Museum News

Richmond’s Linden Row Inn (www.lindenrowinn.com) is located on the site of the “Enchanted Garden” where a teenaged Poe once courted his first fiancée Elmira Royster. One of Poe’s boyhood homes stood directly across the street from this historic 1840s inn.

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12 Midnight: Champagne Toast at the Poe Shrine
Kick off the day’s festivities in the shadows of the Poe Museum’s Enchanted Garden in a shrine built 87 years ago in Poe’s honor from the bricks salvaged from the office in which Poe began his career in journalism.

2 AM: Victorian Séance
Make contact with Poe through an authentic Victorian séance. Maybe Mr. Poe will make an appearance.

11 AM: Segway Tour of Richmond Poe Sites
See the sights of Poe’s Richmond without walking up all the hills. Ride a segway. Lessons will be provided before the tour.

1 PM: Birthday Cake
Every birthday needs a cake. We have served Poe portrait cakes and raven cakes at previous Poe birthdays, so come find out which kind of cake Poe will get this year.

1 PM: Book Signing of Edgar Allan Poe in Richmond
This new photo book will be released on January 19, so be among the first to get a copy. The authors, Keshia A. Case and Christopher Semtner, will be on hand to sign copies and answer questions.

2 PM: Segway Tour of Richmond Poe Sites
If you want to take the segway tour of Poe’s Richmond but are not a morning person, take the afternoon tour.

3 PM: Book Signing of Edgar Allan Poe
An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories by Poe’s cousin Dr. Harry Lee Poe.
Dr. Poe is a descendant of Poe’s uncle and, through his family, has gained a special insight into the life of his famous relative. Here is your chance to meet Dr. Poe and learn things about Edgar Poe that only a relative would know.

7 PM: Candlelight Walking Tour Poe’s Church Hill followed by Warm-up Cocktail Hour
Take a trip back in time and see Poe’s stories and poems brought to life in a whole new way–in the darkened streets and cemeteries that inspired them. The tour begins at Poe’s mother’s grave with a performance by Haunts of Richmond. Then you will follow in the footsteps of Poe through the shadowy streets of 19th century Church Hill, and you will visit the sites that inspired his greatest poems while you hear dramatic recitations of those works. The tour ends at the Poe Museum’s Enchanted Garden with another performance. There is an extra charge of $15 for this experience, but all participants will be treated to refreshments at the conclusion.

All Day: Temporary Exhibit: Poe: Face to Face: Early Portraits and Daguerreotypes of Edgar Allan Poe
See Poe as you’ve never seen him before–through the eyes of his contemporaries. This exhibit will bring together some of the earliest portraits of the author photographed, painted, or owned by the people who knew Poe best. Find out which of Poe’s portraits were owned by his last fiancée, Elmira Shelton. Learn which portrait Poe’s sister considered the best and which one Poe himself hated the most.

So, we’ve got some exciting news that I have been dying to share but unable to until it was no longer considereed confidential. The U.S. Postal Service is issuing a Poe bicentennial commemorative stamp in 2009 and, appropriately, it will be unveiled here in Richmond. The first issue event will be held at Library of Virginia on January 16th so collectors can buy the stamp on the day of issue and have it canceled by the USPS on site. Dignitaries will be there from the Postmaster’s office and Virginia state government to handle the dedication, but our own Hal Poe has also been asked to speak. I will be uploading details about it on the calendar of events and will try to make as many details available as possible. Copies of Hal’s new Edgar biography will be available for purchase and he will stick around to sign copies.

We’ll see you in January!  It just so happens that January 16th is the Friday before a three-day weekend so it is a great opportunity to visit Richmond, see a wealth of Poe sites, and get your collectable Poe stamp at the same time. Don’t forget there is a Garrison Keillor and Symphony performance that same week, along with the 24 hours of activity at the Poe Museum on January 19th, the actual birthday.

Check back often. We are always adding new details about events as they become available. If you want to receive email updates when the calendar is updated you can sign up for those on the home page of www.poe200th.com.

The Poe Museum’s screening of Vertigowent off as planned–in spite of the rain. A group of true cinephiles huddled together under a large tent to witness Hitchcock’s masterpiece while the rain pounded the tent. If you have not yet had the opportunity to watch a movie outdoors in a storm, you should definitely try it. Nothing heightens the cinematic experience quite the way Nature’s wrath does. The real-life dangers of flash floods and lightning strikes gave the audience just the right amount of genuine fear to help them properly empathize with James Stewart’s character in the film.

The lesson to be learned by all those unlucky enough miss out on this event is that the Poe Museum doesn’t cancel an event until the place is underwater. Our next event will be a Poe Memorial Service to be held at the Museum on October 5, so we encourage you to come no matter how terrible to weather is.

The cause of Poe’s death remains a mystery 159 years after the fact. Theories abound, but none has become the definitive explanation. Now we are asking you to help solve the mystery. Check out some of the clues gathered from primary sources at http://poe200th.com/students-mystery.php. On October 5, 2008 at the Poe Museum’s Poe Memorial Service, we will choose the best theories, and the winning detective will receive a prize. There is still plenty of time left to submit your theories, so we encourage you enter the contest and to come to the Poe Memorial Service.

