Text: Anonymous, “Schools to Honor Poe,” Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD), vol. CXLIV, no. 61, January 16, 1909, p. 5, col. 8

[page 5, column 8:]

The Poe centenary next Tuesday will be celebrated in the grammar grades and high schools of Baltimore. Superintendent Van Sickle said yesterday that the birthdays of authors are utilized in the schools to stimulate interest in literary studies.

For several days the teachers and scholars have been reading Poe's works and studying the interesting facts of his life. This work is done systematically and along lines that will naturally interest all the pupils.

On Poe's birthday his best poems will be recited, criticisms of his works will be submitted by the pupils, and questions will be asked about his life and his writings, both prose and poetry. Of course, more interest is being taken in Poe than in many other authors, for Baltimore was the poet's home. Many teachers are fine students of Poe, and the pupils have learned many new things recently about him.

One thing is sure, if Baltimore schoolteachers and pupils had a say in the Hall of Fame selections, Poe's name and bust would come pretty near heading the list.

A lively controversy is being waged in literary circles over the assertion of Elizabeth Ellicott Poe in a current magazine that Poe was born in Baltimore. The Boston Herald telegraphs the information that the records of that city refute the claim that Poe was a Baltimorean by birth.

Another special dispatch from Boston says: