Mark Twain Museum Fights to Stay Open

A museum in Hartford, Conn., dedicated to the memory of the author Samuel Clemens — better known as Mark Twain — is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal.

At the center of the museum’s woes is the $19.5-million price tag of the institution itself, a 32,000-square-foot Modernist structure, which opened in 2003, that adjoins Mr. Twain’s former house. The newer building’s costs have virtually bankrupted the nonprofit organization, which runs both structures.

“It’s not, ‘If you build it, they will come,’” says Dede D. DeRosa, the organization’s board chairwoman. Since it opened, the new museum has produced only a modest increase in annual visitors, from 50,000 to 68,000. To help stay afloat, the Twain House has cut its staff from 49 employees to 17 and trimmed its operating budget from $4-million to $2.7-million.