On Tuesday, as you may have heard, we celebrated Jane Austen’s 250 th  birthday. Some of us, however, celebrated more officially than others: The governors of at least three U.S. states apparently signed proclamations declaring December 16, 2025, to be “Jane Austen Day.”   I say “apparently” signed because, although these declarations—from the states of Massachusetts, Oregon, and Texas—were mentioned in various spots online, I haven’t been able to locate the proclamations on