Dickens’s Legacy – Past, Present and Future

From fan clubs popping up immediately after publication of The Pickwick Papers in 1837, to new adaptations of his work on stage and screen more than 185 years later, Dickens’s impact on both literature and culture has been huge.  We are inherently aware of his most famous characters, such as Oliver Twist, Scrooge and Tiny Tim, who have seeped into our cultural consciousness. Even those who have not read Dickens’s books may have spoken his words ‘Please, sir, I want some more’ or ‘Bah! Humbug’.

First opening its doors to the public on 9 June 1925, the Charles Dickens Museum plays a key role in preserving and promoting Dickens’s legacy in his only surviving London house. Over the past 100 years, the Museum has developed an unrivalled collection of over 100,000 objects spanning Dickens’s life and beyond. The day after the Museum opened, it received a note describing three children ‘standing on the doorstep…gazing solemnly and enquiringly within and it seemed to me they illustrated exactly what you have done – opened a door where future generations will seek to enter’.

100 years on, our door remains open for all to explore the legacy of Charles Dickens – past, present and future.

'Mr Dickens and Mr Pickwick Meet on the Door Step of 48 Doughty Street' by Charles Buchel, 1925

DH1180 © Charles Dickens Museum