Mold Threatens Artifacts at Mark Twain House: Report

Mold is threatening thousands of artifacts in the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford.

The "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" author's historic home in Hartford is undergoing an extensive remediation effort to clean the damage.

Insurance will only cover $50,000 of the $300,000 mold damage repair, forcing the museum to rely on grants from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving and the Mark Twain Foundation, said Jennifer LaRue, the director of marketing at the museum. 

The mold was first discovered in 2015 and impacts at least 5,000 of the museum's 16,000 artifacts, including furniture and some first editions of Twain's works, the Hartford Courant first reported. 

The problem was blamed on a faulty HVAC system and leaky roof that have since been repaired. The roughly $1 million project has been largely paid for using taxpayer money.

The mold-removal work begins Feb. 13 and should last three to four months.

Twain, whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, lived with his family in the home from 1874 to 1891.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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