Mark Twain Stormfield Project 1908-2011

The Story of Mark Twain's "Christmas Elephant"

2011-12-21T07:33:00.000-08:00

Albert Bigelow Paine
Mark Twain: A Biography

Mark Twain’s second present came at Christmas-time. About ten days earlier, a letter came from Robert J. Collier, saying that he had bought a baby elephant which he intended to present to Mark Twain as a Christmas gift. He added that it would be sent as soon as he could get a car for it, and the loan of a keeper from Barnum & Bailey’s headquarters at Bridgeport.

The news created a disturbance in Stormfield. One could not refuse, discourteously and abruptly, a costly present like that; but it seemed a disaster to accept it. An elephant would require a roomy and warm place, also a variety of attention which Stormfield was not prepared to supply. The telephone was set going and certain timid excuses were offered by the secretary. There was no good place to put an elephant in Stormfield, but Mr. Collier said, quite confidently:

“Oh, put him in the garage.”

“But there’s no heat in the garage.”

“Well, put him in the loggia, then. That’s closed in, isn’t it, for the winter? Plenty of sunlight—just the place for a young elephant.”

“But we play cards in the loggia. We use it for a sort of sun-parlor.”

“But that wouldn’t matter. He’s a kindly, playful little thing. He’ll be just like a kitten. I’ll send the man up to look over the place and tell you just how to take care of him, and I’ll send up several bales of hay in advance. It isn’t a large elephant, you know: just a little one— a regular plaything.”

There was nothing further to be done; only to wait and dread until the Christmas present’s arrival.

A few days before Christmas ten bales of hay arrived and several bushels of carrots. This store of provender aroused no enthusiasm at Stormfield. It would seem there was no escape now.

On Christmas morning Mr. Lounsbury telephoned up that there was a man at the station who said he was an elephant-trainer from Barnum & Bailey’s, sent by Mr. Collier to look at the elephant’s quarters and get him settled when he should arrive. Orders were given to bring the man over. The day of doom was at hand.

But Lounsbury’s detective instinct came once more into play. He had seen a good many elephant-trainers at Bridgeport, and he thought this one had a doubtful look.

“Where is the elephant?” he asked, as they drove along.

“He will arrive at noon.”

“Where are you going to put him?”

“In the loggia.”

“How big is he?”

“About the size of a cow.”

“How long have you been with Barnum and Bailey?”

“Six years.”

“Then you must know some friends of mine” (naming two that had no existence until that moment).

“Oh yes, indeed. I know them well.”

Lounsbury didn’t say any more just then, but he had a feeling that perhaps the dread at Stormfield had grown unnecessarily large. Something told him that this man seemed rather more like a butler, or a valet, than an elephant-trainer. They drove to Stormfield, and the trainer looked over the place. It would do perfectly, he said. He gave a few instructions as to the care of this new household feature, and was driven back to the station to bring it.

Lounsbury came back by and by, bringing the elephant but not the trainer. It didn’t need a trainer. It was a beautiful specimen, with soft, smooth coat and handsome trappings, perfectly quiet, well-behaved and small— suited to the loggia, as Collier had said—for it was only two feet long and beautifully made of cloth and cotton—one of the fairest toy elephants ever seen anywhere.

It was a good joke, such as Mark Twain loved—a carefully prepared, harmless bit of foolery. He wrote Robert Collier, threatening him with all sorts of revenge, declaring that the elephant was devastating Stormfield.

“To send an elephant in a trance, under pretense that it was dead or stuffed!” he said. “The animal came to life, as you knew it would, and began to observe Christmas, and we now have no furniture left and no servants and no visitors, no friends, no photographs, no burglars— nothing but the elephant. Be kind, be merciful, be generous; take him away and send us what is left of the earthquake.”

Collier wrote that he thought it unkind of him to look a gift-elephant in the trunk. And with such chaffing and gaiety the year came to an end.

Happy Birthday Mark Twain

2011-11-30T11:40:00.001-08:00

November 30th, 2011 is Sam Clemens' (aka Mark Twain) birthday. For fun I looked up the last person to write him on his birthday using the Mark Twain Project website.

The answer is...

Margery Hamilton Clinton
Margery (a.k.a. "the plumber") visited Clemens at Stormfield at least three times -- in July 1908, October 1908 and February 1909.

"The plumber is coming Feb. 23d; a girl you would greatly like. She isn't a M.A. [angel-fish], but is not without good qualities, nevertheless. She is official plumber of Stormfield, by her own request, but doesn't know how to plumb. Name, Margery Clinton (Cooley, p. 249)."

Margery Hamilton Clinton was the daughter of renown New York architect Charles William Clinton and his wife Emily de Silver Gorsuch.

-----------------------------------------

So who did Twain write to on his birthday from Stormfield?

1909:

Nobody

1908:

Elizabeth Wallace, Frederick A. Duneka, Jean Clemens, H. P.
Wood, F. N. Otremba

Our Friend Mark Twain by Helen Nickerson Upson

2011-09-13T18:36:00.000-07:00

Excerpts from-
"Our Friend Mark Twain" by Helen Nickerson Upson
The Redding Times, June 2, 1960

Background-

During the Civil War- John N. Nickerson, later known as Judge John N. Nickerson of Redding, served as a Private in New York's 56th Regiment. While in action, he was very seriously wounded and visited by a young Army Chaplain named Joseph H. Twichell. Nickerson survived, received a Medal of Honor and in the process formed an enduring friendship with Twichell.

Later in life, While serving as a State Legislative Representative (1885), Nickerson, through his friendship with Twichell, met informally with many of the "Hartford Wits" including Samuel L. Clemens and Charles Dudley Warner.

Narrative of Helen N. Upson-

Frequently Dad passed an evening playing billiards with Mark Twain in his Hartford home, and the Rev. Twitchell and Mr. Warner were often guests at our home in Redding.

I recall very well when I was a small girl that Mr. Warner lifted me on his knee and said, much to my delight: "Helen you are a girl after my own heart- brim full of spunk, fire and go. No grass will ever grown under your feet."

Twain Comes to Dinner

Only once was Mark Twain a dinner guest at our house and then he was accompanied by Mr. Warner and Albert Bigelow Paine. He was so impressed by Redding's beautiful hills and rolling landscape that eventually he wanted to build a house here.

{BMC: I do recall a letter by Isabel to an Angelfish that notes Paine and Clemens are headed to Redding well before he arrived here officially. There is no follow up on the trip and it did prompt me to note the entry for further research. The trip may have been the dinner date Helen writes of...makes sense, why would you not want to view this type of investment? Given the history of poor investments he had made, it would seem probable he would at least want to see Redding before purchasing land here.}

One day after answering a telephone call my father seemed happily excited. Nobody knew why and he didn't talk about it. It seems the call was from Mr. Paine who wanted Dad to drive around with him to look over a few building sites. Twain had asked for a site on higher ground, with an expansive view and neighbors- not so near.

Dad went and the site of "Stormfield" was selected, deeds and other business were taken care of and construction was started and proceeded secretly. No one knew for whom "Stormfield" was being built.

There was much curiousity and gossip in Redding about the mysterious structure rising in the pasture on Diamond Hill. It was so much larger than the average Redding home that a rash of guesses went all the way from a select school for girls to an infirmary for incurables.

Mark Twain's orders were that no one was to know that he was to own the place nor that he was to live there. He did not want to see the place until is was entirely finished, furnished, and complete with a kitten purring on the hearth.

His wishes were carried out to the letter and he seemed delighted with his new home in its quiet, restful setting.

The House is Named

However, soon after his arrival, a thunder storm of such violence came up that Mr. Clemens said it sounded as if its force was being created over his head which gave rise to the name "Stormfield"

{BMC: One of many theories on the re-naming of the house. This is not too far fetched. In the summer of 1999, I was caught completely off guard by a freak, late afternoon thunderstorm. It came out of nowhere while I was mountain biking in the Stormfield trail system. It was a thunder and lighting show like to no other I've encounter before or since, further enhanced by the fact that I was wearing steel toe-clips! I've encountered similar storms while visiting Susan Durkee at the Lobster Pot. So, it is a fact that... for one reason or another Storms do hit hard on that ridge.}

My father so successfully engineered...Mark Twain's purchases of real estate in Redding that during the rest of his life Dad took care of his personal legal business and affairs.

{BMC: She must mean legal business and affairs in Redding.}

At the time I assisted my father with his office work and also did all his driving for him, so I spent much time at "Stormfield." Frequently Dad and I had the priviledge of listening to Mr. Clemens' masterful organ playing on his fine instrument placed on the landing midway between the floors in the large hall at Stormfield.

It was indeed a treat to listen to the white haired Clemens accompany his daughter, Clara, who was a concert soloist. His heart was in it and I really think that this was his favorite pastime. Had Mark Twain not been a great humorist he certainly would have been a famous organist.

Careless with Copy

Mr. Clemens was a most informal, but geniune personality. He detested insincerity and over stressed formality was distasteful to him. He preferred to receive his guests or associates while he was propped up in bed. Here one usually found him busy with his writing or reading. As he wrote long-hand, a sheet finished was a sheet discarded. It might be manuscript or waste paper. To him that was a minor detail.

