Did You Know?

When Mark Twain was a young man he traveled all across the United States. When he was in his mid-thirties he traveled to the West and witnessed the nation as it was growing and moving across the country. He tried out his hand at silver mining, he saw land speculation and he even set fire to a mountain. In the book he describes his encounter with a coyote in the wild. Twain devotes 5 pages to a description of this animal, saying the coyote is "always poor, out of luck and friendless. The meanest creatures despise him and even the fleas would desert him for a velocipede. He is so spiritless and cowardly that even while his exposed teeth are pretending a threat, the rest of his face is apologizing for it."

His entire description of the coyote is so detailed, and so particular, that it's no surprise that it would at some point be turned into a cartoon character. And that's exactly what animator Chuck Jones did. The famous character Wile E. Coyote, from the Road Runner cartoons, comes from Mark Twain's description that Jones read when he was 7. Mark Twain's writing made such an impression on Jones that he would eventually turn it into the cartoon character that so many of us loved as children.



Enjoy!
*Caitlin

"Along about an hour after breakfast we saw the first prairie dog villages, the first antelope, and the first wolf. If I remember rightly, this latter was the regular coyote (pronounced ky-o-te) of the farther deserts. And if it was, he was not a pretty creature or respectable either, for I got well acquainted with his race afterward, and can speak with confidence." -Mark Twain

A Wine Tasting

The Mark Twain House & Museum cordially invites all of you to a glamorous evening of wine tasting, food sampling and music at 351 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, Connecticut. The evening will take place on Friday, May 29, 2009 from 5:30-8:30pm.

This will be an evening you won't want to miss out on! Hopefully to become an annual spring event, we've planned to have lots of goodies to sample and taste while you walk your way around the Mark Twain House Museum Center. Allan S. Goodman is our presenting sponsor, bringing 16-20 different kinds of wines for the tasting. Ann Howard at the Bond will be providing an array of hors d'oeuvres and Ascot Catering will be creating some wonderful antipasto plates for us. Cabot Creamery will be sampling their finest cheeses, and there will be Lindt Chocolate to compliment the wines.

Jazz piano will be playing throughout the evening by Skip Steiner, as well as a special performance by a Hartford based a cappella group, The Sweetest Key.

The Hartford Courant recently ran a wonderful article on the event with some interviews with Mark Twain House & Museum Chief Curator, Patti Philippon; as well as an interview with Kerry Driscoll, a Twain scholar who is chair of the English Department at St. Joseph College in West Hartford.

Reservations are highly recommended as the last similar event we had (Oktoberfest 2008) sold out!! Tickets are $35 in advance and $45 at the door. To make reservations call Caitlin Thayer at 860.280.3154.

Check out the event on Facebook!



*Caitlin

"Never refuse to do a kindness unless the act would work great injury to yourself, and never refuse to take a drink-- under any circumstances." -Mark Twain

Mark Twain in Popular Culture

There's been talk amongst some Mark Twain House staff lately about different shows and movies that Mark Twain appears in, so I thought I would share some of them with all of you!

In this episode the characters of Star Trek travel back in time and end up meeting Mark Twain! Whoopi Goldberg also plays a part in this episode. Each clip is roughly forty minutes in length. Twain makes an appearance halfway through part one, and continues on through part two.
Star Trek, "Time's Arrow Part I"
Star Trek, "Time's Arrow Part II"

A short, five minute clip from Bonanza, where Sam Clemens travels to Nevada and tries to get a job at a newspaper. A young Sam!
Bonanza, "Enter Mark Twain"

Actor Val Kilmer is in the middle of filming a movie (he plays Mark Twain) about the relationship between Mark Twain and Mary Baker Eddy (the discoverer of Christian Science). The film is still in the works, but a relative of mine who works at the Mary Baker Eddy Library in Boston, MA told me that Kilmer calls the library frequently to ask a question pertaining to Eddy while still in Mark Twain character!
Val Kilmer's upcoming movie about Mark Twain and Mary Baker Eddy

Mark Twain makes a quick appearance in Sabrina the Teenage Witch when Sabrina needs the opinion of some famous authors on a newspaper article.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Twain is often quoted in TV and movies too! Share more movies that Mark Twain is in, or the shows that you know he has been quoted on!

