necessarily being known as the capital of the confederacy. because we have a whole lot more going for us, we're more welcoming, we're more open minded, more inclusive and tolerant than our history may say. in the early 20th century, the edgar alan poe memorial association was formed by a group of lit rear enthusiasts to create a monument to the writer in his hometown in richmond, virginia. the museum officially opened with several of his manuscripts, artifacts and mem peelya on display. next we'll take a tour with the museum's curator. >> edgar alan poe is the writer who put american literature on the map. he's the one who's the first internationally influential american writer. he invented the detective story. he's one of the pioneers of science fiction. he developed a tale of

psychological tear orror. he also was instrumental in the concept of art or art's sake the. idea that a poem or work of literature or piece of art didn't have to teach teach you something or have a moral or make awe irrelevant better person, it was enough that i terror story scares you because it's doing its job. and this also meant that because a story didn't have to teach you something, virtue doesn't have to be rewarded. the villain could actually win in the end. richmond is where poe spent more of his life than any other city. he referred to himself as a virginian. this is where he was orphaned at the age of 2 and he grew up here with foster parents, john and francis alan. if it hadn't been for richmond he wouldn't have had the middle name of alan. we don't know what his middle name would have been if it weren't for them. this is where he first fell in love, this is where he wrote his first poetry.

this is where he had a lot of those forward inspirations that inspired literature for years to come. this is where he was married. this swr is where he got his fi job in journalism. if it hadn't been for rism monday he wouldn't have produced a lot of his great work and had that chance to experiment when he was in his early 20s and find his litterary voice. this is the largest collection of edgar alan poe's artifacts, memorabilia, clothing, personal items. the museum consists of four buildings in all surrounding an enchanted garden that was laid out in 1921 based on his poetry. it recreates his poem to one in paradise, the lines that was all to me love for which my soul did pine, a green aisle aisle in the sea love of fountain and a shrine, all wreath and fairy fruits and flowers and all the flowers are mine. and when the founders of the museum opened it, it was

virginia's first museum and first monument to a writer. not to a military, political leader but to a writer. and it showed that virginians cared about the words and the power of imagination to shape our destinies. this is edgar alan poe's boyhood bed. this is where the future poet used to dream dreams that no one ever dared to dream before. and it's been passed down from his foster feerather to his business partner until it 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 so question verify what they are. but we also have chairs from his boyhood home including this piece. so this is the up holt hols stla would have been on there in poe's day. we also have heart work,

including this painting of the holy family from the alan mansion. and life portraits of john and francis allen. there's only one other known portion of john allen dunn from life and that's been lost and only one other portrait of fran disallen dunn for life and that's been lott o lost. but weather only one than has both his foster parents together and that's appropriate because richmond is where they lived. they lived in homes all over this neighborhood. this is a street that poe would have known very well during his lifetime, would have walked up and down this street, would have seen this house on multiple occasions. but better yet we have the bed and this sis where he would hav slept. post foster john allen was a tobacco expert. when he died in 1834 he was both three-quarters of a million dollars. he had a huge mansion, had a

plan facing, had property in rock ridge county, and he could afford the finest things in life. had he extensive library, and that was a great advantage for poe. he was able to read from the allen library. but allen never quite warmed up to him. it simes to be the foster mother's idea to take in edgar. francis allen was from the wealthy plantar class of richmond society. he she or and if herself as a child so she could sympathize when she heard that poe's mother the famous actress was dying and needed help caring for her children, of course francis jumped at the chance to take in little eddy. she couldn't have any children. she wanted someone to take care of and she lavished him with attention. unfortunately, john allen could have children, he already had children with other women, was already paying for them go through school, didn't want to have to take care of somebody else. he even mentions two children's will he's never even seen before

but some lady told them they're his so they deserve something, but edgar was never included in the will. he refers to him as that devil son. doesn't show a spark of gratitude for all the charity i've sooen shown him all these years. there's not one good thick about that boy. poe seems to have developed an interesting story telling very early on. one of his frend friends john hamilton mckenzie fell out of a tree and broke his arm, and then before the arm had a chance to heal he was jumping on the bed, fell off the bed and broke his arm again and his mother told him, well, don't 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, robinson ka russo, but then poe would tell him stories and he kept adding

