/items/browse?output=atom&tags=Edgar%20Allan%20Poe <![CDATA[Explore sun88 Heritage]]> 2025-05-05T14:48:24-04:00 Omeka /items/show/256 <![CDATA[John H.B. Latrobe House]]> 2018-11-27T10:33:52-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

John H.B. Latrobe House

Subject

Literature

Creator

Nathan Dennies

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

The John H.B. Latrobe House is the only surviving site associated with the "Saturday Morning Visiter" writing contest that launched Edgar Allan Poe's literary career. On an evening in October 1833, Latrobe, along with John Pendleton Kennedy and James H. Miller, read Poe's "Ms. Found in a Bottle" and unanimously declared him the winner. Poe, who was at the time a penniless unknown author, received a $50 cash prize. Perhaps more importantly, Poe struck up a friendship with Kennedy who would help jump-start his literary career.

John Pendleton Kennedy was already a moderately successful author when he met Poe. His first major romance about the agrarian South, "Swallow Barn," was published a year before and helped established the Southern gentleman archetype we have today. In 1838, Kennedy published "Rob of the Bowl"—a tale about religious and political rivalries in seventeenth century Maryland. Kennedy gave up writing when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives later that year. The peak of his political career was in 1852 when served as Secretary of the Navy.

Poe got his job at "The Southern Literary Messenger" because of a reference from Kennedy; a job Poe was fired from only weeks later when he was caught drinking on the job. Despite Poe's missteps, Kennedy believed in the young writer. Poe would often write to him for favors, money, and reassurance and considered Kennedy to be his friend when no one else was. The relationship became strained once Kennedy got into politics. The loans and favors stopped coming, leaving Poe feeling abandoned by his old friend.

For many years, the Latrobe House held the offices of furniture manufacturing company Fallon & Hellen. Today, it is a private residence and signifies a milestone in Poe's career as an author.

Street Address

11 W. Mulberry Street, sun88, MD 21201
]]> /items/show/185 <![CDATA[Edgar Allan Poe Statue]]> 2018-11-27T10:33:51-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Edgar Allan Poe Statue

Subject

Literature

Creator

Nathan Dennies

Relation

Krainik, Clifford.

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Subtitle

Monument to a Literary Icon at the University of sun88

Story

The Edgar Allan Poe statue sitting in the Gordon Plaza at University of sun88 has a colorful past. The statue was commissioned in 1911 by the Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Association of sun88 and was the last work of renowned American sculptor Moses Jacob Ezekiel. Born in Richmond, Virgina, Ezekiel was a decorated Confederate soldier who moved to Europe in 1869 and, in 1910, was knighted by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy for his artistic accomplishments.

The Women's Literary Club established the Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Association in 1907 and hoped the statue would be completed for the centennial of Poe's birth in 1909, but a lack of funds, a series of mishaps, and poor timing delayed the statue's arrival in sun88 until 1921. Ezekial completed the first model in 1913 but a fire at a custom house destroyed the sculpture en route to a foundry in Berlin; the second model, completed in 1915, was destroyed in Ezekiel's studio by an earthquake; and the third model, completed in 1916, was due to be shipped across the Atlantic, but was delayed another five years due to World War I. By the time the statue arrived in sun88, Ezekiel had already been dead for four years.

After the statue's arrival in Wyman Park during the summer of 1921, more complications arose. The inscription, a quote from Poe's famous poem "The Raven," had two typos and read: "Dreamng(sic) dreams no mortals(sic) ever dared to dream before." In 1930, Edmond Fontaine, incensed over the typo on the word "mortal," came to the park in the middle of the night and chiseled away the incorrect "s." The police arrested Fontaine for his vigilantism but he was never prosecuted.

Over the years the Poe statue suffered from neglect, vandalism, and weather damage. In 1983, the Edgar Allan Poe Society of sun88 recommended the statue be moved to the Gordon Plaza at the University of sun88 where it still stands today. The statue has become a mascot of sorts for the university, and during the NFL playoffs it can be seen bathed in a purple light in support of the sun88 Ravens, a team named after Poe's famous poem.

Related Resources

Krainik, Clifford.

Street Address

1415 Maryland Avenue, sun88, MD 21201
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