*Caitlin

"Everybody's private motto: It's better to be popular than right." -Mark Twain

12th Annual Young Writers Competition Awards Ceremony

After 11 years at the Litchfield Inn, the Young Writers Competition Awards Ceremony has moved to The Mark Twain House & Museum! This competition, which highlights works of poetry and prose submitted by teenagers from throughout the state, this year inspired the participation of over 580 students this year -- the third highest number of entries in the competition's 12 years -- and is sponsored by IMPAC and the Connecticut State University System. The ceremony will be held on Sunday, May 31, 2009, beginning at 7 p.m., following a reception that begins at 5:30 p.m.

"There could not be a better setting to honor outstanding young writers than the Mark Twain House & Museum. The talent and creativity of a new generation of Connecticut writers is clearly evident, and the inspiration that Mark Twain's example provides is especially fitting as we recognize their excellent prose and poetry," said David G. Carter, chancellor of the Connecticut State University System.

"These students certainly understand what Mark Twain was saying in 1888. The Mark Twain House &Museum is honored to host the 12th Annual Young Writers Award Ceremony. Hartford's Nook Farm was a haven for 19th century writers, including Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charles Dudley Warner, and, of course, Mark Twain. I can not think of a more fitting location in Connecticut for this prestigious awards ceremony," said Jeffrey L. Nichols, executive director of The Mark Twain House & Museum.

The state winners in prose and poetry, to be announced at the Mark Twain House ceremony, will be invited, with a parent, to a week of festivities in Ireland connected with the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Dublin Writers Festival. There, they will also meet young writers from Europe and Asia. Their works will also be considered for publication in Connecticut Review, the literary journal published by the Connecticut State University System (CSUS).

*Caitlin

"The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning." -Mark Twain

Who doesn't love LEGO?

We all remember LEGO from our childhood. Well, at least I do. Being able to build houses and cars and then take them apart and do it all over again! Well, there's one house that was built that will not be taken apart. The LEGO Mark Twain House now resides on our site! The LEGO house was built back in the 1980s and had been traveling the country - until now! We are proudly displaying the LEGO MTH in our new exhibit space; Stories by the Fireside: A Readers' Room. The room boasts not only the LEGO MTH but also a cozy sitting area where visitors can watch footage of Clemens walking around his home from Stormfield; home video of Sam's granddaughter, Nina; Hal Holbrook doing Mark Twain and a 1974 Bob Steele short film where he "meets Mark Twain." The room also has a sitting area for kids, with coloring books and word puzzles and artwork done by local visiting schools! There is also a section on Sam's daughter Jean. 2009 is the centennial of Jean's death, and we've put together a small collection of artifacts about Jean. Don't miss this great exhibition!

*Caitlin

"To us our house was not unsentient matter--it had a heart & a soul & eyes to see us with, & approvals & solicitudes & deep sympathies; it was of us, & we were in its confidence, & lived in its grace & in the peace of its benediction. We never came home from an absence that its face did not light up & speak out its eloquent welcome--& we could not enter it unmoved." -Mark Twain

Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

Bill Cosby has been named the most recent honoree for the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor! The Mark Twain Prize is considered the top prize for comedy in the country. The first honoree, Richard Pryor, was in 1998. Bill Cosby is probably best known for his work in The Cosby Show, but he's also known for being outspoken on many subjects, including vulgarity and race. Mark Twain probably (definitely) wouldn't have been on the same page with him on vulgarity but they would have been able to agree on the topic of race. While the two are decades apart, they have spoken out on many similar issues. In a Washington Times article, Cosby talks about the influence Twain has had on him, saying that stories like "How to Tell a Story" and "The Mysterious Stranger" have influenced his work and that when he was younger, his mother used to read Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn to him. "I would like to apologize to Mr. Twain for falling asleep hundreds of times, but he should understand that I was only four."

Past honorees include Richard Pryor, Carl Reiner, Jonathan Winters, Whoopi Goldberg, Bob Newhart, Lily Tomlin, Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin, Neil Simon, Billy Crystal and George Carlin.

*Caitlin

"The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it." - Mark Twain, "How to Tell a Story"

Public Resignation

AIG (American International Group) has been in the news a lot lately, so it's not surprising that AIG showed up in the New York Times this past Tuesday. This time, it was a little different. An executive vice president of the financial products unit of AIG sent his resignation letter to the New York Times to be published. Jake DeSantis decided to publicly resign from AIG, stating that he was ashamed of the company for what is currently happening but proud of the work he had done. DeSantis received a bonus check for $742,000 from the company eight days before he resigned. In his resignation letter he states that if he is allowed to keep the money, he plans to donate the entire amount and will publish the recipients once he has done so.