Once finished, a sheet of paper was indifferently cast aside. It might nestle in the bed clothes or slide on to the floor. Family and attendants were instructed never to disturb ANY papers in that room except Mr. Albert Bigelow Paine. We have him to thank for his painstaking daily care of every scrap of Mark Twain's paper as he carefully scanned each piece arranging and organizing usable material in proper sequence so that the literature for which Mr. Clemens was famous would be published in proper form.

With all his splendid qualities Mark Twain was the victim of two besetting sins. Reports of great conflagrations or of people burnt to a crisp could not stop him from smoking in bed. Also he was so obliging that if anyone asked for his signature on a paper or document, without a second look, he would sign and for him, at least, the transaction was finished.

Mr. Paine had repeatedly rebuked him for such readiness with his pen and over and over again Dad had warned him that if he continued so indifferently to this practice that sooner or later he would find himself in very serious trouble. Someway their warnings went unheeded and slipped away like water off a duck's back.

Signed the Wrong Letter

Early one morning the phone beside Dad's (Judge John N. Nickerson of Redding) bed rang persistantly. He answered. It was Mr. Clemens - distress plainly registered by his voice, "Jack, can you come to me at once? I am in trouble - very serious trouble."

"What under heavens is the matter now?" my father asked.

"I'll tell you when you get here, can you come now?" the humorist answered.

Dad called me to hurry through my breakfast, harness my horse and be ready to drive to Stormfield in half an hour. When we arrived Mr. Clemens was angrier than we had ever seen him and his daughters Clara and Jean were very much disturbed.

"Now, Sam, what on earth has happened that you are so excited and upset?" asked Dad. The great humorist replied with something far removed from humor,

"Well, Jack, just as you predicted, I have been a damned fool, and as a result I am in the deal of a fix. A trusted friend of mine who has recently married a 'man of experience' brought me a document to sign without in any way explaining it- and I was foolish enough to require no explanation."

"At the moment I was concentrating on the writing of a script and, as was my custom, took the paper and quickly signed as she directed without reading it and I supposed the matter was dismissed, but this morning, to my horror, I discover that I have signed over to a trusted friend ABSOLUTE Power of Attorney over everything that I possess and I cannot spend so much as a nickel! without her O.K. Could any man have been a bigger damned fool??"

Eventually she consented to withdraw if a certain [piece] of Mr. Clemens treasured real estate (and he owned property in several states) could be turned over to her. As Mr. Clemens was convinced this was the only way out he acceded. Dad took care of the transaction and the case was closed.

One day after the case was settled, Dad was seated beside Mr. Clemens' bed talking to him when the humorist reached over to a table and picked up a copy of Innocents Abroad. I saw his eyes twinkle as he opened the book and wrote something inside the front cover, then he passed the book to my father. Dad grinned as he read the handwriting, then passed the book to me. This is what he wrote:

"The sane man readeth first but the ass signeth without looking. Truly yours, Mark Twain"

Below this he added:

"To John N. Nickerson with the compliments of the Author."

This book today is among my (Helen's) treasures.

Bermuda- Last Trip Abroad

Mark Twain as we knew him was thoroughly American and always revealed the deepest respect for all things worthy of reverence, and would hit hard at anything which seemed to him to be hateful or mean. As a humorist, in my opinion, none greater ever lived. For this quality he was best known and loved. It is doubtful if any one in this century has made more people laugh than Mark Twain has done, and yet the laughter he has aroused has been clean, wholesome, and self respecting. However, he harbored a scorching and bitter hatred for frauds, hypocrites, and pretenders and often he seared them with his wit. As a man he was always sincere and straight-forward.

It was during Mr. Clemens' last summer while he was resting at his home in Bermuda that he sent for Dad to go to him on important business and suggested that I accompany him for the pleasure of the trip. It was my good fortune to go with my father on this errand. Mr. Clemens was do delighted to have us both accept the invitation- that in honor of my visit he arranged an afternoon tea with young women my own age as guests. He said that he doubted very much if my father would enjoy a hen party presided over by an old, strutting cock, so he sent Dad off fishing with a couple of friends.

It was a memorable occasion. Although the great humorist was not well, seated there among us in his easy chair he made a distinguished appearance. We all were delighted with his conversation which was simple yet verbose. Although his humor was gay and laugh provoking, there was a seriousness about the man which probably was due to his age and the imprint of the grief he had endured.

For further entertainment I rode around in Mr. Clemens' little two wheeled Park Wagon pulled by a pretty little donkey; also I rode a number of miles on his daughter's bicycle. Among other things I saw a large field of Easter lilies (Bermuda lilies) in gorgeous full bloom. They made such an impression that when I returned to Redding I threw away a pathetically sad looking, spindly Easter lily that I had been coaxing to bloom for three years.

Death Comes to Stormfield

Having already lost his devoted wife and talented daughter, Susie, before coming to Redding, Mark Twain received a crushing blow when his devoted daughter, Jean, in the midst of Christmas celebration in 1909, died very suddenly. Dad went to him at once. Albert Bigelow Paine was already there and Clara and her husband were returning from Europe. The great humorist could not be comforted. From then on he failed rapidly and on April 21, 1910, when Spring was dawning over the Redding hills, our beloved humorist breathed his last breath in the home he had learned to love- Stormfield.

Mark Twain's Only Grandchild

2011-08-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

If you are not a member of the Mark Twain Forum, I would highly recommend you sign-up today: http://www.twainweb.net/

The Mark Twain Forum is an e-mail list that includes all the World's top scholars and enthusiasts. Last week a true gem arrived from R. Kent Rasmussen. Mr. Rasmussen is an author of six book on Twain and is considered an authority in Mark Twain studies.

"A moment ago, I noticed that today's date is August 18 and recalled its significance in Clemens family history. As much was made of last year's centennial of Mark Twain's death, it may be worth mentioning that today is both the 115th anniversary of Susy Clemens death and the 101st anniversary of Mark Twain's only grandchild, Nina Gabrilowitsch's birth.

It's hard not to wonder what Mark Twain would have made of that coincidence."

He went on to wonder out loud where in the house Nina was born, noting that it was doubtful that Clara would use the same bed that her father had died in just months before.

That question was answered by Kevin Mac Donnell, a Twain collector and top-tier authority on both Mark Twain's works and his life.

"I have Nina's original birth certificate and it doesn't say. Clara's music room was over the loggia, but her bedroom was near the top of the stairs. It was roomy with a terrific view of the backyard, pergola, and Redding, and had it's own big bathroom, so I suspect that's where Nina made her debut. The bedroom, not the bathroom. I have a batch of letters from Clara from just before and after Nina's birth and no clues there either."

So, my mission for next August 18th is to have more information on where Nina Gabrilowitsch's birth took place at Stormfield.

A Photo shopped image I created to show Sam and Nina, side-by-side.

Mark Twain Through the Eyes of an "Angelfish"

2011-08-24T17:22:00.000-07:00

In the years since the death, in 1910, of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, whom we all knew and loved as Mark Twain, many people have asked me, "You actually knew him, didn't you?" What do you remember best about him?"

Yes, our family had the wonderful privilege of knowing him because father, Albert Bigelow Paine, was his biographer and was closely associated with him for many years. After Mr. Clemens moved to Redding, we frequently stayed at his hilltop home, Stormfield. On his afternoon drives- the old Redding Glen was one of his favorites- he often invited my sisters or myself to accompany him. He liked the companionship of young people and was especially understanding with little girls. Perhaps they reminded him of his own three daughters, whose long-ago games and make-believe he had shared and helped to invent.

What do I remember of those years? A good many things, but two of the highlights are the Sunday morning he took me for a stroll and a bus ride on Fifth Aveneue, and the afternoon in June 1908, when he came to Redding for the first time, and I was fortunate enough to be in the small group that traveled with him.

To make these events more understandable, it might be well to give a brief picture of the background which made them possible.

In 1906 my father was busy with the extensive preliminary work, preceding the writing of Mark Twain's biography. His subject was co-operating with enthusiasm.

Mr. Clemens was then living in an impressive corner house at 21 Fifth Avenue. It was luxurious and lonely. His wife had died and his two surviving daughters were elsewhere. Father found himself being encouraged to spend more and more time in the big house.

Mornings, accompanied by a stenographer, he would arrive for the daily interviewing, ready to encourage with questions, if need be, and alert for the fascinating stream of reminiscences, or philosophy, or occassional violent outbursts over burning subjects that followed.

Father said of these mornings: "He was in bed when we arrived, and he remained there during almost all of these earlier dictations, clad in a handsome silk dressing gown of rich Persian pattern, propped against great snowy pillows. He loved this loose luxury and ease and found it conducive to thought. On the little table beside him, where he lay his cigars, papers, pipes, and various knick knacks, shone a reading lamp, making more brilliant the coloring of his complexion and the gleam of his shining hair."

After these richly productive mornings, father often spent the afternoons working in the study adjoining Mr. Clemens' bedroom. At least that was the procedure until the Christmas when a handsome billiard table proved to be a history-making gift. From then on no day was complete without a spirited session around the great green table. Often the play would last for hours and then be resumed again in the evening. For all Mr. Clemens had passed his 70th birthday, he seemed tireless when engaged in his favorite game, and would twit my father- who was still in his 40's- when he seemed to falter. As their official relationship rippened into friendship, that friendship was extended to the rest of our family.