to the stories and creating new stories they hadn't heard before. but eventually poe got an interest in poetry. and by the age of 13,er 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 his headmaster at school and the headmaster said he's a little bit too proud of himself already, the last thing you want to do is fuel his ego but publishing a book of his poetry. by the time he was 18 he published his first book. tamer lane. a lot of what's rin in tamer lane is what he had written while he was growing newspaper virginia, charlottesville. early on he probably thought he would be like most writers of the day, live off of family money or a teaching job. but he became the first major american writer to make his living stoel solely off his writing. i don't think that's entirely by

choice. he would have loved to have inherited john allen he's fortune, but he didn't leave it to him. and after poe had been expelled from west point, allen woint wouldn't take him back. he wouldn't fund his wild dream of becoming a poet. so poe started submitting short stories to magazines and entering literary contests and then he got a job at a magazine, the southern literary magazine. and before you know it he was a editing magazines in richmond, philadelphia, and new york, and he had to struggle. at the southern literary messenger his salary was about $500 a year which is equivalent today to about 17,000. when he got to philadelphia he worked at graham's magazine. in a year's time as editor he brought that from a circulation of 6,000 to about 40,000, made the most popular journal in the country. the first magazine america with

a truly mass audience. and he was making a salary of $800 a year. while the owner was getting $25,000 a. so the owner was getting fabulously wealthy off of poe's works. so poe has had a dream of starting his own magazine doing things his way, but it never quite worked out for him. so there were times, that last for years at a stretch where he was living thoohand to mouth. he might make $5 off this poem. the telltale heart brought him $10. the raven $15. longer stories would get more money. the murders in the room mortgage brought about $50. he entered the gold bug in a short story contest and won 100. but it's been estimated that from the time he was 18 and published his first book until he was 40, he made a little over $6,000.

so he wasn't fabulously wealthy but i was famous. as soon as his works got printed in one magazine, other magazines reprinted it with ineffectual copyright laws, nobody hesitated to reprint poe's stories. and even in europe they were reprinting 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. but even during poe's lifetime, he was a celebrity. he made it into the newspapers, the magazines at the time. and people report on every little thing he did, it seemed. as he was a public figure. and one of the events today from poe's life it seems scandalous to us that wasn't quite as scandalous at the time was his marriage. when he married 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 father's per mirtion. her naerth was dead. but her mother here, who are is pose poe's biological father's sister she proposed the match. when she was finding a home for her daughter, she was also finding a home for herself because poe took in both these women and gave them a home. now here's poe's marriage bond. and if you look closely, she didn't sign the marriage bond. as a woman have she didn't get to silent legal documents. so it really wasn't up to her, but poe decided to go along with it, he married his cousin. but he does say she was a full 21 years of age, that way she doesn't have to get a male guardian's consent ton marry. because by this time her father and brother are dead so she

doesn't have somebody to give her permission to gmayor troid edgar. here's the man who performed the ceremony and he did recall that she did look a little bit younger than 21. but there seems to be genuine affection between edgar and virginia, even though poe had bouts with depression, she was very cheerful and could lift him up out of that. she provided that support that he needed. and they say at night, no matter how poor he was he made sure she had a piano to play, he would play the flute, sissy could wo play the feeian know and they would have concerts together. it seems like a happy homelife while you're writing stories about chopping your wife into little pieces. this exhibit addresses rumors oppose alcohol and drug use and even during his time that made the news.

and the journal right here is the john donkey edit dd we bunch his bitter ebb his don english and there's an article in here where english says he's seen poe passed out the middle of broadway. and english loved to ridicule poe and portray him as a drunkard. in one of his novels he pore trade trays him as marma duke hammerhead, the drunken arthur of the black crow. and he also portrays him in doom of the drinker. so poe really during his lifetime was developing a reputation as a heavy drinker. but people who knew him said that he actually went for most of the time without touching alcohol when he even had a single glass of wine hes would staggering drunk. his personality completely changed. he'd be sick for days afterwards. soaway don we don't know what k -- kind of intolerance he had to alcohol, but he drank a lot

less than people nowadays think he did. but after his death his first biography was wran by ruf fis griswold. occurring their lifetime, poe made fun of griswold, griswold as horribly offended but he was simmering just beneath the surface waiting for him to die. and he said he had few or no friends and he went ton portray him as a mad man drunkard woman eyesing man with no morals, evil, despicable person. in his biography of poe he has episode after episode portraying him as a hopeless drunk. but poe's friends and his family came to his defense and said, no, this isn't true. this isn't the poe that we've known. and even thomas dunn english his own enemy said that the rumors of his opioid use are a businessless slander.