How does this story connect to Mark Twain? Well, DeSantis currently lives in Redding, CT on the same property that Sam Clemens lived on at the end of his life. The piece written by the Connecticut Post describes DeSantis and his wife as "generous people with a lot of heart." The director of the Mark Twain Library (which donations from Clemens helped found, as well as a collection of his books) said that DeSantis has been a great friend of the library since moving there.

*Caitlin

"In all the ages, three-fourths of the support of the great charities has been conscience money." - Mark Twain

Road Trip!

Craig Hotchkiss, the Education Department Program Manager here at the Twain House has taken his show on the road! Along with Sonya Green, the Program Coordinator at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, the educational program Twain & Stowe: Effecting Social Change has branched out into libraries around Connecticut. Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe lived next door to each other here in Hartford, and both made a major impact on their worlds with their literature. The program, which takes a deeper look into the societal effects of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Uncle Tom's Cabin has quickly become a popular option for high school field trips. Students and teachers learn and come understand and appreciate how these small books had such a profound influence on race relations in the United States over the past 150 years, and why they continue to have relevance to our cross-cultural dialog even today. Libraries around Connecticut have now become interested in having this program done on their sites! Craig and Sonya have visited Goshen, Guilford and Derby; and are booked for Litchfield, Trumbull, Southbridge, Rockville and the New England Librarian Association convention in October!

Don't miss out on being able to have this interesting and informative program at your school or library! Call Craig Hotchkiss for details or to book the program! (860) 280-3146

*Caitlin

"The self taught man seldom knows anything accurately, and he does not know a tenth as much as he could have known if he had worked under teachers, and besides, he brags, and is the means of fooling other thoughtless people into going and doing as he himself has done." -Mark Twain

2010: The Year of Mark Twain ... 2013: The Year of the Mark Twain Commemorative Coin

There is currently a petition going around to make 2010: The Year of Mark Twain. 2010 is the centennial of Mark Twain's death and Twain sites around the country will be honoring him with events and celebrations throughout the year. By the 262 signatures already on the petition it's clear from their comments that Mark Twain had made a significant impact, and should be honored nationally.

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Just a couple of weeks ago, Senator Christopher Dodd from Connecticut introduced the Mark Twain Commemorative Coin Act. This act, which would mint 100,000 five-dollar gold coins and 500,000 silver dollar coins, would benefit the Mark Twain sites around the country. The sites benefiting would be The Mark Twain House & Museum here in Hartford, CT; the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum in Hannibal, MO; and the sites in Elmira, NY and Berkeley, CA. The coins would go on sale in 2013, for a price that is yet to be determined. Potentially, if all goes as Sen. Dodd plans, each site would benefit tremendously from this project. Of the $35/$10 surcharges added to the prices of the $5/$1 coins, respectively, we would see 2/5 of those surcharges. The Mark Twain Project in Berkeley, CA, The Center for Mark Twain Studies in Elmira, NY and The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum in Hannibal, MO would each see 1/5. This one year project would help to ensure that Mark Twain sites around the country would be able to continue to promote and educate visitors about Mark Twain for years to come.

IMPORTANT FACT! This project won't cost you a dime! Unless of course, you'd like to spend your dimes to buy a coin. All costs will be covered by the sale of the coins. So if you're thinking, "Golly, I'd really love to own a Mark Twain Commemorative Coin!" contact your local Senator or Representative and tell them to support the bill!

The Numismatic News (The Complete Information Source for Coin Collectors) published an article about it yesterday, as well as the Hannibal Courier-Post.

*Caitlin

"Some years ago on the gold coins we used to trust in God. It think it was in 1863 that some genious suggested that it be put on the gold and silver coins which circulated among the rich. They didn't put it on the nickels and coppers because they didn't think the poor folks had any trust in God....If I remember rightly, the President required or ordered the romoval of that sentence from the coins. Well, I didn't see that the statement ought to remain there. It wasn't true. But I think it would better read, "Within certain judicious limitations we trust in God," and if there isn't enough room on the coin for this, why enlarge the coin." -Mark Twain

1893 to 2009

I was reading an article the other day about a couple in Los Angeles who had to move out of their home and into an Airstream trailer in Oregon on their parents' farm. The couple, who lost their major source of income, had to decide what to do when they could no longer afford their expensive lifestyle. Remind you of anyone, maybe 108 years earlier? In 1891, Sam invested a large sum of money into an upcoming inventor and his typesetting machine. After putting his life savings into this invention, the whole enterprise went under and Sam lost everything. He and his wife, who relied on Sam's income, had to move out of their home in Hartford where they couldn't afford to keep their expensive lifestyle. They moved to Europe where Sam signed on to a year-long worldwide speaking tour. Now, living in European hotels isn't quite the same as living in an Airstream trailer on a farm in Oregon, but it's certainly a similar situation when you look at the time period and how the Clemenses had previously been living.