The first time I saw this extraordinary man was at dinner in his home in New York in 1906. Under my father's guidance I had made the delighted acquiantance of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and the Connecticut Yankee. The worldwide fame of the author had been explained to me. Now, he had become a friend of the family, and during my stay in New York at Thanksgiving time, on vacation from boarding school, we were all to have dinner with him!!

He was a charming host. He looked just like the pictures and he was as gracious to us three little girls as to my mother and father. Moreover, there was a dinner to delight children, topped off with a fairy-like mousse, piled high in a crystal bowl and accompanied by a sauce of big, red strawberries. Had he remembered that, at our age, dessert was at least as impressive as fame?

After dinner, he played the orchestrelle, the first time I had ever heard the full, warm tones of an organ except for church music. Years afterward this orchestrelle was presented to us and we added a special room for it to our Redding house. I used to run it by the hour, playing over and over again the selections that Mark Twain had preferred.

I believe it was the next spring that I was invited to return for the weekend, to be spent under the kindly supervision of Mr. Clemens' housekeeper and his secretary. What a story-book experience for a little girl! On Saturday we had a box for the Weber and Fields matinee, and I loved every minute of it, although once I was conscious of whispering concern behind me as to whether some of the humor was a trifle "adult" for my ears. But, like most children, I was blissfully unconscious of any lurking innundoes, and thought the whole show enchanting.

Sunday my breakfast was brought to me on a tray by a uniformed maid. I knew then that I was "living like a princess," even though this was long before the movies had familiarized every schoolgirl with the details of luxury living.

Then Sunday morning, came the memorable walk and bus ride. In those days the upper decks of Fifth Avenue buses were uncovered so that passengers could bask in the sun as they rode. Mr. Clemens enjoyed this and on a bright, mild Sunday he liked to ride from his home on lower Fifth Avenue up toward Central Park, and watch the gay crowds, returning from church or on the way to luncheon.

Hatless, with his dramatic white hair and his famous white flannel suit, he was a unique figure. As we rode, people turned to look up at him and point him out. Afterwards, when we walked a few blocks, more than one person came up and spoke a brief word to him about the joy some particular book had given him. In the St. Regis, where we paused to leave a message, one bell boy was quite overcome. Eagerly, he started "You are Mark Twain, aren't you?" and then, on being reassured could hardly continue his sentence of appreciation. Mr. Clemens encouraged him gently and I don't suppose that young man ever forgot the encounter.

Before I returned to school he gave me his photograph, inscribed with my name and "with love from Mark Twain."

He had a little group of schoolgirl friends whom he called his "Angel Fish." Each one of us was given a small enamel angel fish pin from Bermuda, and each was assigned one of the charming collection of fish pictures which used to hang on the walls of his billiard room. He inscribed each name carefully on the picture. Collectively, we were referred to by him as "Members of the Aquarium." One of the obligations of the membership was to write regularly to the "Curator of the Aquarium." His replies were prompt, and in longhand. One of these cherished letters to me begins with a well-deserved reproof. Here it is:

Dear Louise,

I don't expect this to reach you, for your habit is to violate the first law of correspondence, which is, repeat your address in every letter.

Tammany is dead. I am very sorry. She was the most beautiful cat on this western bulge of the globe, and perhaps the most gifted. She leaves behind her, inconsolable, two children by her first marriage-Billiards and Babylon; and three grandchildren by her second-Amanda, Annanci, and Sindbad. She met her death by violence, at the hands of a dog. She was found dead in the early dawn, under my windows, whither she had apparently dragged herself from a predacious excursion, for she had with her a field mouse that had suffered death by murder.

She was buried by Miss Lyon with the honors due her official rank- for by appointment she was Mascot to the Aquarium, and brought it good luck as long as she lived. She took great interest in the M.A.'s and went to the billiard room every day to look at their pictures.

As a token of respect and regret, it is requested that each M.A. wear black head ribbons during one hour on the 30th of this month- Tammany's birthday.

Lovingly, S.L.C.

At this time our family home was in Redding, in a simple old saltbox house at the foot of Diamond Hill Road. Father's enthusiasm for this unspoiled bit of country communicated itself to Mr. Clemens. He decided to buy some nearby property. He did not plan to build immediately, if at all, but perhaps he was wearier of the city life than he realized for it was not long before he began to dream of a home on the hilltop he had never seen.

It was is daughter Clara who first saw the property, liked it, and selected the location for the house.

Of the building of Mark Twain's Redding home, father says, in the Biography: "Innocence at Home" as the place was originally named, was to be ready for its occupant in June, with every detail in place, as he desired. He had never visited Redding; he had scarcely even glanced at the plans or discussed any of the decorations of the new home. He had required only that there should be one great living room for the orchestrelle, and another big room for the billiard table, with plenty of accommodations for guests. He had required that the billiard room be red, for something in his nature answered to the warm luxury of that color, particularly in moments of diversion...His one other requirement was that the place should be complete. "I don't want to see it, until the cat is purring on the hearth." He wanted the dramatic surprise of walking into a home that had been conjured into existence as with a word."

And that is exactly how it was. On the 18th of June, 1908, at about four in the afternoon he left New York City by an express train that was to make its first stop in Redding that day. With him were my father, a reporter or two, a photographer and that most fortunate little girl, myself, whose boarding school closed that day so that I, too, was homeward bound to Redding.

It was exciting to be going with Mr. Clemens when he was about to get his first glimpse of his new house. Moreover, he generously provided me with a large box of candy to enjoy on the way, although when we were about to leave the train, he suggested that we leave it behind, "because the porters sometimes like candy, and we can get some more."

Waiting for us at the Redding station was a proud array of carriages, flower trimmed, and filled with smiling people who waved warmly. I knew I would never forget it. Mr. Clemens waved in return, then stepped into his own carriage and drove toward the beautiful house that was t be his last home.

What a lovely place he made of it, and how we used to enjoy visiting him there. We lived nearby so my sisters and I could walk there easily, but other "Members of the Aquarium" came with there parents or governesses to stay for the week-ends or longer, and he taight us all to play Hearts and, with infinite patience, to manage billiard cues. He never made us feel that he was elderly man whose good manners included being kind to children. On the contrary, he seemed to be having such a genuinely good time himself that age differences were forgotten. Another question I am asked is "Was he always joking?" No. His tender, pervasive humor was far removed from ordinary joking. For me, it is summed up with his lovability and his philosophy- in the inscription he wrote in my autograph book: "Dear Louise: Consider well the proportion of things: it is better to be a young June-bug than an old bird of paradise. Affectionately yours, Mark Twain."

Mark Twain's Final Day (101st Anniversary Today)

2011-04-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

Composite photo of Clemens' birthplace at Florida, MO. (1835),
Stormfield, his home in Redding, CT. (where he died in 1910) and
Halley's comet by Dave Thomson

Redding, Connecticut April 21. - Samuel Langhorne Clemens, "Mark Twain," died at 22 minutes after 6 tonight. Beside him on the bed lay a beloved book - it was Carlyle's "French Revolution" - and near the book his glasses, pushed away with a weary sigh a few hours before. Too weak to speak clearly, "Give me my glasses," he had written on a piece of paper. He had received them, put them down, and sunk into unconsciousness from which he glided almost imperceptibly into death. He was in his seventy-fifth year.

For some time his daughter Clara and her husband, Ossip Gabrilowitsch, and the humorists' biographer, Albert Bigelow Paine, had been by the bed waiting for the end which Drs. Quintard and Halsey had seen to be a matter of minutes. The patient felt absolutely no pain at the end and the moment of his death was scarcely noticeable.

Death came, however, while his favorite niece, Mrs. E. E. Loomis, and her husband, who is Vice President of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railway, and a nephew, Jervis Langdon, were on the way to the railroad station. They had left the house much encouraged by the fact that the sick man had recognized them, and took a train for New York ignorant of what happened later.

Hopes Aroused Yesterday.

Although the end had been foreseen by the doctors and would not have been a shock at any time, the apparently strong rally of this morning had given basis for the hope that it would be postponed for several days. Mr. Clemens awoke at about 4 o'clock this morning after a few hours of the first natural sleep he had had for several days, and the nurses could see by the brightness of his eyes that his vitality had been considerably restored. He was able to raise his arms above his head and clasp them behind his neck with the first evidence of physical comfort he had given for a long time.

His strength seemed to increase enough to allow him to enjoy the sunrise, the first signs of which he could see out of the windows in the three sides of the room where he lay. The increasing sunlight seemed to bring ease to him, and by the time the family were about he was strong enough to sit up in bed and overjoyed them by recognizing all of them and speaking a few words to each. This was the first time that his mental powers had been fully his for nearly two days, with the exception of a few minutes early last evening, when he addressed a few sentences to his daughter.

Calls for His Book.

For two hours he lay in bed enjoying the feeling of this return of strength. Then he made a movement and asked in a faint voice for the copy of Carlyle's "French Revolution," which he has always had near him for the last year, and which he has read and re-read and brooded over.

The book was handed to him, and he lifted it up as if to read. Then a smile faintly illuminated his face when he realized that he was trying to read without his glasses. He tried to say, "Give me my glasses," but his voice failed, and the nurses bending over him could not understand. He motioned for a sheet of paper and a pencil, and wrote what he could not say.

