June 3, 2008 Historic Mark Twain House fights to survive Play video

(Brian Burnell, NECN: Hartford, Conn.) - The Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut is an icon of the city and an important literary landmark. Officials with the house say they may have to shut down if a solution can't be found to its financial troubles.

NECN’s Brian Burnell has details.

Script:

At the height of his career in 1874, Mark Twain built an impressive house in Hartford, Connecticut for the then-princely sum of $40,000 dollars. An amount almost 10-times that threatens the Victorian home, now a museum. Officials here are dealing with a budget deficit of $370,000 dollars.

The big problem is not the house, but the museum next door. Built a few years ago, for $19 million dollars, it has contributed to an increase in visitors. But it also comes with hefty operating costs that keep going up. Utilities, for example, run $300,000 dollars a year.

There is some irony in this situation that, no doubt, Mark Twain would appreciate. For example, Northeast Utilities came in and did an energy audit of the building and found they could save over $30,000 dollars a year if they replaced the standard light bulbs with energy savers. Trouble is that would cost $16,000 dollars and that's money they just don't have.

The museum houses Mark Twain artifacts, memorabilia, manuscripts and the like. Webster Bank forgave much of the loan for construction a couple of years ago. Nichols is looking to the corporate community to step up again.

Jeffrey

Nichols, Mark Twain House Exec. Dir.: The Hartford community is beginning to rally to the cause, which is excellent news. Our corporate supporters are very engaged with us at the moment, as well as the governor and others, so we feel that better times are coming, but right now, is a very critical moment.

Governor Rell did come up with an additional $50,000 dollars to help out, but she says the folks at the Twain House should not expect much more from the state.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell, R-Connecticut: All of the not-for-profit organizations and arts organizations have to continue to work to be self-sufficient. I know its difficult but the federal government is cutting our funds. We're cutting funds in our budget and as you just heard me say to others, the cuts are even going to be harder next month.