He is one of the pioneers of science fiction. He developed psychological terror. He wrote the only poem that is so famous, it has an nfl team named after him. He also was instrumental in the idea for art for arts sake, that it did not have to have a moral or make you a better person. It was enough that a terror story scares you because it is doing its job, and this also meant that because the story did not have to teach you something virtue didnt have to reward it. ,the villain could actually win in the end. Richmond is where poe spent more of his life than any other city. It is his hometown. He referred to himself as a virginian. This is where he was orphaned at the age of two, and he grew up with foster parents, john and Francis Allen. Without richmond he wouldnt have had the name allen. We wouldnt know what his name was. This is where he first fell in love. This is where he first wrote his poetry. This is where he had a lot of inspiredrations that literature for years to come. This is where he was married. This is where he got his job in first journalism. If it had not been for richmond, poe would not have produce a lot of his best work and would not have had the chance to experiment when he was in his early and find his literary 20s voice. The poe museum has been open since 1922. This is the Worlds Largest collection of Edgar Allen Poe memorabilia, manuscripts, clothing, personal items. The museum consists of four buildings, all surrounding an enchanted garden laid out in 1921 based on poes poetry. It recrates his poem to paradise. Love for which my soul, the green island to see, a fountain and a shrine, all raised in very fruits and flowers, all the flowers are mine. And one of the founders of the Museum Opened it, it was virginias first museum and first monument to a writer. Not to a military, political leader, but to a writer and it showed that virginians really care about the power of words and the power of imagination to shape our destiny. This is Edgar Allen Poes boyhood bed. This is where he used to dreams dreams never dreamed before. It has been passed down from his foster father to his business partner, down to that family until he came to the poe museum. The pieces of furniture in our collection had those kinds of stories, that chain of ownership that leads them here that we can verify what they are. We also have chairs from his boyhood home, including this piece with original cover material still on it. So this is the upholstery on there in poes day. We also have artwork, including this painting of the holy family from the allen mansion, and life portraits of john and Frances Allen. There is only one other known portrait of john allen in life and that has been lost. Only one other portrait of Frances Allen in life which have both been lost. We are the only place that has life pictures of both his foster parents together, and that is quite appropriate because richmond is where they lived. They lived in homes all over this neighborhood. This is a street so would know very well during poe would know very well during his lifetime. Would have walked up and down the street, have seen this house on multiple occasions, but better yet we have the bed where he would have slept. Poes foster father, john allen, was a wealthy tobacco expert. When he died, he was worth about three quarters of a he had a million dollars. Huge mansion richmond, a plantation in goochland county, had property in rocklin county, and he could afford the finest things in life, and he had an extensive library. And that was a great advantage for poe. He was able to read from the the allen library, but allen never warmed up to him. It seems to be the foster in edgar. Dea to take she herself was orphaned. When she learns that a famous actress eliza poe, was fight and , dying and needed help caring for her and her children, of course Francis Allen jumped of course Francis Allen jumped the chance to take in. She wanted someone to take care of and lavished attention. Unfortunately john allen could have children and already had children with other people. He did not want to take care of someone else. He mentioned to children in his will that she had never seen before, but somebody told him they deserve somebody, but edgar was never put in the will. In his letters john refers to , hill about they devil actres children. Say he is salty and doesnt show a spark of gratitude. There is just not one good thing about that boy. Poe seems to have developed an interest in storytelling very early on. One of his friends, John Hamilton mckenzie, apparently fell out of a tree and broke his arm. And then before the arm had a chance to heal, he was jumping on his bed, fell off the bed and broke his arm again, and his mother told him, well, dont go outside. Stay home, and just entertain this little kid edgar. So they entertained each other by telling stories. And John Hamilton mckenzie recalls telling edgar the standard stories, robertson caruso, but so would embellish stories, adding and adding and creating new stories they had not heard before. Eventually poe got an interest in poetry, and by the age of 13 he had