|
The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum, located at 203 North Amity St. in Baltimore, Maryland, is the former home of American writer Edgar Allan Poe in the 1830s. The small unassuming structure, which was opened as a writer's house museum since 1949, is a typical row home. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1972.〔 Due to a loss of funding by the city of Baltimore, the Museum closed to the public in October 2012. (Poe Baltimore ), the Museum's new governing body, reopened the Museum to the public on October 5, 2013〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Edgar Allan Poe's house reopened to the public )〕 ==History== The brick home, then numbered 3 Amity St.,〔Silverman, Kenneth. ''Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance''. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991. p. 96. ISBN 0-06-092331-8〕 and now numbered 203 North Amity Street, is assumed to have been built in 1830 and rented by Poe's aunt Maria Clemm in 1832. Clemm was joined in the home with her ailing mother, Elizabeth Cairnes Poe, and her daughter Virginia Clemm. Edgar Allan Poe moved in with the family in 1833〔 around the age of 23, after leaving West Point. Virginia was 10 years old at the time; Poe would marry her three years later, though their only public ceremony was in 1836. Poe lived in the house from about 1833 to 1835. The house was rented using pension money that Elizabeth collected thanks to her husband, David Poe Sr., who was a veteran of the American Revolutionary War. The home is small and Poe's room on the top floor has a ceiling with a sharp pitch which is six feet high at its tallest point.〔Haas, Irvin. ''Historic Homes of American Authors''. Washington, DC: The Preservation Press, 1991. ISBN 0-89133-180-8. p. 78〕 In the 1930s, homes in the area, including Poe's, were set for demolition to make room for the "Poe Homes" public housing project. The house was spared and control was given to the (Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore ), which opened the home as (The Baltimore Poe House ) in 1949. Former displays in the Museum included a lock of Poe's hair, a small piece of Poe's coffin, some original china that once belonged to John Allan (Poe's guardian after Eliza Poe's death), and a large reproduction of the portrait of Virginia Clemm painted after her death as well as many other Poe-related images. An original 1849 obituary by Rufus Griswold in the October 24, 1849 edition of the ''Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper'' is also on display along with a reprint of Poe's original announcement for the creation of a new literary magazine to be called ''The Stylus'' — an endeavor that never came to fruition. The Museum hosted a number of Poe events throughout the year. It claimed, for example, the largest Poe birthday celebration in the world held every January at the Westminster Hall and Burying Ground, where Poe was buried following his death in October 1849. In 2009, the curator, Jeff Jerome, planned the biggest event of the Poe Bicentennial at Westminster Hall. He held a third funeral for Poe. Over 1,200 people attended two services. The event received national and international media attention and acclaim. In 1979 during the house renovations, workers lifted the floorboards and found skeletal remains, reminiscent of Poe's story "The Tell-Tale Heart." These were found to be animal bones discarded into what is known as a "trash pit" or midden beneath the home.〔Gentile, Sal. "(Edgar Allan Poe Museum staff make disturbing find )," Associated Press. July 26, 2007.〕 In 2011, City of Baltimore officials reduced the Museum's subsidy, a decision that ultimately led to its closure in 2012. After the City cut off its $85,000 in annual support in 2011, the Museum was operating on reserve funds to the amount of $380,000 in the Poe House Fundraising account. Efforts to secure the Museum's future came from such diverse places as: the non-profit project (Pennies For Poe: Save the Poe House in Baltimore ),〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Plight of Baltimore's Poe House attracts worldwide attention )〕 the New York City based non-profit theatre company (Bedlam Ensemble's ) staging of ''The Delirium of Edgar Allan Poe'',〔(【引用サイトリンク】title='The Delirium of Edgar Allan Poe' to benefit Poe House and Museum (Includes interview) )〕 and the 2012 film ''The Raven''.〔 (refers to the upcoming 2012 film ''The Raven'' )〕 Jeff Jerome, the Museum's curator for more than three decades, was laid off in 2012. According to the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, the Museum was closed on September 28, 2012 with no advance public notice, with plans to reorganize and re-open in 2013. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|