over he -- baseless slander. over here we have one of his good friends and he recounted a strange episode in poe's life. in the last summer of 1849, poe is passing through philadelphia and showed up at his house terrified that people were trying to kill him. he said he heard people conspiring against him and he wanted him to cut off his mustache so nobody would brek recognize him. later poe said it was all just hallucination, it wasn't real, never mind. and sar tain wrote about this account the. and someone at this point has written him saying was he drunk in he was on drugs? and that is his response that he didn't appear to have been drinking. he didn't appear to have been on drugs. he was calm and measured in all he said. they're trying to figure out why exactly was poe hallucinating or maybe there were people after him, we just don't know. but even though the evidence

seems to support an idea that poe didn't drink quite as much as they think he did, and that he really didn't find inspiration for his writing by usin using ownership teeium, that's the represent pew paitiontation that he has. he left to go to richmond. richmond had about 15,000 people. new york already had 300,000 people. philadelphia already had 200,000 people. poe need god to the big cities and really 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 style lis. and he was raising money by selling subscriptions on a lecture tour. and it eventually brought him back to richmond where he encountered his old sweetheart. he'd been seeing her 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 in attendance said the audience was spell bound and then poe left the stage to unbounded applause. he gave private readings of the raven around town. at one of the readings, the lady hosting him said that at the end of the poem when he got to the part get the back into the tempet the nice plutonium shore, half the people ran in the room and hid if the said that little kids would recognize him on the street and say never more, never more, he would flap his arms like a big bird. so he finally made himself as edgar the raven poe and he showed up at elmire ra shelton's house. by now she was a wealthy widow. she'd gone through six years of mourning already and was probably billion ready to remarry and he showed up one day

unannounced at her house and her servant wouldn't let him into the house. he hadn't left a calling card, he hadn't announced he was visiting and he started arguing with the servants until she came out and saw him. and he looked up and said elmy ra, is that you? and he said go away, i don't want to see you. but he kept coming back again and again and finally convinced her they should be married. they were set to be married on october seven teeth as soon he's returned from a business trip to philadelphia from which he never returned. on edgar allen poe's last night in richmond, he spent most the evening with his new fiancee, but afterwards she said he was very sick. he had a fever, had a weak pulse, and after leaving he visited a doctor, dr. john carter who lived near seven teeth and broad streets and left his walking stick here at

dr. carter's house taking the doctor's sword cane with him insped said it. we don't know why he took the sword cane, what happened to it. we do know he was going to philadelphia the next morning. we have this letter, one of the last letters he ever wrote from september 18th, 1849 and he's writing to a poet in philadelphia who's book he wants to edit. it's only a couple days work, he's going to make about $100 which intera year's rent for poe. he could really use this money and it would go a long ways to helping him with his upcoming marriage. but unfortunately, he caught the steam ship from richmond ton baltimore, which was about a two-day trip. he was catching the train in baltimore to philadelphia, which would take another few hours, but he just disappeared for five days. we don't know his whereabouts until he was found at ryan's fourth ward poles. it was a polling place and a voting day and poe was found

semi conscious dressed in somebody else's clothes. cheap, ill fitting rags, nothing like he would have worn. and people were at a loss to figure out what happened? they didn't recognize him. one of the theories was that he was victim of cooping. that was the practice in which thugs would find people who just got off the boat, drug them, and use them as repeat voters just changing their clothes over and over again, have them sign their "x" on the line then dragging them to another polling place and maybe they just left poe for dead and that explains the change of clothes. now, this theory was published as early as 1860 right here by poe's friend john r. thompson to delivered a lecture about poe's life, his genius, and his death. and he helped popularize the neary that poe was a victim of cooping. now, after his discovery at the polls, he went to washington college hospital for four days.

his doctor was john carter who wrote this account of poe's final days. poe was delirious, in and out of consciousness, talking to shadows on the wall, not making any sense. he couldn't remember what had come of his lig age. where was his change of clothes, why was he dressed in these other clothes. he just seemed to lack any memory of it. and then he started screaming the name reynolds over and over again. we've never figured out who reynolds was. and then poe calmed down, his last words were lord, help my poor soul and he died at the age of 40. the doctor said it was a case of nervous a loss of nerve power. newspaper said everything from drug reaction to brain fever or congestion of the brain. the official mortality statistic for baltimore at the time said fur night is, which means

