Mo. museum works to save Becky Thatcher House

[July 31, 2008]  ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Officials with the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum hoped throngs of summer tourists would spread the word about their efforts to save the childhood home of Tom Sawyer's sweetheart.

But even though downtown Hannibal remained bone-dry while other Mississippi River towns flooded last month, attendance at the boyhood home of Samuel Clemens -- who later wrote as Twain -- is down about 30 percent. That has hampered efforts to raise money to restore the Becky Thatcher House, the two-story residence across the street that Twain enthusiasts desperately want to protect.

They're asking everyone from schoolchildren to fans of Twain's writings to help them bring in $250,000.

"We really want to get the word out that you, too, can help. Help us `Save the Becky,'" said Cindy Lovell, a board member of the Mark Twain Home Foundation. "If we don't step in now to save it, there won't be anything to save."

Built in the 19th century, the Becky Thatcher House was the residence of Laura Hawkins, Twain's muse for his character Becky in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer."

"She was famous in town; people knew her as Becky Thatcher," Regina Faden, executive director of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum, said of Hawkins.

Over the years, the building contained everything from a restaurant to a book shop. The museum bought the property from private owners in 2001.

Although officials have been working on a plan for new exhibits for years, the wood-frame house needs immediate attention because of sagging rafters, foundation and floor problems, and termite damage.

On Aug. 9, the museum will hold a benefit auction of antiques and collectibles that were displayed in the house for more than 50 years. Museum officials note they have no direct tie to the Hawkins family or Twain.

Planned exhibits at the Becky Thatcher House will focus on how childhood experiences in the 19th century varied by race, social class and gender, Faden said.

The building is one of three museum officials hope to restore by 2010, she said. Altogether, the museum has eight properties in Hannibal.

Faden said the three restoration projects would cost about $2.5 million. So far, museum officials have gotten about $750,000 in government funds, grants and donations.

The $250,000 would allow structural, stabilizing work on the Becky Thatcher House to begin this fall, she said. From there, the new exhibit work would cost about $350,000 and could be done next spring.

Preserving properties where Twain lived and ones that influenced his writings helps to tell his stories, Faden said. "They're a way to tell the story of an artist who is still talking to us today," she said.

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On the Net:

Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum: http://www.marktwainmuseum.org/

[Associated Press; By BETSY TAYLOR]

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