The tale of Twain

Museum in writer's boyhood home aims to share his life story with visitors

By Bev Darr ~ Hannibal Courier-Post

HANNIBAL, Mo. -- After several months of renovation, the original Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum will reopen in April with a new method of helping visitors learn about the author's life. Storytelling is the central theme of the museum's new master plan, said Regina Faden, museum executive director. "It will focus on the people, places and experiences Samuel Clemens knew in Hannibal and how he transformed these into beloved fiction under the pen name of Mark Twain."

The plan was developed, she said, after an evaluation several years ago indicated, "the museum needed to revitalize its properties and exhibits."

A three-part master plan was designed, and phase one is nearly completed. This involves four museum properties: the former Museum Annex, renamed the Interpretive Center; the newly reconstructed Huck Finn House, the Boyhood Home and the gift shop in the original museum. It includes new walkways and newly landscaped gardens, "that will beautify the historic sites and give visitors a place to rest and reflect," Faden said. A grand reopening will be scheduled in early April.

The Huck Finn Home has been under construction for many months. This is a reproduction of the home on North Street traditionally linked to the Blankenship family, Faden said. Mark Twain identified Tom Blankenship as a model for Huckleberry Finn.

Faden explained that after the museum personnel learned it was a frame house, "the architectural drawings are being redone but the work will continue in the spring when the weather is better. The plan is for it to be completed" in time for the grand opening in April.

"The new plan will provide visitors with a more engaging, unifying story and will tie together the museum's eight properties," she said. Although several of the buildings are currently closed, the New Mark Twain Museum at Center and North Main Street has remained open.

Once the properties are all opened, they will remain open year-round, Faden said, with the exception of any building being improved.

"The Becky Thatcher House, Grant's Drug Store and Justice of Peace office all need some preservation work, and we are seeking funding to help with that."

People living in the Hannibal area also are being considered in the planning, Faden said. "A new focus for us is to provide more educational programming for local people.

The three-phase master plan was designed by Dr. Jay Rounds, head of the Museum Studies Department of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, who was hired to develop a plan to provide visitors "a more engaging experience and create a more unifying story that tied together all of the museum's properties," Faden said.

Tours will start at the Interpretive Center. Visitors will learn about Samuel Clemens' early years and what it was like to grow up in Hannibal during the 1830s and 1840s. The experience in the Interpretive Center concludes in a room that mirrors the look of Twain's octagonal study -- the eight-sided room in Elmira, N.Y., where Clemens wrote some of his most beloved works.

Here scenes from Hannibal will be overlaid on images from Twain's fiction, illustrating the artful way Clemens used his childhood experiences in Hannibal to shape and create his fiction.

"As visitors move further into the exhibits, a timeline will highlight important events in the author's life," Faden added. The new exhibits will feature text panels to be read as visitors travel through the various buildings, Faden said.

In the Boyhood Home a life-size sculpture of Mark Twain will inhabit each room. "Visitors will feel like they are accompanying Twain as he returns to visit his boyhood home in his thoughts, reminiscing about his childhood and remarkable adult life," Faden said.

The fourth part of phase one is a complete renovation of the original museum building, which previously housed exhibits and a small gift shop.

The exhibits, which had inadequate space to be appropriately displayed, will be relocated to other, more open spaces in the museum properties. The gift shop will feature books, T-shirts and other Twain-related items.

The future phases two and three will include preservation of the Becky Thatcher House and Grant's Drugstore, with new exhibits in both sites as well as in the Justice of the Peace Office and the Museum Galleries (formerly the New Museum).

People who served as models for Twain's characters will be the focus of exhibits in the Becky Thatcher House. In Grant's Drug Store, visitors will learn about a 19th century drugstore and the social, political and economic history of Hannibal. Upstairs in the Museum Galleries, visitors will learn about Samuel Clemens through different themes.

"They will become familiar with his ideas on politics, his family and friends, and his artistic vision as he created and was influenced by the public persona of Mark Twain," Faden explained.

The first floor of the Museum Galleries will continue to feature five scenes from Twain's books.

The new master plan is expected to increase interest and visitation at the museum, Faden said, adding that it, "will help boost the local economy as visitors patronize local shops and restaurants, and stay overnight to enjoy all the experiences Hannibal has to offer."