With his glasses on he read a little and then slowly put the book down with a sigh. Soon he appeared to become drowsy and settled on his pillow. Gradually he sank and settled into a lethargy. Dr. Halsey appreciated that he could have been roused, but considered it better for him to rest. At 3 o'clock he went into complete unconsciousness.

Later Dr. Quintard, who had arrived from New York, held a consultation with Dr. Halsey, and it was decided that death was near. The family was called and gathered about the bedside watching in a silence which was long unbroken. It was the end. At twenty-two minutes past 6, with the sunlight just turning red as it stole into the window, in perfect silence he breathed his last.

Barbara Schmidt's Mark Twain web site is the perfect place to visit for the Centennial. It includes many newspaper articles by Mark Twain and about Mark Twain but that's not all! It also has an amazing amount of background information on his life and works.

For Mark Twain Quotes all day long follow http://www.twitter.com/TwainToday

The Last Day at Stormfield
By Bliss Carman, Collier's Weekly

At Redding, Connecticut,
The April sunrise pours
Over the hardwood ridges
Softening and greening now
In the first magic of Spring.

The wild cherry-trees are in bloom,
The bloodroot is white underfoot,
The serene early light flows on,
Touching with glory the world,
And flooding the large upper room
Where a sick man sleeps.
Slowly he opens his eyes,
After long weariness, smiles,
And stretches arms overhead,
While those about him take heart.

With his awakening strength,
(Morning and spring in the air,
The strong clean scents of earth,
The call of the golden shaft,
Ringing across the hills)
He takes up his heartening book,
Opens the volume and reads,
A page of old rugged Carlyle,
The dour philosopher
Who looked askance upon life,
Lurid, ironical, grim,
Yet sound at the core.
But weariness returns;
He lays the book aside
With his glasses upon the bed,
And gladly sleeps. Sleep,
Blessed abundant sleep,
Is all that he needs.

And when the close of day
Reddens upon the hills
And washes the room with rose,
In the twilight hush
The Summoner comes to him
Ever so gently, unseen,
Touches him on the shoulder;
And with the departing sun
Our great funning friend is gone.

How he has made us laugh!
A whole generation of men
Smiled in the joy of his wit.
But who knows whether he was not
Like those deep jesters of old
Who dwelt at the courts of Kings,
Arthur's, Pendragon's, Lear's,
Plying the wise fool's trade,
Making men merry at will,
Hiding their deeper thoughts
Under a motley array,--
Keen-eyed, serious men,
Watching the sorry world,
The gaudy pageant of life,
With pity and wisdom and love?

Fearless, extravagant, wild,
His caustic merciless mirth
Was leveled at pompous shams.
Doubt not behind that mask
There dwelt the soul of a man,
Resolute, sorrowing, sage,
As sure a champion of good
As ever rode forth to fray.

Haply--who knows?--somewhere
In Avalon, Isle of Dreams,
In vast contentment at last,
With every grief done away,
While Chaucer and Shakespeare wait,
And Moliere hangs on his words,
And Cervantes not far off
Listens and smiles apart,
With that incomparable drawl
He is jesting with Dagonet now.

[Copyright, 1910, by Collier's Weekly.]

View from the location of Mark Twain's bedroom at 6:30pm on April 21st, 2010:

Sure, it's not a comet but I thought it was close enough.

Huck Finn With or Without the N-Word Debate

2011-04-10T07:36:00.000-07:00

"Huck Finn With or Without the 'N' Word"
Presented by the Greater New England Alliance of Black School Educators in collaboration with The Mark Twain House & Museum

On Saturday, April 9th a diverse group of open-minded individuals gathered at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford to discuss the 'N' Word, and its usage in Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

The goal of the program was to gain insight on a topic which has gained intense cultural interest with the recent release of Alan Gribben's edited or "southern" version of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which replaces the word "nigger" with "slave".

The planning committee of this event should be commended for their panelist selections. Dr. Kerry Driscoll (St. Joseph College), Timothy Floyd (Waterbury Arts Magnet School), Craig Hotchkiss (MTH&M Education Program Manager), Frederick Douglass Knowles II (poet-activist-educator at Three Rivers College) and moderator Thomas Smith (retired English AP Literature at Weaver High School), were all amazing.

Dr. Driscoll provided expertise on Twain, the novel and how she prepares future teachers to teach it in their classrooms; Timothy Floyd provided a very much needed first-person viewpoint of both his recent experiences defending the artistic usage of the 'N' Word along with his personal feelings as a student (within a mixed race classroom) reading Huck Finn; Frederick-Douglass Knowles II injected a refreshing mixture of intellect, energy and thought provoking commentary throughout the discussion; and as a retired history teacher and director of educational programs at the Mark Twain House & Museum, Craig Hotchkiss' awareness of the struggles teachers face when attempting to bring unconventional teaching methodologies into their classrooms was enlightening.

The panelists (l to r) Craig Hotchkiss, Dr. Kerry Driscoll, Frederick-Douglass Knowles II, Timothy C. Floyd, Jr., Thomas Smith (Moderator)

The program was preluded with a showing of the recent "60 Minutes" segment on Gribben's edition of Huckleberry Finn in a room a adjacent to the auditorium.

Moderator Thomas Smith's initial questions were formulated to establish background on the novel, Twain's intentions and a discussion on the usage of the 'N' word in everyday culture, which proved to be very successful.

The highlight was Mr. Knowles' explanation of the word's usage and acceptance in Hip-Hop culture. Knowles pointed to the billion dollar "Gangsta Rap" industry that has thrived and continues to thrive via the 'N' word since the late 80's, both validating and explaining its acceptance within that context very well; I believe Knowles' statements hit the nail squarely on the head. West Coast rap, fueled with hard-hitting, often violent lyrics describing life in the "hood" was an immediate hit with not only black culture but white culture as well and it is very plausible that the historical context of the word (within this realm) has been ignored in exchange for the riches generated in employing it.

As the program progressed, the panel discussion opened up to those in attendance and as a direct result very important lessons relating to the role "context" and "perception" play in regard to this subject en filtered the conversation. Via multiple first hand accounts it became abundantly clear that how the 'N' Word is used and by whom it is used by is the true issue with the 'N' Word.

Many teachers in attendance openly shared stories of the negativity they face when attempting to bring Adventures of Huckleberry Finn into their classroom. In the discussions that followed it was determined that there is a need to address the 'N' Word and teach students the historical context of the word prior to classroom discussions about the book's content. So, by:
1. examining the word, its history and its usage 2. explaining why it is used in Huck Finn and 3. why it is essential to the novel, teachers can lessen the negative feelings and emotions associated with the word. However, it was pointed out that some teachers will inevitability fail regardless of their efforts.

The lesson/conclusion that I took away from this discussion was that the 'N' Word is toxic. Both Frederick-Douglass Knowles II and Timothy C. Floyd, Jr. provided valid first hand accounts of the awkward anger they felt as African-Americans within classrooms reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn out loud and dealing with the fact that they were the only African-Americans in the room (i.e all eyes on them). That viewpoint cannot be ignored. That viewpoint is likely why Alan Gribben's edited or "southern" version of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is filling bookshelves and being welcomed by school systems of the South.

The issue I have with Gribben's version is that Twain was not using the "N-word" because he was racist, he was using it to make a point. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is autobiographical. Twain's own parents had slaves and his relationship with the slaves and their children was very influential in his life & writings. His childhood experiences would clearly leave a legacy of guilt that he would later lash out at in his speeches and literary works in an attempt to lessen his guilt.

Twain's personal history paralleled Huckleberry Finn's and given the fact that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn took Twain 8 years to write, he used the words he used for a reason. To give that statement some weight, I'll add that between manuscript 1 and 2, he made more than 1,700 revisions. 88 percent of these revisions being: word changes, spelling, punctuation and adding emphasis. Removing or altering the words Twain himself wrote is misguided, the fact that a Twain scholar is the one doing it is down right vexing but it is what it is.

Background on Twain's life and experiences is essential to the reading of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Without that background, without providing students with a comprehensive understanding of why "nigger" is used 200+ times in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn makes Adventures of Huckleberry Finn pointless.

Mark Twain on Huckleberry Finn:

"A book of mine where a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers defeat."
- Notebook #35 (reprinted in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Univ. of California Press, 2003)

Mark Twain on Slavery:

"In those old slave-holding days the whole community was agreed as to one thing--the awful sacredness of slave property. To help steal a horse or a cow was a low crime, but to help a hunted slave, or feed him or shelter him, or hide him, or comfort him, in his troubles, his terrors, his despair, or hesitate to promptly to betray him to the slave-catcher when opportunity offered was a much baser crime, & carried with it a stain, a moral smirch which nothing could wipe away.

That this sentiment should exist among slave-owners is comprehensible--there were good commercial reasons for it--but that it should exist & did exist among the paupers, the loafers the tag-rag & bobtail of the community, & in a passionate & uncompromising form, is not in our remote day realizable. It seemed natural enough to me then; natural enough that Huck & his father the worthless loafer should feel it & approve it, though it seems now absurd. It shows that that strange thing, the conscience--the unerring monitor--can be trained to approve any wild thing you want it to approve if you begin its education early & stick to it."

- Notebook #35 (reprinted in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Univ. of California Press, 2003)

If students don't understand Adventures of Huckleberry Finn's meaning and teachers don't have the time or interest to help them understand it, go in a new direction and teach Mark Twain's life in our school systems instead... kids will not only get it, they will want more of it.

