"Intimate" connection with Edgar Allan Poe

Would you like to enter into a close relationship with the great Edgar Poe? Then you should definitely go to Richmond. This city has one of the best museums for the creator of horror stories: the poet’s personal belongings are collected there and even a lock of his hair is kept! And this is no longer just an artifact - it is a reason for fantasy...
Museum workers all over the world know that relics—real exhibits—create a special communicative “field” for visitors; it is this that influences us, influences our impressions and helps us remember information, because it affects a person’s emotional background.
First of all, the building of the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, which is a historical architectural ensemble with a cozy natural landscape in the form of a courtyard, belongs to the field of unique communication. The exhibition halls are represented by separate rooms of a residential building, which are united by a common idea - to immerse visitors as much as possible in the first half of the 19th century.
Moving from room to room, you find yourself in a memorial space, “sanctified by the spirit” of the writer. The circumstances of his difficult life themselves invite you to “try them on” for yourself, to feel what it’s like to be Edgar Allan Poe. The features of everyday life and the interior that you encounter in a museum are ready to tell about the social status of the owner, his habits, and style. The exhibition in Richmond is interesting in the possibility of its different “readings”. Everyone can learn “the most important thing” there. In this sense, curators do not give hints. Has it always been like this? The museum was created in 1922. It must be said that at this time in America there was an awareness of the poetic and literary genius of E. Poe as the founder of a whole new movement. In New York in 1920, a society named after him was created, by the way, with the participation of Boris Lvovich Brazol, the founder and creator of the Pushkin Society of America... But let's return to the museum.
When a thing is withdrawn from use and put up in the form of a trophy, “private” information, previously available only to its owner, is revealed to others for public viewing and acquires additional nuances. Edgar stockings. Perhaps his mood depended on the convenience of their use, the desire to master his beloved wife or, on the contrary, move away from her, write famous lines ...
In addition to the socio-cultural content of personal items tell us information, the nature of which can be defined as "intimate." They reflect such knowledge about a person that cannot be gathered from other sources. This can include the idea of ​​character traits, personal preferences, tastes and much more.
Thus, a museum object is a way to build your relationship with a great man; this is one of the main phenomena for which tourists come to memorable places and, under a close gaze, try to examine every detail, and then take photographs with pleasure, thereby reinforcing the “personal acquaintance”.
An important part of the literary department are books and manuscripts. Of course, they will also be presented as museum objects, for they are also examples of the art of design and book graphics.
Of particular importance are lifetime editions, whose collection within these walls is significant. The entire array of collected works is presented in the library at the museum, the entrance to it is open to researchers, but requires prior agreement. There are stored drafts, author copies, letters containing a large amount of information about the history of the creation of works and their publications.
And then how Edar Allan Poe became a symbol, a figure of pop art. A souvenir shop paints on this subject, but this is another story.