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Press Room Below you will find information about upcoming events and exhibits, as well as general interest press releases. For more information, or if you have any questions, please contact: Megan Rapp
Manager of Marketing and Community Relations
(573) 221-9010
Fax (573) 221-5109
megan.rapp@marktwainmuseum.org
Recent Press Releases Mark Twain Museum Proudly Announces Formation of Notable Advisory Board The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum, on behalf of its governing Foundation Board, is proud to announce the formation of a prestigious Advisory Board to help guide the organization and set a path for the museum’s future. The Foundation has been fortunate to have attracted four members of the inaugural Advisory Board with national reputations in business, broadcasting, law, journalism, and government, who are willing to contribute their talents, experience and time to help keep Twain’s legacy alive. The inaugural Advisory Board members are, in no particular order, Hal Holbrook, Anita Estell, Ron Powers and Larry Thompson. Two of the Advisory Board members should be familiar to Hannibal natives. Larry Thompson grew up in Hannibal. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Culver-Stockton College and his law degree from the University of Michigan. Currently Thompson is a Senior Vice President and General Counsel for PepsiCo and is based in Purchase, New York. Before Joining Pepsi in 2004, Thompson was a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. In addition to his corporate and scholarly work, Mr. Thompson has also been a public servant at some of the highest levels in our government, serving as Deputy Attorney General in the Justice Department under John Ashcroft in the early years of the George W. Bush administration. Prior to his government career, Thompson was a partner in the law firm King and Spaulding from1986 – 2000. Ron Powers is also a native of Hannibal. He has had a distinguished career as an Emmy award winning broadcast journalist, professor, Twain biographer and the first television critic to win a Pulitzer Prize. Among his written works are: Newscasters: The News Business as Show Business, White Town Drowsing, Dangerous Water: A Biography of the Boy Who Became Mark Twain, and Mark Twain: a Life. Powers has also co-authored several books, including The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle: Memoir of a WWII Bomber Pilot and Flags of Our Fathers. Flags of our Fathers was made into a feature film by Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg and released in 2006. Ron has also taught at a number of prestigious institutions, including Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference and Middlebury College, both in Vermont. Anita Estell received her journalism and law degrees from UM-Columbia. Prior to becoming an attorney, she worked as a reporter and anchor on both television and radio. As an appointee in the Clinton Administration, Estell served on the Clinton/Gore Transition Team and as a Senior Advisor to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Richard Riley. In 1993Anita Estell was also a pioneer, as the first African American woman to become a Principal at a major independent lobbying firm in Washington DC. Estell served as a Principal for 13 years at Van Scoyoc Associates then moved in 2006 to Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus of St. Louis where she continues her pro bono work on behalf of the Mark Twain Museum and other non-profit institutions. Her “Political Watch” column appears regularly in Turning Point Magazine. Hal Holbrook, an Emmy and Tony award winner, has had an illustrious career as a performer on stage, as well as in film and television. Born in Cleveland, OH, Holbrook grew up in Weymouth, Massachusetts. After graduating from Denison University, he took his student honors project about Mark Twain and developed his one man show Mark Twain Tonight. He first performed the show in 1954. Ed Sullivan attended his performance and brought Holbrook on his show in 1956. Holbrook has reprised his role for audiences around the world and continues to perform as Mark Twain. He recently appeared in Sean Penn's critically acclaimed film Into the Wild and was nominated for an Academy Award. Some of Holbrook’s other notable films include: The Star Chamber, Wall Street, and The Majestic. He has also appeared in television, in such shows as Designing Women, The West Wing, and The Sopranos.
The formation of this new prestigious Advisory Board marks a new era for Twain’s Boyhood Home. It is an exciting time to be a part of the Museum, and the Foundation staff and board look forward to working with the members of the Advisory Board. With their help, the Foundation is confident that they can achieve their goal; to make The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum as timeless, humorous, relevant and thought-provoking as Twain himself through exhibits, programs, and outreach.
### Mark Twain Museum Director Chosen as Presenter for Missouri State Historical Society Speakers Bureau Dr. Regina Faden, Executive Director of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum, was recently selected as a presenter for the Missouri State Historical Society Speakers Bureau. The State Historical Society selects the presenters for its Speakers Bureau from applicants across the state. Dr. Faden submitted an application proposing to speak about the history of controversy surrounding the novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Her proposal was accepted. The State Speakers Bureau is one of the services offered by the State Historical Society of Missouri. This bureau allows the Society to provide adult non-profit organizations with professional speakers at no cost to the organization. Organizations may annually choose up to two speakers from a list of academic and independent scholars on a variety of topics such as art, war, women’s history, ethnic heritage or famous and infamous Missourians. One of the reasons Faden was interested in talking about Huckleberry Finn is the on-going efforts to ban the book because of its language. As recently as this year, public schools in St. Louis debated banning the book. This is a scenario played out across the country in school districts every year. Faden explains, “Today, we, like Twain, are still dealing with the legacy of slavery in America and Huck Finn makes many Americans uncomfortable, particularly the language related to race. Spurred by such figures as Isaiah Washington and Don Imus, the public is re-examining who can use which words or whether they should be used at all. Social institutions, such as schools and museums, are also grappling with how to talk about the past, including the history of race in this country. By looking at Twain’s novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, we can see the historical roots of such arguments and the relevance of this historical work of literature in the ongoing discussions about our country’s past and future.” As an ambassador from the museum, Faden hopes to help audiences rethink the value of discussing the work, rather than banning it, in order to understand its core message – that black or white, we are all members of the human family. Faden will be traveling throughout the state in 2008 giving her presentation to a variety of organizations. For more information of the Missouri State Historical Society’s Speakers Bureau, or to request on of their speakers for your adult non-profit organization, visit their website at http://shs.umsystem.edu. ###
Twain Releases Statement on the Banning of his Books The banning of Mark Twain’s books is nothing new. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were both banned from libraries in Twain’s time. Upon finding out that both Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn had removed from the children’s section of the Brooklyn Library in 1905, Twain quickly wrote a letter to the librarian; the response follows: “I am greatly troubled by what you say. I wrote Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn for adults exclusively, & it always distresses me when I find that boys & girls have been allowed access to them. The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean. I know this by my own experience, & to this day I cherish an unappeasable bitterness against the unfaithful guardians of my young life, who not only permitted but compelled me to read an unexpurgated {unedited} Bible through before I was 15 years old. None can do that and ever draw a clean, sweet breath again this side of the grave…Most honestly do I wish that I could say a softening word or two in defense of Huck's character since you wish it, but really, in my opinion, it is no better than those of Solomon, David, & the rest of the sacred brotherhood.” The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum’s mission is to promote awareness and appreciation of the life and works of Mark Twain and to demonstrate the relevance of his stories and ideas to the citizens of the world. The museum, through its online teaching resources, free online lesson plans, and workshops strives to give educators the tools they need to successfully teach Twain in the classroom. Teachers, librarians, and others charged with the education of America have always wrestled with issues of censorship. The museum has become a better resource for teachers facing the challenge of defending their use of Mark Twain works in the classroom by working with the National Council of Teachers of English to make sample rationales, documents that give reasons why a challenged book should be used in the classroom, for teaching Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn available on ourwebsite, www.marktwainmuseum.org, under the education section. These rationales aid teachers looking for professional, scholarly justifications for using these two most popular Twain books in the classroom.
General interest Press Releases None at this time For general information about the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum, please visit the About Us page. For images of the museum, Mark Twain Boyhood Home, or any of our other historic properties, please email Megan Rapp
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