Twain seems to have known we'd be reading his letters

2011-04-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

Going through the MTP papers this letter caught my eye...

It is Mark Twain's letter to Joe Twichell in 1880 about his new baby daughter Jean and life in general.

Letter:

"Well, we are all getting along here first-rate; Livy gains strength daily, [&] sits up a deal; the baby is five weeks old [ and—— but] no more of this;

[He stops the letter abruptly to scold someone in the 1960's reading the letter]

somebody may be reading this letter 80 years hence. And so, my friend (you pitying snob, I mean, who are holding this yellow paper in [your] hand in 1960,) save yourself the trouble of looking further; I know how pathetically trivial our small concerns [would] seem to you, [&] I will not let your eye profane them. No, I keep my news; you keep your compassion. Suffice it you to know, scoffer [&] ribald, that the little child is old [&] blind, now, [&] once more toothless; [&] the rest of us are shadows, these many, many years. Yes, [&] your time cometh!"

-Mark

Twain estimates 80 years and we're still reading his letters 130 years later! And what is really wild is that we, here in 2011, can read this letter thanks to the intensive, ongoing editorial work going since the mid 1960s at the Mark Twain Papers & Project at University of California, Berkeley.

"The story of my life will make certain people sit up and take notice, but I will use my influence not to have it published until the persons mentioned in it and their children and grandchildren are dead. I tell you it will be something awful. It will be what you might call good reading."
- Twain during interview aboard SS Minneapolis, New York 06/08/1907

Life Lessons from Mark Twain

2011-04-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

Mark Twain's life is perceived by many as a "charmed life" but the reality is the rags to riches story of the wealthiest and most widely recognized author/humorist the World has ever known is not as “charmed” as one would think. Mark Twain lived a life that many could not endure, let alone survive; personally, he referred to himself as “God’s Fool” and that was not too far from the truth. From his premature birth straight through to his seventy-fourth year of life, Twain ran a pain stricken, stress filled and often depressing gauntlet of life. Death was so common that it could be consider thematic and wealth, as odd as it may sound, did not agree with him either. And yet, somehow he found a way to weather the storms of life and one hundred years later, we are very lucky he did because in the process he delivered some very profound insights on life, love and perseverance that we can all use to our own advantage today.

The following comes from Twain’s letters, speeches, notebooks and writings; the wisdom of his thoughts are as inspiring as they are instructive.

Mark Twain on Life

1. "Perseverance is a principle that should be commendable in those who have judgment to govern it."
- The Enemy Conquered; or Love Triumphant

The lesson: Don't give up. Often it is those who keep at it that succeed.

2. “Only he who has seen better days and lives to see better days again knows their full value.”
- Notebook, 1902

The lesson: Focus on the present and value what you have. Only after his financial troubles, did Twain come to realize the value of the life and lifestyle he once had.

3. “...the events of life are mainly small events -- they only seem large when we are close to them. By and by they settle down and we see that one doesn't show above another. They are all about one general low altitude, and inconsequential.”
- Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 (University of California Press, 2010)

The lesson: Think before you act. People often overreact to situations and in hindsight regret it.

4. "... life does not consist mainly -- or even largely -- of facts and happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever blowing through one's head."

The lesson: There are two lessons that can be learned from this quote.

One: Be mindful that each one of us awakens each morning and faces an internal battle with our thoughts, feelings and personal desires. Take that into consideration when interacting with other people and realize that their position on a topic or reaction to your opinion is based solely on their perceptions.

Two: Give yourself a break. A lot of what’s floating around up there has nothing to do with reality. Focus on the positives, ignore the negatives and if you really want something, stop dreaming about it and go get it.

5. "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry."
- The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson and the Comedy of the Extraordinary Twins

The lesson: Don’t we all enjoy that special person in our life that projects the positives, makes us laugh and does nice things for others? Be that person.

Teaching Twain- How to end the N-Word Controversy

2011-03-24T06:02:00.000-07:00

Since Alan Gribben's edited version of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn became a topic of interest and debate, many Twain scholars have been asked to explain and/or defend why the "N-word" exists in Huckleberry Finn. Unfortunately, no matter how well we articulate our answers, to some our reasoning is wrong. They say: "But what if it opens up the book to more young people?" and of that opinion there are many that nod in agreement.

But the truth is, even if by changing a couple words you opened up the book to millions of new readers... the whole point of the book involves the "N-word" as a hate word, the racism fueling this hatred and how it eventually dawns on Huck that this type of behavior and hatred is wrong. So by removing the "N-word" you lose the impact of the hatred that Twain is not only pointing out but calling out in 1885.

What many do not realize is that: In many ways Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is autobiographical. Although the Missouri he grew up in was not a part of the Confederacy, it was a slave state and slavery was defended by all public institutions, including churches. Twain's own parents had several slaves and his relationship with the slaves and their children was very influential in his later writings. One of the slaves that influenced Twain's life was a middle aged slave known to him as "Uncle Dan'l" He'd later recall the "privileged nights" he, his cousins and the slave children all clustered at Dan'l's feet to hear him tell his thunderous stories.

"He has served me well, these many, many years... spiritually I have had his welcome company... and have staged him in books as his own name and as "Jim"... It was on the farm that I got my strong liking for his race and my appreciation of... its fine qualities."

His childhood experiences would clearly leave a legacy of guilt that he would later lash out at in his speeches and literary works and attempt to lessen through charitable donations to African-American individuals and their causes. In his Notebook #35 he writes:

"In those slave-holding days the whole community was agreed as to one thing- the awful sacredness of slave property. It shows that that strange thing, the conscience - the unerring monitor - can be trained to approve any wild thing you want it to approve if you begin its education early and stick to it."

In Chapter 38 of Following the Equator, he provides us with an pointed example of what he wrote in Notebook #35:

"When I was ten years old I saw a man fling a lump of iron-ore at a slave-man in anger, for merely doing something awkwardly- as if that were a crime. It bounded from the man's skull, and the man fell and never spoke again. He was dead in an hour... Nobody in the village approved of that murder, but of course no one said much about it."

In that very same notebook, reprinted in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Univ. of California Press, 2003, he writes in reference to Huck Finn:

"A book of mine where a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers defeat."

Clearly, Twain's personal history paralleled Huckleberry Finn's and given the fact that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn took Twain 8 years to write, he used the words he used for a reason. To give that statement some weight, I'll add that between manuscript 1 and 2, he made more than 1,700 revisions. 88 percent of these revisions being: word changes, spelling, punctuation and adding emphasis. Twain was not using the "N-word" because he was racist, he was using it to make a point. Removing or altering the words Twain himself wrote is misguided, the fact that a Twain scholar is the one doing it is down right vexing but it is what it is.

So what is the solution? My solution is to put Adventure of Huckleberry Finn on hold for a while. Students don't understand it's meaning and most teachers don't have the time or interest to help them understand it, so I say we go in a new direction. What if we taught Mark Twain in our school systems instead? Mark Twain's life isn't a hard sell, and once you're hooked, you're hooked. Imagine if children *wanted* to read Mark Twain and as they read Mark Twain they understood and appreciated what he was saying in those texts. That is my solution to the "N-word Controversy," teach our children about Mark Twain and show them the unique life experiences he had that made him who he was and fueled the novels that he wrote.

To promote this concept, I have created an online PowerPoint preview to provide school administrators and their staff with a visual of how Twain's life could be presented in their classrooms.

Online presentations and videos are becoming very popular these days because they deliver information at budget friendly numbers that allow both schools and home schoolers to provide unique learning experiences to their students. Independent scholars are becoming increasingly aware of the advantages of producing online resources and are profiting from the extensive reach and viral potential these resources hold.

In future articles I'll update you on the progress I make with the "Understanding Twain" effort.

Brent M. Colley is an independent Mark Twain Advocate who promotes Twain's life and legacy actively via this blog and his twitter account: http://www.twitter.com/BrentMColley

Mark Twain Visits Ridgefield Connecticut

2011-01-28T14:51:00.000-08:00

The Ridgefield Mark Twain Connection exhibit is on display at Ridgefield Town Hall for the next two months. We filled three glass cabinets with photos, items and information. Susan Durkee's artwork is on display too and it really gives the pop we were looking for. If you visit be sure to check out the items that Heather Morgan of the Mark Twain Library added, especially Stormfield's Guestbook.

Next week Ridgefield Historical Society will add items to promote their "Twain Connections" The biggest being Edward W. Kemble who illustrated Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Susan B. Durkee created this "Twain in Ridgefield" welcome board for us.

Side view of the entry case. We showcase his Redding house on the top, on the bottom we showcase the Mark Twain Library and his daughter Clara's Wedding.

Straight ahead shot of the cabinet.

This is the cabinet across the hallway from the first. This one showcases the Ridgefield Twain Connections and thus the empty space on the first row. That will be added next week. The bottom is our area and there we showcase Helen Keller's visit in January of 1909 and his passing in 1910. The Guestbook shows people from Ridgefield visiting Twain, we didn't note it to see how many people would notice. In the middle is an actual program from his funeral and a ticket.

There is an additional glass cabinet downstairs in the conference room area that contains an interesting collection of odds and ends that I added as "conversation pieces". There is a lot to Twain's life and those associated with it. That is for sure!

