Rare artefacts from the lives of some of the world’s most celebrated writers and gathered from across the world will feature in a new exhibition as the Bronte Parsonage Museum, in Haworth, explores the story of its own collection.

Bronte Relics: A Collection History gives visitors an insight into how the collection was brought together and how it continues to grow as curators make new discoveries about the lives and works of famous novelist sisters.

It reveals how some treasures were traced through previous owners and collectors, then brought back to their home by the Bronte Society. The exhibition also looks at the major sources of Bronteana, such as items concerning Charlotte’s husband Arthur Bell Nicholls, her lifelong friend Ellen Nussey, the family of servant Martha Brown, and the American collector Henry Houston Bonnell.

Ann Dinsdale, collections manager at the Bronte Parsonage Museum, said: “On the Bronte’s deaths, everything was disposed of, with Charlotte’s widower taking a lot of manuscripts and personal items back to Ireland. Her close friend had a collection of letters and things such as clothing and books were given to the servants. Gradually, as each of the people with personal attachments to these items died off, it opened the floodgates for these things to fall into the hands private collectors.”

The exhibition runs until next March. There will be two special evening tours of the museum and its library on Wednesday, May 23 and 30, focusing on the history of the museum collection.

For further details, call            (01535) 642323      .the Telegraph and Argus