already compiled enough of his poetry that he wanted his foster father to help him get it published. And the foster father showed it to the headmaster and said poe is too proud of himself. The last thing you want to do is fuel his ego by publishing a book of his poetry. But by the time he was 18, he published his first book, a lot he actually published his first book, tamerlane. A lot of what was published in tamerlane was written while he was in richmond, attending the university of virginia in charlottesville. Early on poe thought he would feel like most writers of the day and live off of family money or a teaching job or a government job in a customs house. But he became the First American writer, a major american writer, to make his living solely off his writing. I dont think it was entirely by choice. He would have loved to inherit john allens fortune, but john allen did not leave it to him. After poe had been exposed expelled from west print, alan would not take him back. He would not fund his wild dream of becoming a public test of becoming a poet of becoming a poet. So poe started submitting short stories to magazines and entering literary contests and then got himself a job at a magazine, the southern literary messenger, and before you know he was a magazine asked, magazineist editing different , magazines in richmond and philadelphia and new york. And he had to struggle. His salary was 500 a year, which today is about 15,000. When he got to philadelphia he worked at grahams magazine, and in a years time as editor, he brought that from a circulation of 6000 to about 40,000. Made the most popular journal in the country. The First Magazine in america with a truly mass audience, and he was making a salary of 800 a year. While the owner was getting 25,000 a year. So the owner was getting fabulously wealthy off of poes works. So how always had a dream of doing his own magazine, doing things his way, but it never quite worked out for him. There were a few times, years at a stretch, where he was living hand to mouth. He might make five dollars off this poem, 10 off of this story. The tell tale heart brought him 10, the raven, 15. Longer stories would get more money. The murders in the room more brought he entered the gold bug 50. And wonrt story contest 100. Its been estimated from the time he was 18 published his first book until he was 40, he made a little over 6000. So he wasnt fabulously wealthy , but he was famous. As soon as his works got printed in one magazine, other magazines reprinted it with ineffectual copyright laws. Oesdy hesitated to read p stories, and in even in europe they were reading his stories left and right, making him a household name in france, while he was still struggling to feed his family here in the united states. Even during poes lifetime, he was a celebrity. He made into it the newspapers and people reported on every little thing he did it seemed because he was a public figure. And one of the events today from poes life that seems scandalous quite as was not skinless at the time was poes marriage. When he married virginia clem, he was 27. She was 13. He was over twice her age. He was also her cousin but back then it was fairly common for cousins to marry one another. But the age difference was pretty unusual. But in virginia at the time, a girl of 12 could get married with her fathers permission. Her father was dead, though, but her mother here, mariah clem who , was poes biological fathers sister, she encouraged the match. And when she was finding a home for her daughter, she was also finding a home for herself because poe took in both women and gave them a home. Now heres poes marriage bond, and if you look closely, she didnt sign the marriage bond. As woman she didnt get to sign the legal documents. So what really wasnt up to her, decides to go on with it. He married his cousin, but he does say she was a full 21 years of age. That way she doesnt have to get a male guardians consent to marry because by this time her father and brother are both dead so she doesnt have somebody to give her permission to get married to edgar. Here is a little portrait of the minister who performed the ceremony and he recalls it, pose wife did look younger than 21 poes wife did look younger than 21. There seems to have been genuine affection between edgar and virginia, even though poe hat bouts with depression, virginia it seems was very cheerful and could lift him up. She provided him the support he needed, and they say at night, no matter how poor he was, he made sure the she had piano to play, and he would play the flute, sisi would play the piano, and they would hold concerts together. So it seems like a fairly happy home life while youre writing stories about chopping your wife into little pieces. This section of the exhibit addresses rumors of poes alcohol and drug use, and even during his time, that made the news. And the journal right here is the john donkey, what poes enemies published on english. English says he has seen poe passed out in the middle of broadway, and english loved to ridicule poe and portray him as a drunkard. In one of his