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Richmond's Edgar Allan Poe Museum has a treasure trove of memorabilia relating to the master of the macabre Date published: 1/17/2009
BY TOM KAZAS
FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR RICHMOND --Katarina Spears would love to claim Edgar Allan Poe for Richmond.But she won't. "He belongs to the world," says the executive director of the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond. "His literature is read and loved by a variety of people everywhere." Indeed, though he is best known as a master of the macabre, Poe also is credited with being America's first lyrical poet, the inventor of the modern detective story and a pioneer science-fiction writer. He was a reporter, a literary critic and an editor of two journals. Last year, says Spears, some 60 percent of the Richmond museum's 15,000 visitors were literature lovers from out of state, including people from 30 different countries. "A majority specifically came to the city just to see the museum," the executive director says. "And when many of his fans who are visiting Washington learn that there is a Poe museum in Richmond, they drive down to see it." This year should be a smorgasbord for Poe aficionados. Monday, Jan. 19, marks the 200th anniversary of the writer's birth, and plans have been made to celebrate the bicentennial at venues all over the commonwealth. Events include a birthday bash at the museum, music dedicated to Poe at The National in Richmond, a symposium and lectures at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, an exhibit called "Poe: Man, Myth or Monster" at the Library of Virginia in Richmond, and more. Even the U.S. Postal Service has gotten in on the act. Yesterday the agency released a new Edgar Allan Poe commemorative stamp in Richmond. The event drew philatelists and Poe fans to the city to purchase a stamp on the first day of its issue. No doubt other celebrations will take place at the Poe museums in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Each of those cities claims a piece of the great writer. Each boasts a house in which he lived, and each would like a share of credit for the poet's success. THE POE MUSEUM Richmond has no such house. The Richmond homes in which Poe lived are long gone. But his spirit is strong in the city.
Date published: 1/17/2009
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