Dear Fellow Twain Forum Members: I am writing in response to the concerns over the Hartford House and about the Hannibal museum. I apologize for the long email but I would like to let list members know what is going on here in Hannibal. In order to tell the museum's story, I recently presented a paper at the American Literature Association about what the museum is doing to talk about Twain and the ideas and values he believed in. (The response from Twainians seemed very positive.) As part of realizing that goal, there have been some changes made at the museum and there are more to come. For anyone who hasn't been to the museum, in the past it presented the stories of the white, fictional characters of Tom, Huck, and Becky to the exclusion of Jim and any historical or cultural context, including Twain himself. This approach was well described in Shelly Fisher Fishkin's book Lighting Out for the Territory. One of the reasons that I was interested in joining the museum in 2004 was that the board had decided to reinterpret its sites in order to talk about Twain, slavery, and the context of his life and works. Today the Interpretive Center (a rehabbed building) uses Twain's words as much as possible to talk about his early life, including the subject of slavery and its impact on Hannibal and Sam himself. The exhibits help people understand how Sam's experience here helped inspire his fiction - balancing the actual and creative aspects of his life and works. In the newly reconstructed Huck Finn House (yes - he is a fictional character), where Tom Blankenship and his family once lived, the exhibit discusses the novel of Huck Finn and the controversy that has surrounded the book since its first publication. The message of the exhibit is that Twain was dealing with a problem we still have with us today, racism, and we ultimately recommend that people read the book and make up their own minds about it. The last text panel reminds people that slavery still exists all over the world today - demonstrating that Twain's work is still relevant. Other than the Huck Finn House, which was entirely paid for at the time by a board member in memory of his sone, there has been no new construction at the Hannibal museum. (A rehab project was completed in 2002 and was completely funded at the time). We are now working on the preservation of the Becky Thatcher House and developing new exhibits to be housed therein. The exhibits will focus on the friendship between Sam and Laura Hawkins and then the characters of Tom and Becky (how Sam & Laura changed and grew older but Becky and Tom have remained eternally young). Again - Twain's will be the most prominent voice. Other exhibits will explore the experience of childhood in the 19th century: school, work, and home and how this experience was shaped by race, class, and gender, using the characters of Tom, Becky, Jim, and Huck to illustrate these differences (i.e. Jim couldn't go to school and Huck didn't want to). As funding allows, the Justice of the Peace Office and Grant's Drugstore will be preserved. New exhibits in the JOP Office will discuss justice in a frontier town in the and In Grant's, exhibits will desribe the precariousness of life in the 19th Century (as demonstrated by the impact of John Clemens' death on his family) as well as some Hannibal history to tell people more about the town, its population, its culture, its values. Just to be clear, the museum charges an $8 fee for adults, $6.50 for seniors and $4 for children from 6-12 (under 6 free). Originally the museum was supported by the city but now the museum needs to generate income because it no longer receives any tax support from the city. We offer a variety of cultural programming, such as monthly programs on Twina and related subjects for children and adults, concerts, book clubs, and others, like the African Documentary Film Festival in February. Such programs are not at all unusual in museums; museums are meant to contribute to the overall cultural life of their community. As argued by Robert Archibald, Ex. Director of the Missouri Historical Society, in The New Town Square, museums should also be forums for the community to discuss issues of concern. Yesterday we hosted a program about the desegregation at Hannibal High school in 1955. Three 6th graders developed a video for National History Day and interviewed members of the community who had experienced this great transition. One of the African American community members spoke to the audience about the positive and negative aspects of growing up black in Hannibal, but his central message was to move forward and continue the success that so many African Americans from Hannibal High have achieved. There was great dialogue as members of the community, black and white, talked about their experiences during that time with honesty and humor. Yesterday afternoon's program was only part of the effort the museum has made to create dialogue in the community between the African American and white communities. We also developed an exhibit about African American local history. Last week, there was a positive article published about the exhibit in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. I am including the web address for the story. http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_11230.shtml I invite anyone who would like to call or visit the museum. Any of the staff or I would be happy to talk with you about what is going on here and where we are headed. Please visit our website for information about our Teachers Workshops and the Young Authors Workshop - both exciting programs designed to develop future generations of readers and writers who know and love Mark Twain's works. We believe education is the key to the museum's future and these programs will introduce Twain to thousands of schoolchildren and empower teachers to tackle such controversial but essential works as Huck Finn. Our free, downloadable lesson plans have already been accessed more than 20,000 times. While this email has been long, I wanted to share the museum's story with you. We are all interested in the same thing - sharing Twains story of social justice, compassion, respect for the individual, and of course an appreciation for humor, fun and our world's beauty with people everywhere. Thank you. Regina Faden, Ph.D. Executive Director Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum 120 North Main Street Hannibal, MO 63401 p. 573 221-9010 f. 573 221-7975 [log in to unmask] www.marktwainmuseum.org