missouri humanities council

2010 Award Recipient

Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum

Exemplary Community Achievement

Nestled in the small town of Hannibal along the Missouri River where Samuel Clemens, or as most know him, Mark Twain, grew up, the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum is more than just a shrine to one of Missouri’s greatest writers. Through outreach and educational programs, the Museum keeps his legacy alive and thriving, by helping people get to know what he stood for and what he still has to share with generations to come.

“Our mission is simple, to preserve the legacy of Mark Twain,” said Cindy Lovell, executive director of Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum. “And to be honest, he is doing just fine on his own, but we help by maintaining his buildings—bricks, mortar and artifacts— and planning programs that are far reaching. We’re planting a lot of seeds.”

Founded in 1912 and now consisting of eight buildings, six of which are listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum offers a variety of activities and workshops for students, teachers, community members and youth and adult visitors to explore the life of Twain.

“The museum does far more than curate artifacts and exhibits; it is involved with the community from a literary, cultural and historical perspective,” said Sally Poole, Mark Twain Home Foundation board of directors member.

A weeklong young authors’ workshop is offered for students across the country to hone their writing skills in Twain’s hometown. Participants create virtual tours of Hannibal sites and conduct an interview and write and edit an article on deadline for the “Hannibal Courier-Post,” the paper where a young Sam Clemens once set type.

Other youth programs include “Night at the Museum” sleepovers for students to get a behind the scenes look at the museum and a collaboration with the “Tom & Becky” ambassador program.

Throughout the past five years, more than 200 teachers from around the country have participated in the Museum’s weeklong educator workshops, creating lesson plans to teach students about Twain. More than 100 lessons are on the Museum’s website and have been downloaded more than 50,000 times by educators around the world.

“We expected to create a few lesson plans for Junior English,” said Emily Hayes and Danny Wilson, teachers at Carbondale High School. “Instead, Dr. Lovell and Mr. Sweets led a workshop that was life-changing for us, both in terms of enhancing our knowledge about Mark Twain and also in our ability to apply that knowledge to classroom experience. It was the perfect balance of scholarship, field experience and practicality, all mixed with moments of humor and fun that Mark Twain himself would have appreciate.”

Clark Beim-Esche, an English teacher at Principia High School in St. Louis, is one of the many teachers that utilized the Museum’s Summer Workshop.

“Hannibal is a special place,” said Beim-Esche. “It is one of those rare locations where, despite the passage of time, it is still possible to sense the points of inspiration that molded the thoughts and words of a great writer. Participants travel to a variety of locales to which Twain refers both directly and indirectly in this writings.”

The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum doesn’t just focus their outreach efforts locally. Lovell and Henry Sweets, the museum curator, travel across the country speaking about Twain and providing educational workshops for schools and reading events. The Museum also works with universities, public broadcast stations and other Twain museums.

“I love sharing his legacy. Mark Twain sought justice and endeavored to speak the truth. He represents America’s ideal,” said Lovell. “He was America, through and through. He wanted the facts, even when he didn’t like them. He could put away his own beliefs and opinions when confronted by facts. He took action and spoke out in unfair situations. He abhorred hypocrisy and ‘unlearned’ the racism and bigotry that once was used to justify slavery.”

The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum is currently working to secure an endowment substantial enough to provide for operations, continue historic preservation and support community initiatives. Through one grassroots initiative, the “10 by 10” campaign, donors are able sign Tom Sawyer’s fence to show their support of the Museum’s goal of reaching $10 million by the end of 2010. The Museum is also collaborating with Grammy award-winning musician/producer/singer-songwriter Carl Jackson and several major recording artists including Brad Paisley, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Alison Krauss and Missourian Rhonda Vincent to create a CD tribute to Twain, telling his story in spoken word and songs in the style of American roots music. Garrison Keillor plans to narrate.

The year 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of Twain’s death and 175th anniversary of his birth, so the Governor’s Humanities Award has special meaning to all those involved.

“We’re deeply honored to receive this award during the Year of Mark Twain,” said Lovell. “We hope that Missourians will take a closer look at our endeavors and come visit. There is good work going on up here, and it’s not just a Hannibal thing.