Thank you to:

Kay Ables and The Ridgefield Historical Society

The Town of Ridgefield, Connecticut

The Wadsworth Lewis Trust Fund who provided $500.00 in 2010 to make this exhibit possible.

Susan B. Durkee. A great friend and amazing portrait artist.

Heather Morgan of The Mark Twain Library. Another great friend and partner in crime.

The Mark Twain House in Hartford for all their help, support and some of the amazing photos we are displaying in Ridgefield.

Ray Flanigan of Bethel Photoworks. Ray mounted five of our photos on to foam board for us in less than 2 hours. Amazing service!

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Mark Twain Quotation

2011-01-25T13:01:00.000-08:00

"Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising."
- Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

As many of you who have been following the Mark Twain Stormfield Project over the past 3 years know, I don't have any funding. All this is an out-of-pocket expense and as of Mark Twain's Birthday my wife said "Enough! find money or forget Twain!"
Her exact words.

And so it was time to find some way to make money and not take time away from my design business. Tall order. Via Twitter and Facebook I was constantly faced with postings to make "money doing nothing", "generate life-long streams of income", "be your own boss"... you get the picture. Now, part a me didn't believe any of this but deep-down there was a question and it had been gnawing at me for some time, so I picked-up the phone.

The question was "How's Danny doing now?" Danny and I had been friends since 3rd grade but had lost contact after college. He was always looking for the "get-rich-quick" solution and about 10 years ago he actually found it... affiliate marketing. We spoke about 5 years ago and he was pulling in $15,000 to $20,000 a month working from home, 30 minutes a week. I'm not kidding, only 30 minutes a week! Then we lost touch again and because he had mentioned going into the Real Estate market, I wondered if he had lost it all. He lives in Michigan and the markets out there are real bad. But to get back to the conversation over the holidays, he did not lose anything, he actually gained a great deal and he's doing really well now teaching others how to do it too.

That's where this post comes in. I started taking his advice and writing articles for EzineArticles.com to market other people's products and services. Then, randomly an update came in over Twitter from "Anna Rich". *I always notice her updates because she has this very cool profile picture that rotates between three photos at just the right speed.* It's eye catching.

The article was about Affiliate Marketing and I mistakenly thought she had written it and replied to her about what Article service she was using. I wanted to know if there was another service that approved articles faster than EZine. EZine is sloooow.

While waiting to see if she replied I clicked her profile link to see what she marketed on her Affiliate Marketing Resource Site "Secret Riches" which operates out of the United Kingdom. *Twain Connection* There I found something called "Swom Bomb" Swom Bomb? It's amazing the names they give these sites. But I signed up anyway and "Swom Bomb" led me to a site called: "Swom"

That's when I understood and saw the great potential in this site. Swom is like Facebook for Affiliate Marketers- they all share ideas, methods and programs that have worked for them. Perfect place for an Affiliate Marketing "Rookie" to be. I'm able to see what others are using, ask them questions, see what they're making per month and make money in the process. Unlike Facebook where you lose money interacting with people, Swom members gain money for interacting and helping others. They also get $15 for referring people to this community. Not bad.

Can you imagine if it actually works? Brent with funding could be dangerous.

If you do check-out Swom and decide to upgrade to their Gold level you can get back that fee via PayBox. PayBox pays you $25 to sign-up and sign-up is free.

Twain in England Connection for Anna

Mark Twain in his Oxford gown at his daughter Clara's wedding on October 6th, 1909. Clara was the only of his daughters to marry and she was married in Redding, Connecticut at Stormfield. Several months after his death Clara would give birth to Twain's only grand-daughter at Stormfield as well.

Twain received the gown at Oxford on June 26, 1907

via TwainQuotes.com
Together with thirty men distinguished in politics, art, science, or letters, including Premier Campbell-Bannerman, Lord Chancellor Loreburn, the Speaker of the House of Commons, Mr. Lowther, Gen. Booth, Rudyard Kipling, and the Archbishop of Armagh, Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) received a university degree today in the Sheldonian Theatre.

Mr. Reid was cheered on entering the Theatre, but the great ovation was reserved for Mark Twain, who was the lion of the occasion. Everyone rose when he was escorted up the aisle and he was applauded for a quarter of an hour. When Dr. Ingram Bywater, Regius Professor of Greek, presented the American humorist to the convocation, the students started a fire of chaff about his books and their heroes, mixed with frequent questions, such as "Where is your white suit?" Mark Twain said afterward that he wanted to reply, but was determined to observe the etiquette, which demands that recipients of degrees be silent.

Ambassador Reid received the degree of Doctor of Civil Laws, as did Gen. Booth, the warmth of whose reception was exceeded only by that accorded to Mark Twain. The crowd waited outside the building to cheer Mark Twain, as, wearing the scarlet robes of a Doctor of Letters, he marched in procession to the Chancellor's residence, where those who had been honored by the bestowal of degrees were entertained at luncheon.

Mark Twain Quotation

2011-01-24T19:06:00.000-08:00

"It is wiser to find out than suppose."
-Mark Twain

It's been getting tough to find the "good stuff" so until Blogger gets a better category sorting gadget I've listed some helpful links below.

Twain's Time in Redding:

June 18th, 1908, the arrival

The Burglary at Stormfield, September 18, 1908

The Burglary... who were the Stormfield burglars?

Stormfield Burglar makes his confession

Our Neighbor Mark Twain by Coley Taylor

Mark Twain as I Knew Him. Recollections of an Angelfish

Guestbook Entries September 1909

Who were the Angelfish?

The Billiard Room Addition (Bigelow Paine's House)

Mark Twain & Isabel Lyon

Funeral Expenses

The Tour de Twain... where to visit when you come to Redding

Stormfield:

The property known as Stormfield

Books and articles containing information on Stormfield

The Stormfield Guestbook

Sunderlands, the builders of Stormfield

Stormfield and Mark Twain Lane in 1915

Stormfield Rebuiding Crew, 1925 (post fire)

Mark Twain Library:

Concert in support of library for Redding

Letter asking lawyer, Charles Lark, to release $6,000 for library

Samuel L. Clemens Book Collection at the Mark Twain Library

Mark Twain Library Celebrates 100th Anniversary

Mark Twain Library Launches New Website on the 99th Anniversary of his Death

The Mark Twain Centennial Project:

The Mark Twain Centennial Project Explained

Does Your Town Have a Twain Connection?

The Centennial Project Artwork

The Centennial Project Kickoff at the Lobster Pot

What We Want to Do Going Forward

Movie Projects:

Dangerous Intimacy: The Untold Story of Mark Twain's Final Years

The Mark Twain Library Building

2011-01-09T15:05:00.000-08:00

In February of 2011 we will be celebrating the completion and dedication of the Jean L Clemens Memorial Building.

Almost immediately after his arrival, Mark Twain took interest in founding a public library for the residents of Redding.

Why was this of interest to him? Perhaps it was in his genes…John Marshall Clemens, Twain’s father, is said to have been instrumental in founding the first Hannibal, Missouri Library.

“The first effort to establish a library for use of Hannibal citizens was in 1844. The organizers were Judge John M. Clemens, Zachariah Draper, Dr. Hugh Meredith and Sam Cross.”

In the image below you see similarities between Hannibal and Redding. Note the windows, fireplace and portrait above the mantle. After seeing this photo, I'm almost positive someone from Redding either visited Hannibal when planning the Jean L. Clemens Memorial Building or requested photos of it's interior. The look is far too similar to be coincidental.

Hannibal Public Library, Hannibal Missouri

To create Redding’s first public library, Twain donated books from his own collection and asked others to do the same. Next Twain went into fundraising mode, a role he greatly enjoyed. Male visitors to Stormfield were “taxed” $1 dollar, concerts were held, and friends and associates were urged to contribute to the cause. He was very successful. Large contributions of books were sent to Redding by Collier's Weekly, Harper & Brothers, and by Page & Company.

From 1908 to 1910, the library was a focal point for Twain. In fact one of his final acts was approving a check for the library building fund.

To Charles T. Lark, in New York:

HAMILTON, BERMUDA.
April 6, 1910.

DEAR MR. LARK,--I have told Paine that I want the money derived from the
sale of the farm, which I had given, but not conveyed, to my daughter
Jean, to be used to erect a building for the Mark Twain Library of
Redding, the building to be called the Jean L. Clemens Memorial Building.

I wish to place the money $6,000.00 in the hands of three trustees,--
Paine and two others: H. A. Lounsbury and William E. Hazen, all of
Redding, these trustees to form a building Committee to decide on the
size and plan of the building needed and to arrange for and supervise the
work in such a manner that the fund shall amply provide for the building
complete, with necessary furnishings, leaving, if possible, a balance
remaining, sufficient for such repairs and additional furnishings as may
be required for two years from the time of completion.

Will you please draw a document covering these requirements and have it
ready by the time I reach New York (April 14th).
Very sincerely,
S. L. CLEMENS.

And thus, what began as a service to the residents of Redding, became a memorial to his daughter Jean. From this point forward it was up to the residents of Redding to return the favor and build a memorial to not only fulfill the great author’s wishes, but exceed them.

Redding, residents wasted little time in securing a building lot at the corner of Diamond Hill and Redding Road, quickly erecting the building, which opening on February 18 of 1911, less than a year after his passing. As he had wished, it was named the Jean L Clemens Memorial Building, and to no one’s surprise the library itself named the Mark Twain Library.

