As of January, 2020, The Providence Athenaeum proudly owns its very own bust of Edgar Allan Poe. This was made possible by the efforts of the Athenaeum and I, after the success of the Ravenous exhibit (February-April, 2019). This exhibit featured both Poe and Whitman related artifacts from multiple collections, including pieces from the foremost Poe collector in the world, Susan Jaffe Tane. The exhibit was the most popular ever curated by the Athenaeum, with over 1,400 visitors over the two-month opening.

During the planning stages of the exhibit, the Athenaeum reached out to me and asked if I would loan them my bust of Poe for the exhibit (seen in the photo below, directly on the right of the sign that reads “Raven-ous”).

The bust was sculpted by the artist Edmond Quinn (1868-1929) for The Bronx Society of Arts and Sciences. The final bronze-cast bust was presented to New York City on January 19, 1909, in honor of the centennial of Poe’s birth. That very bust remains with the city, and is displayed in the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage in the Bronx.

The Bronx Society of Arts and Sciences gave the original plaster-cast bust to The Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, in 1931. The Poe Museum made a copy of their newly acquired bust to display outside in their “enchanted garden,” keeping the original indoors. In 2008, ten additional copies of the bust were commissioned by The Poe Museum. Out of those ten copies, The Bronx Historical Society (which already owns the bronze bust), The Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, and The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum in Baltimore all received one. The remaining copies were sold to private collectors in New York, Delaware, Tennessee, and Louisiana. I purchased the last copy in 2012. One bust was accidentally destroyed while in transit to the United Kingdom.

The success of the Ravenous exhibit proves Poe’s popularity and how important it is for The Providence Athenaeum to celebrate its ties to him. It was with this reason in mind that I unhesitatingly extended the loan of my bust to the Athenaeum so that they could commission a copy of it to display among their pantheon of busts. The process was completed by October, 2019, and as of September, 2020, Poe is on his permanent ledge right above the main entrance.