Since this website was posted, we have already received some good theories, some of which are posted below.

I think that he took a drug over dose when he was sick.I think that because in the story it said that he became sick.He was also an alcoholic, so he probably took the medicine while he was drinking the alcohol. So it probably caused the brain tumor, which caused him to die.
~Allie Thomas, Maryland

I think he did an drug overdose or he was poisoned by someone.                                  ~Christopher Dailey and Richard Royal, Maryland

I believe he died because he could of possiably catched an airbourne disease coming and going from Richmond! Or possiably from a broken heart because his wife Virginia know as Ginny died of sickness. He really loved her and any person could die because a loved one has passed away.  The stress of being without out her may hurt way to much for him to bear and he just gave up, got sick and just passed away!
~Abbey, Florida

He died from a brain tumor and epilepsy because he had no treatment for either.
~Nicole, Florida

This isn’t technically related to the bicentennial, but the exhibit of Poe in the comics is still running at the Poe Museum. For those of you who haven’t had a chance to see it, you still have until the end of October visit. Even those of you who are not particularly interested in comic books or graphic novels will still be able to appreciate the artistry of some of these drawings and paintings. Among my favorites were the illustrations by Richard Corben for “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Beautifully rendered, these dramatic images really make an impression on the viewer. The murderer’s face in “The Tell-Tale Heart” truly evokes his nervousness and paranoia. Corben’s drawings for “The Raven” are lyrical and enigmatic. They are hanging in a suitably creepy black room on the second floor of the exhibit building along with some dark drawings by other artists.

The first floor of the exhibit contains an overview of Poe in the comics. This section shows how not only Poe’s stories but also Poe, himself, have appeared in comics from the 1940s until today. The area devoted to Poe as a comic character gives the viewer a new perspective on the idea of Poe as a pop culture icon. Here you will encounter Poe joining forces with Batman and helping “the world’s smallest super hero” the Atom fight crime. An original drawing by Rick Geary for his book The Mystery of Mary Rogers details the real Poe’s attempt to solve an actual murder mystery, proving that Poe didn’t need Batman’s help to battle the forces of evil. (Come to the Poe Museum’s Summer 2009 exhibit “Ratiocination” to learn more about how Poe tried to solve some real-life mysteries.)

One case in this room is devoted to Poe parodies. Among these are a Simpsons version of “The Cask of Amontillado” and a story entitled “The Tell-Tale Fart.”

A favorite with many of visitors is Gris Grimly’s watercolor cover art for Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Madness. Grimly uses subtle washes of watercolor with delicate pen-and-ink details to create a twisted world that reminds one of a cross between a Tim Burton film and an Egon Schiele drawing.

In addition to the exhibit, the Poe Museum has published a catalog, The Incredible Mr. Poe, which includes a history of Poe in the comics by Dr. M. Thomas Inge, the collector who loaned many of the pieces in the show, as well as chronology of most of Poe’s comic appearances from the 1940s until 2007.

We started the countdown clock on www.poe200th.com months ago and every time I think we finally have a completed roster of events for 2009, we come up with some new idea or find a new partner to help us celebrate Poe’s life and works. Discussions of Poe always seem to lead to some new horizon yet unexplored by us here at the Poe Museum. Next week I am meeting with Larry Gard over at the Carpenter Science Theater (Science Museum of Virginia) to talk about interpreting Poe’s “Eureka” through a theatrical production. Though Poe meant for “Eureka” to be read only as a prose poem, his speculations about the hidden meanings of the universe, its structure, and how it works are fascinating to consider for a man of his time–or even for a man of our time. It is only appropriate for the Science Museum to tackle the interpretation of this particular work, the last that Poe published in his lifetime.

Poe shares his bicentennial with Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln and it is always interesting for me, especially since I am trained as an anthropologist, to consider that these three minds were all a product of the same era, granting them similar world views and cultural understandings of an age. When Larry Gard and I were brainstorming ideas the other day he thought that a conversation between Poe and Darwin would be an interesting one. I do too, but I’m glad Larry will be the one to write this theatrical excursion because it will be such an intense research process.

I still have more work to do–many more entries to load into the events calendar on this website. Despite my procrastination you can already see an interesting mix of performances and exhibits that will explore Poe during his bicentennial year. For now I think I am most eager to see the commemmorative stamp that will be issued by the U.S. Postal Service. Its design is still a secret but I have heard from people in the know that it is an extraordinarily beautiful image. It should be unveiled in just a short time, as soon as the USPS announces their 2009 commemmorative series. I am also curious to see (or rather hear) the Richmond Symphony’s performances dedicated to Edgar, and the amazing exhibit planned by the Library of Virginia.

I hope many people will join us to celebrate Edgar A. Poe’s influences and success in 2009.

Poe Museum

Richmond, Virginia