Since that time, the Mark Twain Library has grown and it has evolved but what it has remained is a tribute to Mark Twain’s legacy. Visitors of the Mark Twain Library are surrounded by photos, paintings, quotations, artwork and sculptures… there is little doubt that you have entered the “Mark Twain” library. But, more importantly, the Mark Twain Library keeps Mark Twain alive and that is a very significant point to remember, especially when you are made aware of the following:

“It's noble to be good, and it's nobler to teach others to be good and less trouble.”
- Mark Twain’s remarks at the opening of the Mark Twain Library, Redding, CT

It was very noble of Mark Twain to found our public library and so we must now be nobler and promote his life and works to others.

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Huckleberry Finn

2011-01-06T08:47:00.000-08:00

Englehart's cartoon says it best. This was posted in the Hartford Courant on January 7th, 2011.

I've posted this elsewhere but it's worthy to note here as well.

The new book by Al Gribben is attempting to soften Twain's version of Huck Finn by substituting certain words like: "slave" for "nigger" and "Indian" for "Injun." The thought being that more schools will use it if those "hate words" are removed.

The issue is that Twain used those words for a reason. He was holding a mirror up to society... post-civil war society ... and shouting "THIS IS WRONG!"

As Twain Scholar Dr. Cindy Lovell notes:
"In "Huck Finn" Twain pokes us with a sharp stick, makes us squirm, makes us highly uncomfortable. And it's effective."

From Twain himself:

"In those old slave-holding days the whole community was agreed as to one thing--the awful sacredness of slave property.

To help steal a horse or a cow was a low crime, but to help a hunted slave, or feed him or shelter him, or hide him, or comfort him, in his troubles, his terrors, his despair, or hesitate to promptly to betray him to the slave-catcher when opportunity offered was a much baser crime, & carried with it a stain, a moral smirch which nothing could wipe away.

That this sentiment should exist among slave-owners is comprehensible-- there were good commercial reasons for it-- but that it should exist & did exist among the paupers, the loafers the tag-rag & bobtail of the community, & in a passionate & uncompromising form, is not in our remote day realizable.

It seemed natural enough to me then; natural enough that Huck & his father the worthless loafer should feel it & approve it, though it seems now absurd.

It shows that that strange thing, the conscience--the unerring monitor--can be trained to approve any wild thing you want it to approve if you begin its education early & stick to it."

-Mark Twain's Notebook #35 (reprinted in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Univ. of California Press, 2003)

Twain was not a racist.
Anyone who believes Twain was a racist has not done their homework:

"We have ground the manhood out of them, & the shame is ours, not theirs, & we should pay for it”
(Mark Twain letter to Francis Wayland, 24 December, 1885)

And if that doesn't sway your opinion... think of it this way:

Where do we go from here? Should we edit the story of Abraham next?

"Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house..."

to

"Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the "helpers" born in his house..."

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Video Footage of Mark Twain's Birthday in Redding

2011-01-06T08:01:00.000-08:00

Jackson Pearce is a young author writing a historical fiction novel on Mark Twain (at Stormfield) focusing on his relationships with the Angelfish.

On Twain's birthday this past year she joined myself and Alan Kitty as we toured around Redding. Although we weren't aware of it at the time, she was capturing video footage of our day for a video blog post which she recently pulled together and posted for our enjoyment. The following day she visited the Hartford House so there is some footage from there as well.

The clip includes footage from: The Mark Twain Library (showing archives and books), Redding Town Hall (probate records), Redding Elementary School (presentation to school kids), Markland (Angelfish tiles), "New" Stormfield (inside and out), The cutting of Twain's 175th Birthday Cake, and the Twain House and Museum in Hartford
(inside and out).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XreoYFUSxUE

Mark Twain's Birthday in Photos

2010-12-15T07:40:00.000-08:00

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November 30th Celebrate Mark Twain's Birthday with "Mark Twain"

2010-11-24T06:28:00.000-08:00

Come to Redding on November 30th and Celebrate Mark Twain's Birthday with "Mark Twain"

4:30pm Redding Community Center. Children's film version of Huckleberry Finn. Free.

5:30pm Redding Roadhouse. Happy Hour with Mark Twain. Enjoy the evening by the fire with Mark Twain. Free.

7:00pm Redding Community Center. Documentary Film- Dangerous Intimacy. Produced by History Films, Inc. Based on the book by Karen Lystra, it focuses on Mark Twain's final years. Many scenes filmed in Redding. Followed by Q and A's and Cake!
Tickets $5, can be purchased at Redding Park and Rec. 203-938-2551.

"Mark Twain" will be played by Nationally Recognized Mark Twain Impersonator, Alan Kitty.

Friday's Twain Tour de Redding a Success

2010-11-13T16:18:00.000-08:00

November 12th was a very special day for Redding’s "Twainiacs". It was an opportunity to accomplish our primary goal in this Centennial year- increase interest in Mark Twain's time here in Redding, Connecticut.

Earlier this year, it struck us as odd that a website created to promote the 100th Anniversary of Twain's passing (www.Twain2010.org) neglected to list Redding as a Mark Twain Site... after all he did build his final home here, founded our public library, celebrated his daughter's wedding and ended his Autobiography here. What our absence from the list said was, that, for whatever reason, Redding simply wasn't "there" yet and we really needed to share our story with as many people as we could in this Centennial year to change that.

This year was our year to present a case, and thus when fellow Twainiac, Heather Morgan, saw that the Mark Twain Project's Robert H. Hirst was coming to Connecticut she extended an invitation for him to visit Redding. He accepted and agreed to speak about the Autobiography Friday evening, so we planned a special day tour of Redding to thank him.

Our Tour began at the Mark Twain Library where Heather presented Mr. Hirst with the finest examples of the library's amazing collection of Twain related photos, documents, personal items and books. Next stop, was Redding’s Town Hall. Town Hall was a very important stop but we faced a challenging situation- Town Hall is closed Fridays. I called Judge Emerson early in the week and explained the importance of Robert's visit, he agreed. And so, through the kind hearts of Judge Emerson and Probate Clerk, Laura Homa, we sat down within the town vault at 10:30am Friday morning.

The information in Mark Twain's probate records were what I thought may be of interest because they show an inventory of assets, as well as a listing of companies and people he owed money to at the time of his passing. As Laura pulled out the documents and explained that they were only available by request, were stored under lock and key and ironically would be leaving Redding in 6 weeks to be stored up in Hartford at the State Library, I was thinking "this is all lining up pretty well."

And so the moment came that these documents were placed into his hands and Robert began to read them... "hmmph" after "hmmph" after "hmmph" were followed by "I'm grateful you brought me here to see this today." He was not aware these documents existed.

What was special about this information was that up until Friday, Robert was aware that Mark Twain had a personal nurse at Stormfield, but now he knew her name. These records contain the names of all Twain’s employees and their salaries. Albert B. Paine’s salary was surprising; no one knew Paine was being paid a salary! In addition, it lists the companies Twain held stock in and the local merchants and people he did business with.

From there, with the help of many, we gave Robert a grand tour of Redding. Jere and Jane Ross made it possible for us to show him the Old Town House where the Stormfield Burglars were arraigned for trial. Tad Sanford opened up the Redding Historical Society for us which turned out to be extra special because in addition to the beautiful Mark Twain desk downstairs, we discovered Duane Haley’s Twain portrait upstairs. Mark Twain Lane residents: Kathleen and Rob Lopes gave us an informative tour of “Markland”, Susan B. Durkee and Terry Vontobel showcased Twain’s initial property purchase “The Lobster Pot” and Erika and Jake DeSantis granted us access once again to view the Stormfield property.

Thank you to all who helped make this special day possible. The opportunity to tour a World renowned Mark Twain scholar around Redding at the tail end of the Centennial year is something that I never would have imagined possible back in March, but as Mark Twain said: "Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising." We're not “there” yet but we are a lot closer to our goal.

Robert H. Hirst signs copies of Mark Twain's Autobiography at the Mark Twain Library in Redding, Connecticut.

"A dream that comes only once is oftenest only an idle accident, and hasn't any message, but the recurrent dream is quite another matter--oftener than not it has come on business."

- Mark Twain, Three Thousand Years Among the Microbes

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The Mark Twain Project's Robert H. Hirst Comes to Redding

2010-11-09T11:28:00.000-08:00

The week, we are gearing up for a very special visit by World Renowned Mark Twain Expert- Robert Hirst. Heather Morgan, of the Mark Twain Library, saw that he was in Connecticut this week and extended an invitation for him to come on down to Redding for a visit. He accepted and we are thrilled, it is truly an honor. Though I have to come clean and admit that when Heather first shared this news with me I did not know who Robert Hirst was. Yep, I know, bad Twainiac! But how I found out just might make you laugh out loud... I received my copy of the Autobiography and settled into my easy chair, after a half hour of trying to figure out how the heck to read it (it's not your typical autobiography) I gave in and decided to start from the beginning.

It starts:

The Mark Twain Papers

Robert H. Hirst, General Editor

Well, as you can imagine, I was like John Belushi in Animal House when the horse has a heart attack. I've gathered myself since then but it's still hard to believe that we have the opportunity give Robert a grand tour of Redding and many of the Twain related sites and houses still standing here at the tail end of the Centennial year.

