Mark Twain's House

The Wall Street Journal talks about how the Mark Twain House, now a museum, is surviving in today's economic turmoil, by Twain's example.

From the piece...

The 2010 Centennial Celebration, with exhibitions, theatrical productions, concerts, tours, lectures, workshops, parties and a Victorian séance, represents "a golden opportunity for the Mark Twain House to move ahead," said Jeffrey L. Nichols, executive director since the spring of 2008. The April 21 séance, along with a VIP ghost tour, commemorates the centennial of Twain's death and pays tribute to his mostly skeptical interest in spiritualism and the paranormal.

While the cash crunch has eased, the Twain House's long-term future remains uncertain. "We're not declaring victory at all," Mr. Nichols said. "We are financially stable but still have a long way to go. We're still looking for every way we can to control expenses and raise money."

Mr. Nichols is hoping that centennial programming—sponsored by the Hartford Financial Services Group, which is marking its own bicentennial—will boost visits, membership and contributions. As of mid-March, visitation, which averages about 60,000 annually, was up 15% from a year earlier, he said. Using "creative and new programming to attract new audiences" began paying off in the fall with weekend ghost tours—"an enormous hit," he said.

Gregory Boyko, the recently elected president of the Twain House board of trustees, said the centennial is being funded on a "pay-as-you-go" basis. "We're not about to do anything dumb," he said. "We're not going to make a major commitment of expenses that we can't fund."