What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?’

– George Eliot, Middlemarch

George Eliot, born Mary Anne Evans, grew up in Nuneaton and Coventry and went on to become one of Britain’s greatest writers.

The Exploring Eliot project, funded through the Esmeé Fairburn Collections Fund, explores the fantastic George Eliot collections at Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery, Nuneaton Library, Coventry Archives and the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum.

This involved researching the collections and making connections between them and exploring Eliot through community engagement. 

This website, for the first time, brings together highlights from all the collections. It also features films, animation and stories created through the project.

We hope George Eliot’s story will inspire people. Her unusual and interesting life touches on issues important to all of us, from family and love, to religion and politics.

George Eliot by Durade
Colour illustration showing a large house with a number of windows smoking chimneys. The walls are covered in ivy. In the foreground is a garden and the house is framed by trees. A figure can be seen in the foreground.
Griff House illustrated by Patty Townsend in George Eliot, her early home.
Mannequin displaying a blue floor length silk dress with long sleeves. The bodice has a square shaped black velvet trim. There is black bead trim round the neck following a black velvet trim. There is black velvet trim and lace at the wrists. There are buttons along the front to the waist.
Blue silk dress worn by George Eliot.
Book with a green cover. Gold lettering with words Silas Marner The Weaver of Raveloe by George Eliot. Illustrator Hugh Thomson is written on the front. Illustration in gold shows a man sitting weaving on a loom. There is a window, thread in the pattern of cobwebs and spindles are in the background. A seated small girl is in the foreground
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Handwritten letter
Letter from George Eliot to Sara Hennell
Row of books. All are cream coloured. The words George Eliot's works are in blue at the top of every book. This is followed by a blue pattern. The title of each book is shown in blue in the centre of the spine followed by another blue pattern.
First editions of Eliot’s works