October is American Archives Month. To celebrate, we are highlighting our staff around the country and their favorite records from the holdings in the National Archives. 

Today’s staff member is Leslie Simon, Archives Director at the National Archives at Philadelphia. Her favorite records are 2 pages from the Bankruptcy petition of Edgar Allen Poe, under the Bankruptcy Act of 1841. This was also filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Petition [from the File Unit 12089325 - Case 1304, Edgar A. Poe].  http://research.archives.gov/description/12089326.

Here is what she has to say:

“I like these because:
1. No one knew Poe had ever filed for bankruptcy before the listing “E.A. Poe” in the docket book caught the eye of one of the staff here (Jefferson Moak) while he was working on a request. Poe wrote to a friend that he hoped to take advantage of this act, but did not have enough money to file. Presumably someone did loan him that money, or maybe even paid for it for him; he or she may be among the creditors listed.
2. These documents reflect the pathos of Poe’s life. He owed money for doctors, for rent, for books, for his wife’s piano lessons, for paper, for “notes to hand” to people from Virginia to New York. “The petitioner is possessed of no Property, real, personal or mixed, beyond his wearing apparel and a few printed sheets, of no use to anyone else, and of no value to anyone.” The mystique of Poe’s life is captured in these very un-mythic documents.”