She has also left her legacy in the gardens and landscape that surround it, which are currently being restored to look how they did in her day.
Now, a new exhibition reveals even more of the character of this courageous and unusual woman, who lived her life as she wished, rather than by conventions dictated by others.
Diaries kept by Anne from the age of 15 reveal how she ran the Halifax estate, stories of her travels and of her lesbian relationships. They are currently on display for the first time at her former home in the I Know My Own Heart exhibition, staged as part of Calderdale Museums and Galleries Month.
The collection also includes other fascinating documents about Anne, the house and the estate, dating back to the 1800s and is named after Calderdale author Helena Whitbread's book about Anne's life. Helena spent years painstakingly transcribing Anne's diaries in which she used a secret code.
"Anne wrote a total of 27 diaries, amounting to more than four million words," says curator of social history Claire Selby.
"It is wonderful that the diaries are going on display for the first time here.
"Normally they are kept in the West Yorkshire archives building and the public can ask to see them but often it would be a copy they would look at, not the original.
"Obviously we have to treat them very carefully because they are very fragile and light-senstive," she says.
Visitors can now climb the old staircase to the upper corridor of Shibden Hall and find the diaries displayed opposite Anne's funeral hatchment, a lozenge-shaped board depicting the coat of arms of the deceased, which would be carried before the funeral procession.
In the case of Anne Lister, the hatchment was hung outside Halifax Parish Church, before being returned to Shibden Hall by Dr John Lister, her relative.
In a time when women were expected to marry and raise a family, Anne chose a different lifestyle.
She was determined to educate herself and was the first woman to be elected to the committee of the Halifax Literary and Philosophical Society.
A document listing the members and dating back to 1834 now forms part of the exhibition.
"It's incredible when you read it and see she was the only female member," says Claire.
"This was really just typical of the kind of woman she was. She moved in a man's world."
Anne also travelled widely to destinations not usually reached in those times and her diaries or journals document this.
A copy of a French passport is now on display, as well as plans drawn up by John Harper for proposed alterations to Shibden Hall in 1836.
There is also a carpenter's bill for work carried out in the hall, which documents how the intricate bannister rails cost the princely sum of 14 shillings each and a poster, advertising "the letting of the construction" of a reservoir in Shibden Park.
A luggage list for a trip in 1834 includes, among other items, an umbrella, boots and a sponge.
But is the diaries that are expected to cause the most interest to visitors.
Two of these historic documents, written in Anne's neat hand are now on display.
One entry describes a trip to Paris in which Anne had enrolled on a medical or science course and watched with fascination the dissection of a woman's head.
Others reveal general concerns in her life and her sexual relationships with Mari-anne Lawton and Anne Walker, as well as work going on at the hall and estate.
"She managed her estates with a firm hand and developed coal mining on her land.
"She was particularly astute in her dealings with local businessman," says Claire.
"Local legend has it that her nickname was Gentleman Jack but there has been no evidence to support that", she adds.
"She was indisputably a pioneering woman, inspirational and very unusual for her times. We feel the exhibition will definitely attract a lot of interest."

The exhibition runs until May 30 and Shibden Hall opening times are Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm and Sunday, noon to 5pm.