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Boston Public Library Exhibition Presents a New View of the Poe-Boston Connection
One of the best-kept secrets in Boston's literary history concerns one of the most influential writers ever born here: Edgar Allan Poe. The current year marks the bicentennial of Poe's birth and his connections to other East Coast cities—Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York—have been celebrated and memorialized. While each of these cities hosts a museum or historic house that commemorates Poe's standing as a local author, Boston has yet to make such a tribute to the master of the macabre, widely considered America's first great critic and a foundational figure in the development of popular culture.
A new exhibition at the Boston Public Library will help set the record straight about Poe's relationship to the city of his birth. The Raven in the Frog Pond: Edgar Allan Poe and the City of Boston will open at the Central Library in Copley Square on the evening of December 17. In its approach to Poe biography, the exhibition presents newly uncovered information about Poe's time in Boston and explores urban legends that have grown up around the Poe-Boston story. The Raven in the Frog Pond takes a particularly close look at Poe's quarrel with Boston literary figures, presenting it as both a personal conflict and a turning point in the development of American culture. The exhibition, which runs through March 2010, is free and open to the public during the following gallery hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday 9am-5pm; Tuesday and Thursday 9am-7pm; and Sunday 1-5pm. The Central Library is located at 700 Boylston Street in Copley Square.
The Raven in the Frog Pond will demonstrate Poe’s connection to the varied landscape of the city – from Long Wharf where his grandmother and mother arrived in 1796, to the neighborhood where he was born in 1809, to the Frog Pond he frequently joked about, and even to Castle Island where he served as a soldier in his late teens. The exhibition will also connect Poe to Washington Street where his first book was printed and to the Federal Street/Odeon Theater where three generations of his family appeared on stage. According to Paul Lewis, the Boston College English professor who is curating the exhibition, “It’s true that Poe fought a career-long battle against Boston-area authors whose moralistic poems and stories sounded to him like the croaking of frogs. But it’s also true that his engagement with local literary figures contributed to his development as a writer and critic, and that he had positive feelings about the place.”
The exhibition will feature pieces from the collections of the Boston Public Library, the American Antiquarian Society, and Susan Jaffe Tane. These materials—essential to understanding both what Boston meant to Poe and what Poe meant to Boston—have never been displayed together. Included are a rare first edition of Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827); the iconic “Annie” daguerreotype; two letters Poe wrote to a young farmer-poet from Attleboro, Massachusetts, who contacted him in 1843 seeking friendship and advice; other letters by and to Poe; first editions of books by Boston authors Poe reviewed; and first editions of Poe’s reviews that appeared in periodicals of the 1830s and 1840s.
“Poe was no foe to Boston,” says Amy E. Ryan, President of the Boston Public Library. “The Boston Public Library is proud to help dispel that myth by sharing treasures from our special collections that connect him to this wonderful city. The Raven in the Frog Pond exhibition creates an exciting opportunity to showcase the Library’s extensive Poe-related holdings. We are very pleased to join with Boston College in celebrating one of Boston’s most important writers and native sons.”
Along with Lewis, independent historian Dan Currie, Boston College graduate students Katherine Kim and Sarah Poulette, BC undergraduate Megan Grandmont, and independent literary historian Rob Velella have worked with library staff on the exhibition. The strength of the Boston Public Library’s Poe collection and the generous loan of materials from the American Antiquarian Society and Susan Jaffe Tane collections made this exhibition possible.
The opening on December 17 will feature brief comments about the exhibition in the Cheverus Room of the Boston Public Library at 6pm, followed by what has been called “The Great Poe Debate” moderated by NPR’s Charles Pierce at 7pm in the Boston Public Library’s Rabb Lecture Hall. In the debate, Poe advocates from Baltimore, Boston, and Philadelphia will make the case for their city’s claim to the Poe legacy. “The Great Poe Debate” is also free and open to the public, like all programs of the Boston Public Library. Learn more at www.bpl.org.
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