inflammation of the brain. a medical term we don't use anymore but the symptoms are similar to meningitis or inreceive light us. so that gives us more theories about what could have happened to poe. but his doctor was emphatic in saying that he didn't appear to have been drinking. he didn't appear to have been suffering from delirium trem mens. so then it makes us question what exactly did kill poe? this is edgar allen poe's trunk. at the time of his death it held most of his worldly possessions. but, he left it in richmond. when he was traveling to baltimore, it said that the key to his trunk was found in his pocket after his death. we know before he left richmond he's been staying at the american hotel on main street, but this trunk was found in the swan tavern still holding some of poe's possessions. and people have wondered for years why did he have this trunk here? well, they thought it's kind of a large piece so maybe had he a smaller piece that he carried

with him to baltimore. so the maybe had he two trunks. but his sister eventually acquired this and had a big legal battle over who got to have his trunk, poe's mother-in-law who is actually his aunt and his sister who is his closest living relative fought over his literary estate. finally the mother be in law who shouldn't had had the rights to poe's works signed over the rights to poe's literary executor lewis griswold. but the two women battled over the trunk and poe's possessions that were contained within it. and it was only recently discovered in one of poe's letters that had been in a private collection in italy that the reason poe left his trunk at the swan tavern was that he hadn't paid his hotel bill and he said they wouldn't give him back his luggage until he paid the remainder of the money. so that does explain why his trunk was still here and why his sister eventually got a hold of

it. after her death, she passed it down to her foster niece who sold it to the museum back in 1923 for $35. and now it's one of the prizes of our collection. well, this ar addresses another one of the scandals about poe. who is buried under poe's monument? for years people have questioned did edgar allen poe get buried under the monument or did they put the wrong person down there? and a lot of the confusion stems from the fact that poe was originally buried in an unmarked grave. and it was 26 years after his death that a teacher and her students started the pennies for poe campaign to raise money to get her the nicest monument in the entire cemetery which is pictured right here. and they thought it would be appropriate if instead of having way back in the family poe plot if he were right next to the sidewalk where everybody could see him as a place of honor.

he was the most famous resident of the cemetery, so he's the one that people should want to see. and the assessment in the cemetery moved him across the cemetery had the his coffin had been in the ground for 26 years already so as you can imagine it fell apart and the newspapers reported about seeing him, they said that most of his skin had dried up and was gone except for a little bit of dried up skin on the arm, his manned billion had fallen off. had he little teeth around his skull, they complimented his teeth. his ribcage had fallen open. they scooped up the pieces and put them in the new spot. and some people said well the sexton moved the wrong body. that this wasn't where we remember poe being. and that caused a lot of confusion over the years. and then to make matters worse, a poe collector named orrin c. painter placed this monument on the side of poe's original

grave, thought you got the location wrong and originally place today over the wrong spot that wasn't poe's original grave ar and finally the sexton had to clear up all the confusion. what had really happened was he had already moved the body once in anticipation of getting the new monument, so he knew exactly where poe's body was before he moved it. he knew exactly which body he was moving, so no need to worry, poe's buried under his monument, his mother-in-law is also with him, and his wife, they moved her down from the bronx. now, his wife died two years before he did. and by the time it was decided to build poe's monument, they had already built over her cemetery and moved all the bodies. but poe's biggent eest fan ever named william gill personally went to the cemetery and rescued virginia poe's bones. buddy took them home with him and he kept them in a little box

under his bed and he'd invite people to come and touch the bones of ana belly. and after a while somebody said maybe that's a bad idea and now they're buried next to her husband. that's white poe toaster who shows up at his grave leaves three roses because there's three people under the monument. and edgar allen poe is one of them. well, this museum is the only literary museum in richmond and one of only few in the country. so it helps preserve our literary heritage. it reminds us that a big part of what makes us who we are is our culture. not just the visual arts, but also the literary arts. it's part of the history of our collective imagination. there's people who come to the museum of who never heard of patrick henry or thomas jefferson, but they know edgar allen poe. he truly is an international literary figure. and we can't really say he belongs so much to baltimore or richmond or new york as he

belongs to the world. he's everybody's writer. and that's a great thing about this museum, it's a place that brings together everybody. our cities tour continues with a visit to the virginia's capital, home to the oldest legislative bead in the hem fis sphere. it moved to richmond in 1780 phi and jefferson credited with its design. next, horn mike greenough talks about the significance and it's place in american history. >> we are inside a working public building that has hosted the oldest elected law-making legislature active in the western hemisphere today. i think in terms of architecture, since we are the first american state capitol to open after the revolutionary war and since we are the first monumental r