The legacies of two trailblazing British women, Julia Margaret Cameron and Jane Austen, converge with the Morgan Library & Museum’s concurrent exhibitions, “A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250” and “Arresting Beauty: Julia Margaret Cameron.” Both draw on the women’s visual and literary archives to illustrate the complexities and historic significance of their lives. Austen and Cameron were exceptionally talented and creative women whose legacies often appear more benevolent than those of many others from their social class and imperial context. Still, it is crucial to grapple with the colonial structures — and the labor of colonized women and communities — that helped sustain the lives and work of these pioneering artistic figures often celebrated as feminist heroes. What would it mean to admire these women’s creative brilliance while acknowledging the inequalities that shaped their worlds? Whose stories remain untold behind their celebrated legacies? And how might we expand our unders...