novels, he portrays poe as marmaduke hammerhead, the drunken author of the black crow, and he also portrays poe as the doom of the drinker. Poe really during his lifetime was developing a reputation as heavy drinker, but people who knew him say he went for most of the time without touching alcohol. When he even had a single glass of wine, he was staggering drunk. His personality completely changed. He would be sick for days afterwards. So we dont know what kind of intolerance he had of alcohol. Maybe an enzyme defect, maybe he was diabetic, we just dont know, but poe seemed to drink a lot less than people nowadays think he did. But after his death, his first biography was written by a fellow named Rufus W Griswold who couldnt stand poe. He could not stand him. Griswold was simmering beneath the surface, waiting for poe to die, and once he died he wrote , an obituary said that the word of poes death startled few and he went on to portray poe as a drank drunkard, evil, person and morals, evil, despicable person. In his biography of poe he had episode after episode portraying poe as a hopeless drunks his his drunk. But poes friends came to his defense and said this isnt true. This is not the poe we know, and even english said, his enemy i saying it was a use of slander. Over here we have one of his good friends, and he recounts a very schrage episode in poes life in the last summer of 1849, poe is passing through philadelphia and showed up at sartans house terrified that , people were trying to kill him. He wanted start a to cut off his mustache so nobody would recognize him. Then later, poe said it was all just hallucination, wasnt real, never mind. And sartain wrote about the account, and someone at this point has written was poe just , drunk, was he on drugs . And this is the response that he didnt appear to have been drinking. He did not appear to have been on drug. He was calm and measured, and they were trying to figure out why exactly was poe hallucinating or maybe there war there were people after him. We just dont know. But even though the evidence seems to support the idea that poe didnt drink quite as much think he did, and that he really did not inspiration for his writing by using opm, that is the popular reputation poe had. Poe left richmond to go to the big cities of north. Richmond at the time he was work ing here had about 15,000 people, new york already had 300,000 people. Philadelphia had 200,000 people. Poe needed to go to the big cities and really make a namefor make a name for himself. But after his wife died, he was struggling to make a living, and he found a financial backer who was willing to start his magazine for him. It was going to be called the oe was raising money by selling tickets for a lecture tour, and that brought him back to richmond, where he encountered his old sweetheart. He had been seeing her when hey when they were teenagers. But now at age 40, poe returned to richmond, a famous and somewhat successful poet. He was edgar the raven poe and he gave two very successful, well attended lectures here in richmond. One of the people who attended so the audience people said that poe was spellbound. He bounded to the stage amid applause. One of the ladies said get thee back into the tempest. He said little kids recognized him in the street. There would follow him around nevermore. Rmore, he finally made himself as edgar the raven poe. The wealthy widow had gone through six years of morning and was about ready to remarry. He showed up at her house. The servant would not let him in. He had not left a calling card and did not announce he was visiting. He was arguing with the students until al myra walked out elmyra walked out and saw him and said, go away, i have to go to church. He kept coming back to convince or they should be married. They renewed their engagement after all those decades. It would get married as soon as he returned from his trip to philadelphia, from which he never returned. On his last night in richmond, he spent most of it evening with his new fiance, but afterward, she said he was very sick. He had a fever, a weak pulse. Docr leaving, he visited tor, dr. John carter. He left his walking stick, taken the doctors sword cane instead. We know he was going to philadelphia the next morning. We have this letter, one of the romt that he ever wrote, f september 1849. He is writing to a poet about the book he wants to edit. He will make about 100, which is about one years rent for p oe. It will go a long way toward helping his upcoming marriage. Unfortunately, he caught the steamship from richmond to baltimore which is a twoday trip. He disappeared for five days. We dont know his whereabouts until he is found at ryans fo urth ward polls. Poe was found semiconscious dress and somebody elses clothes. Cheap rags, nothing like what he would have worn. People are at a loss because the did not recognize him. One theory is that he was a victim of scooping. That is where thugs would find people who got off the boat and drug them and use them as repeat boaters, dress them up again, and maybe they left him for dead. That explains the change