Newsletter of the
Katherine Anne Porter
Society


Volume 2; 1996

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KAP House

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Katherine Anne Porter Celebrated in Home Region

Home in Kyle Opens as Historical House and Museum

In spite of little recognition by Texas during her lifetime, in recent years Katherine Anne Porter has been honored increasingly in the region of her birthplace, Indian Creek, Texas. Most significant among acknowledgments of the importance of Porter to Texas letters and twentieth century literature have been the efforts of Yana and David Bland, owners of the house in Kyle, Texas, in which Katherine Anne Porter spent her childhood years with her father, Harrison, her brother, Paul, her two sisters, Gay and Mary Alice, and her grandmother, Catharine Ann Skaggs Porter. Toward their goal of converting the Kyle house into a museum, the Blands have established the Katherine Anne Porter Association (KAPA).

The Blands, who are currently renting the house at 508 Center Street to tenants, secured a special use permit from the Kyle City Council for a zoning exemption that would allow them to run a museum in a residential area. The Katherine Anne Porter Museum was opened to the public in November, with visiting hours 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is free.

The Blands have described the purpose of the museum as that of educating local people about the Pulitzer-prize-winning Katherine Anne Porter, who lived in the house from 1892 until 1901. David Bland told an interviewer from the Hays County Free Press, "We want it to be open to the public, and we want children to know that a famous writer lived here" (15 June 1995). The museum will use the front rooms of the house. An antique shop offering gifts, antiques, books, and artwork is being set up elsewhere in the house to help underwrite the cost of maintenance and operation. Porter's nephew Paul Porter has lent memorabilia of his aunt for display in the museum.

The Blands have financed the conversion of the house into a museum, but they also are seeking grant funding to maintain the building.


© 1999 Katherine Anne Porter Society