Whoever said that history repeats itself was a very smart person indeed. The United States suffered its first recession in 1797; since then it has repeated itself many times including 1807, 1837, 1893, 1929 and so on. The 1893 recession began with the failure of the Reading Railroad, costing people their jobs and costing the United States the trust Europe had in us. Banks collapsed (they didn't have billion dollar bailouts back then!) as unemployment rates rose higher and higher. Then and now recessions have had/has an affect on people from all over the country and the world, from all walks of life.

A story like this couple who lost their home in L.A. unfortunately isn't a unique one. While Sam's story was a bit different from most during his time, the underlying aspect of having to leave one's home to work off a debt wasn't.

*Caitlin

"It is not worthwhile to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man's character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible." -Mark Twain

Race in America

I'm sure that many of you have read the news articles on the Attorney General's speech at the Justice Department about race. If you haven't, you can read the actual speech at: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/02/holders_coward_comment_in_doj.html.

His remarks, no matter how you feel about them, have to make you think about the change that has happened in this country's history in terms of race. Mark Twain certainly had a lot to say about that during his time. He grew up in the slave holding South (born 1835) and was able to see first hand the effects of slavery. From his childhood Clemens often refers to Uncle Dan'l, a slave who lived near his home, and talks about going to the slave cabins to hear Uncle Dan'l tell stories. Clemens remembers him as being "a faithful and affectionate good friend, ally and adviser." Once he begins to travel the rest of the country he is able to juxtapose his experience growing up in a slave state to his growing experiences with the rest of the country, and comes to his own conclusions about race and humanity. He grew to have very strong opinions about people's differences. His famous quote; "Travel is fatal to prejudice" had come from his time traveling the world, meeting different people and seeing new cultures that looked nothing like his own, and recognizing that though people were different, the one thing they all had in common was that they were all human. It was that simple. Twain was no coward to be writing and publishing his opinions on race and equality at the time he was. By the time Twain writes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) slavery had legally ended, but racism still ran rampant in the South. His book, while well received, had its critics. To this day there are still schools, even here in Connecticut, that continue to ban this book. Twain was outspoken on topics such as race during his lifetime, he certainly had the courage to put his opinions out in the open, publish them, and discuss them in any public forum.

"I have no race prejudices, and I think I have no color prejudices or caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. Indeed I know it. I can stand any society. All that I care to know is that a man is a human being--that is enough for me; he can't be any worse" -Mark Twain

Welcome!

Welcome to the first edition of The Mark Twain House & Museum blog! In order to keep fans and visitors updated about how we're doing, we'll be updating this blog weekly with news, events and information about the week! Check back every Friday to stay connected and informed!

The Mark Twain House & Museum is a not for profit organization, dedicated to preserving the legacy and life of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). The mission of The Mark Twain House & Museum is to foster an appreciation of the legacy of Mark Twain as one of our nation's defining cultural figures, and to demonstrate the continuing relevance of his work, life and times.

We've been through a lot this past year, as you may have heard or read in the papers. One of the first major articles came out in the Hartford Advocate on May 8, 2008 about our situation; http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=7714. This was the first time the institution had been completely public about what had happened and where we were, which was in a very bad place. We ended this past fiscal year on January 31st, and happily we managed to end the year with a very small surplus! Because of the generous support of donors, new and old, we managed to make it through the year. This surplus is the first the museum has seen since the year 2000. We do, however, realize that the coming year will be tough and we'll need continued support to be able to keep the doors open. The situation we are in becomes even more real when we are seeing other cultural institution in Hartford close their doors; http://www.courant.com/entertainment/stage/hc-connopera.artfeb12,0,5869959.story.

Thank you to all of you who have continued to support the museum and I hope to see everyone in the museum again this year! Check in every Friday for a new post and to hear about what went on during the week! Please visit our website for information on admissions, group visits, school tours and exhibitions; http://www.marktwainhouse.org.

*Caitlin

"The lack of money is the root of all evil." Mark Twain