Samuel Johnson was a preeminent 18th-century literary and cultural character, and his house at 17 Gough Square, dating from around the 1690s, is a remarkably untouched time capsule from the Age of Enlightenment. The building has operated as a literary historic house museum, Dr. Johnson’s House, since 1911 and celebrates Johnson’s life and work, and those in his circle and the 18th century more broadly.

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The Dr. Johnson’s House Trust plans to re-envision 17 Gough Square as a House of Words, the birthplace of Johnson’s famous Dictionary of the English Language, which was created in what has long been known as the Dictionary Garret on the top floor of the House—an iconic space in the development of the English language. The Trust seeks to engage new audiences locally and internationally, to enhance the exhibits, to make the site more physically accessible, and to secure its future financially. Samuel Johnson and his circle offer myriad stories through which to explore a diverse range of issues that resonate today, including: literacy, literature, and history; friendship and grief; power and slavery; gender and identity; and living with mental and physical disabilities. Thanks to Boswell and others, this household and Johnson’s distinguished broader circle are extraordinarily well-documented. They provide a fascinating glimpse into Georgian life, women’s struggle for education and intellectual acceptance, early Black British history, overcoming extreme adversity, and the lifelong pursuit of learning and intellectual stimulation.

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The Trust proposes to build on the House’s rich associations with language and literature in its greatly expanded educational and outreach offerings. The House desperately needs more space, new exhibits, and enhanced infrastructure to accomplish these goals and attract and serve a larger and more diverse range of audiences and partners. As things now stand, however, the House is not accessible for people with mobility impairments, and the Trust has neither the space nor the personnel to realize its potential to entertain, inspire, and educate.

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For now, all activities take place in the House itself, whose original dog-legged staircase makes enjoying the house difficult, if not impossible, for many. There are no wheelchair-accessible toilets, elevators, dedicated learning spaces, collections storage, workstations for visiting scholars, or proper kitchen facilities to cater events and private hire. As a result, the Trust is limited in its ability to reach schools, hold events, provide exhibitions, furnish staff with sufficient storage and office space, and generate the income needed to make the Trust sustainable and resilient. Staff currently consists of a director/curator, a part-time accountant, and a part-time museum intern. With an endowment of only £1.5 million, the limitations that accessibility and infrastructure challenges place on potential income, and Covid-19’s impact on visitor numbers, the Trust’s financial resources are severely constrained. Yet before Covid, visitor numbers and learning visits had more than doubled, and recent grants had enabled the Trust to repair the facade of the House and do urgent maintenance, proving its potential and capability of capitalizing on opportunities through resourcefulness. The Board has also recently been reinvigorated with new expertise. To maximize the House’s impact and to ensure its future, the Trust is therefore taking steps to revivify and transform itself.