Jane Bise, 27

Word & Image

Everything in this museum is about Poe. We have some of his personal things, a lock of his hair, his cane and bed. Also on display are some copies of his earlier works.

I was an English major at VCU where I graduated in 1996. Because of my major, I was exposed to some of Poe’s works and that is what got me interested in the first place. I have been manager here for two years now and I do pretty much everything that needs to be done. From personnel requirements to cleaning the bathrooms, if nobody’s there to do it. There isn’t much that I don’t do around here. Thankfully I do not have to do the hiring too often. I am also responsible for putting out our quarterly newsletter of events.

We had some 10,000 visitors last year, I actually have the exact figure in my head. We do charge for the tours — $6 for adults, and $5 for students and seniors.

When I am not doing museum duties, I sing in a band together with my boyfriend. The name of the band is Corntooth. We perform country music — mostly older covers, like Patsy Cline and some of our own music too.

Most people do not realize how much there is to be learned in a museum and how very interesting it can be. A lot of fun things go on around here and we just enjoy ourselves. We have cats that come to the museum grounds all the time, and a while ago I saw this cat with extra digits on its limbs. We call them Hemingway cats, because Hemingway had extra digits, and I found that so wild — a Hemingway cat in a Poe museum. They were both writers.

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