of clothing. This theory was published as friends 1860 by poes who deliveredon, a lecture about his life, genius, and death. He helped popularize the theory that he was the victim of cooping. After his discovery at the poles, he went to Washington College hospital for four days. His doctor was john carter who wrote this account of his final days. He was delirious, in and out of consciousness, talking to shadows, not making sense. He could not remember what had become of his luggage, where was his change of clothing, why was he dressed in these clothes . He seemed to lack any memory. He started screaming the name riddles over and over again. Then poe calmed down. His last words were, lord, help my poor soul. He died at the age of 40. The doctor said it was due to the loss of nerve power. The newspaper said it was everything from mania to a drug reaction to bring fever or congestion of the brain. The official mortality statistics said for nidus phrenitis, which means inflammation of the brain. The symptoms are similar to meningitis or encephalitis. That gives a series. His doctor was emphatic in saying he did not appear to have been tricking, he did not assume appear to be suffering from delirium. That begs the question. What did kill poe . This was his trunk. At the time of his death, it held most of his worldly worldly possessions. He left it in richmond. When traveling to baltimore, he said the key to his trunk was found in his pocket after death. Before he left richmond, he was staying at the American Hotel on main street but this trunk was found in the swan tavern Still Holding his possessions. People have wondered for years, why did he have this trunk here . They thought it is a large piece,s maybe he had a smaller pc kerry to baltimore, maybe he a smaller piece that he carried to baltimore, maybe he had two. This was acquired and there was a legal battle about who got to have this trunk. His aunt and his sister fought over his literary estate. The motherinlaw signed over the rights to his executor, rufus griswold. The women battled over the trunk and poes possessions contained within. It was only recently discovered in one of his letters that had been in a avid collection in in aat the reason private collection in italy was that the reason he left it at the tavern was he had to pay his hotel bill and they said they would not give him back his luggage until he paid the remainder of the money. That explains why he was still here and why his sister got hold of it. He passed it down to her foster niece, who sold it to the museum for 35. Now it is one of the prizes of our collection. This addresses another of the scandals about poe. Who is buried under poes monument . For years, people have questioned, did edgar allan pogue did buried under the monument, or did they put their buriedr allen poe get under the monument . It was 26 years after his death that a teacher and her students started the pennies for poe campaign to raise money to get the nicest monument, pictured right here. They thought that it would be appropriate if instead of having it in the poe family plot, if he were next to the sidewalk where everyone could see him. He was the most famous resident of the cemetery. He is the one that people should want to see. The cemetary moved him across the cemetery. His coffin was in the ground for 26 years already. As you can imagine, it fell apart. The newspapers reported saying that most of his skin had tried up and was gone, except for a bit on the arm, his mandible had fallen off, the complementing his teeth. His rib cage had fallen open. They scooped up the pieces and put them in the new spot. Some people said that the sexton moved the wrong body. This is not where we remembered poe being. That caused a lot of confusion. To make matters worse, a poe collector placed this monument on the site of his original grave, but he got the location wrong and originally placed it over the wrong spot. Finally the sexton had to clear up the confusion. What had happened was, he had already moved the body once, in anticipation of the new monument. He knew exactly where poes body was, he knew which body he was moving. No need to worry. Poe is buried under his monument. His motherinlaw is with him. His wife, they moved him from the bronx. His wife died two years before he did. By the time it was decided to build his monument, they had already built over the cemetery and moved all the bodies, but poes biggest fan, and william mcgill, went to the cemetery and rescued poes bones. He kept them in a box and invited people to come and touch the bones of anabel lee. Then they and maybe that is a bad idea. Now they are buried next to her husband. Has three roses because there are three people under the monument. This museum is the only Literary Museum in richmond. One of only a few in the country. It helps preserve our literary heritage. It reminds us that a big part of who we are is not just our culture, not just the visual arts but the literary arts. It is part of our collective imagination. There are people who have never heard of Patrick Henry or Thomas Jefferson but they know edgar