Museum Today
The home is open to the public as a modest museum with self-guided tours. Displays in the house include a lock of Poe's hair, 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. A reprint of the 1849 obituary from 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 and the Poe Society also host a number of Poe events throughout the year. It claims, for example, the largest Poe birthday celebration in the world every January at the Westminster Hall and Burying Ground. The organization also observes the annual visit of the mysterious Poe Toaster and helps protect his identity.
The current curator of the museum is Jeff Jerome.
Read more about this topic: Edgar Allan Poe House And Museum
Famous quotes containing the words museum and/or today:
“When I go into a museum and see the mummies wrapped in their linen bandages, I see that the lives of men began to need reform as long ago as when they walked the earth. I come out into the streets, and meet men who declare that the time is near at hand for the redemption of the race. But as men lived in Thebes, so do they live in Dunstable today.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Give me insight into today and you may have the antique and future worlds.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)