From the Mark Twain Project website:

Merging Works and Papers: The Mark Twain Project

In 1980, Robert H. Hirst, who had been one of those graduate students from 1967 to 1978, succeeded Anderson as the editor in charge of the Mark Twain Papers. At the behest of NEH, he merged the Works and Papers series into one edition, supported by one biennial grant, with one editorial board. He called it the Mark Twain Project.

He also enlarged the scope of the edition, making it for the first time explicitly comprehensive, aimed at collecting and editing everything of significance that Mark Twain wrote. But merging Works and Papers did not create a larger staff at Berkeley; it meant instead that both series of books had to share the time available from the existing group of resident editors.

Three of the graduate student editors from the 1960s are still at work in the Mark Twain Project, providing the continuity and experience that are invaluable for such a project, and that have enabled it to steadily improve the quality of the editions it produces. Resident editors routinely work with so-called “outside” editors, either from the original Iowa group or from later generations, and the Project has been supported by grants from NEH and matching private gifts for forty years.

The Project's most recent innovation is embodied in the current Web site, which required expertise not just in Mark Twain, but in the mysteries of electronic editing. The Web site has become the primary form of publication for the Project, although works such as the Autobiography will be published both digitally and in print.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Perseverance is a principle that should be commendable in those who have judgment to govern it." -Mark Twain

Mark Twain Library Dedicated

2010-10-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

On October 28, 1908, Twain formally dedicated Redding's new public library, naming himself as first President.

Clemens and Angelfish in October 1908 at the Mark Twain Library Dedication event.

The temporary library was actively used, and a librarian was on hand Wednesdays and Saturday afternoons for the town’s people.

Twain didn’t stop there. He began raising funds for a permanent library building by charging admission to his personal gatherings, imposing a $1 tax on all male visitors, a luggage tax on all his many famous visitors, and receiving gifts from influential friends like Andrew Carnegie.

On September 21, 1909 he hosted a Library Fund concert at Stormfield in which his daughter Clara Clemens and her future husband Ossip Gabrilowitsch, the Russian pianist, entertained 525 guests.

Land for the new library building was donated by Theodore Adams. One of Twain’s final acts was approving a $6,000 check for the Library Building Fund. He dedicated the Library in the memory of his daughter Jean.

To Charles T. Lark, New York:
HAMILTON, BERMUDA. April 6, 1910

DEAR MR. LARK,–I have told Paine that I want the money derived from the sale of the farm, which I had given, but not conveyed, to my daughter Jean, to be used to erect a building for the Mark Twain Library of Redding, the building to be called the Jean L. Clemens Memorial Building.

I wish to place the money $6,000.00 in the hands of three trustees,– Paine and two others: H. A. Lounsbury and William E. Hazen, all of Redding, these trustees to form a building Committee to decide on the size and plan of the building needed and to arrange for and supervise the work in such a manner that the fund shall amply provide for the building complete, with necessary furnishings, leaving, if possible, a balance remaining, sufficient for such repairs and additional furnishings as may be required for two years from the time of completion.

Will you please draw a document covering these requirements and have it ready by the time I reach New York (April 14th).

Very sincerely, S. L. CLEMENS.

The Mark Twain Library officially opened at its present location on February 18, 1911.

Wilton's Neighbor: Mark Twain Exhibit

2010-10-20T13:46:00.000-07:00

For those who cannot attend the Wilton Historical Society's Exhibit: Wilton's Neighbor Mark Twain. Here are some images I took at the opening.

Wilton Historical Society did a great job with this exhibit. They went "above and beyond" in my opinion as they transformed the entire museum into the Twain-theme... painting quotations on museum walls for an exhibit is rare.

This exhibit was a joint effort between the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford and the Mark Twain Library in Redding but they asked me to provide a map of my Connecticut Twain Connections. I was just a little excited about that... just a little. :) And the Wilton Historical Society added some flare to the map for me too, which was greatly appreciated.

This was an item from the Mark Twain Library that even I didn't know about! It's a list of donations made by individuals in support Redding's Public Library... now known as the Mark Twain Library in Twain's honor. October 28th, 1908 was the "grand opening" of this library, to the right is Twain's speech.

The entire lower level of the Wilton Historical Society was altered and it paid dividends, the exhibit sparkled.

As we've seen with the release of the Autobiography, he's still very much alive.

This was very well done, they ran a loop of the Edison movie of Twain at Stormfield on the wall. This photo was perfect... he's just exited the front door and seems to be posing for the picture.

The Exhibit runs until October 31st so get down there if you're local. It's very well done and very special, Hartford and Redding together to promote his life is exactly what I envisioned when I started this project. I'm very happy with the result.

October 15, 1900 Twain Returns to America

2010-10-15T16:25:00.000-07:00

He also notes that his autobiography will be published in 100 years... he was just 10 years off. That's pretty good.

Some one in the crowd asked him about his autobiography that is to be published 100 years hence.

"It is true I am writing it," he said.

"That's not a joke, is it?"

"No; I said it seriously; that's why they take it as a joke. You know, I never told the truth in my life that some one didn't say I was lying, while, on the other hand, I never told a lie that somebody didn't take it as a fact."

The New York Times, October 16, 1900

MARK TWAIN HOME AGAIN
Writer Reaches America After His Prolonged Stay Abroad.
GREETED BY MANY FRIENDS
Talks Freely of His Travels, His Experiences, and His Triumphs - In the Best of Health.

Mark Twain returned to America yesterday on the Atlantic Transport Line steamship Minnehaha.

As is well known, Mark Twain registers at hotels and signs checks under the name of Samuel M. Clemens, but it was the writer and lecturer, Mark Twain, who attracted to the pier so many friends and associated of former days.

Mr. Clemens never looked better, was in a splendid humor, and greeted his friends with the most affectionate cordiality.

As soon as the author had finished with the salutations of his friends, he was surrounded by a large number of newspaper men, and asked for a story of what he had been doing during all the nine years of his absence from his native land.

"Now, that's a long story, but I suppose I must give you something, even if it is in a condensed form," he said. "I left America June 6, 1891, and went to Aix-les-Bains, France, where I spent the fall and winter. After that I went to Berlin, where I lectured, giving readings from my works. After this my next stop was the Riviera, where I remained for three months, going from there to the baths near Frankfort, where I remained during the cholera season.

"Most of 1892 I spent at Florence, where I rented a home. While there I wrote 'Joan of Arc' and finished up 'Pudd'nhead Wilson.' For the next two years I was in France. I can't speak French yet. In the spring of 1895 I came to the United States for a brief stay, crossing the continent from New York to San Francisco, lecturing every night. In October of that year I sailed from Vancouver for Sydney, where I lectured, or, more properly speaking, gave readings from my works to the English-speaking people. I also visited Tasmania and New Zealand.

"This was at the time of the famous Venezuelan message of President Cleveland, and it did my heart good to see that the animosities engendered by that message did not affect the affection of a people in a strange land for me.

"I then proceeded to India, lecturing in Ceylon, Bombay, and Calcutta. I then sailed for South Africa, arriving at Delagoa Bay in April, 1896. In South Africa I visited Kimberley, Johannesburg, and finally Cape Town. I met Oom Paul. I had heard and read all about him - hat, beard, frock coat, pipe, and everything else. The picture is a true likeness. At this time the Jameson raiders were in jail, and I visited them and made a little speech trying to console them. I told them of the advantages of being in jail. 'This jail is as good as any other,' I said, 'and, besides, being in jail has its advantages. A lot of great men have been in jail. If Bunyan had not been put in jail, he would never have written "Pilgrim's Progress." Then the jail is responsible for "Don Quixote," so you see being in jail is not so bad, after all. Finally I told them that they ought to remember that many great men had been compelled to go through life without ever having been in a jail. Some of the prisoners didn't seem to take much to the joke, while others seemed much amused.

All this time my family was with me, and after a short stay at Cape Town we took a steamer for Southampton. On arriving in England we went to Guilford, where I took a furnished house, remaining two months, after which for ten months our home was in London. All this time I was lecturing, reading, or working hard in other ways, writing magazine stories and doing other literary work.

"After London came Vienna, to which city we went in September, 1898, remaining until May of the following year, in order to allow one of my daughters to take music lessons from a man who spelled his name Leschetizky. He had plenty of identification, you see, and with all seemed to be a pretty smart fellow. After Vienna, where, by the way, I had a lot of fun watching the Reichsrath, we returned to London, in which city and Sweden we have been until our departure for home some days ago, and now I am home again, and you have got the history of a considerable part of my life."

"Well, everybody's glad you are back, which you know of course. They gave you the courtesy of the port didn't they?" an intensely interested listener remarked.

"Yes, I wrote to Secretary Gage telling him that my baggage was on a 16,000-ton ship, which was quite large enough to accommodate all I had, which, while it consisted of a good many things, was not good enough to pay duty on, yet too good to throw away. I accordingly suggested that he write the customs people to let it in, as I thought they would be more likely to take his word than mine."

"How about your plans?" he was asked.

"I am absolutely unable to speak of my plans," he replied, "inasmuch as I have none, and I do not expect to lecture."

At this point the question anti-imperialism was broached, some one asking: "How are you on expansion; are you for the President or are you with those that style themselves anti-imperialists?"

"Yes. As near as I can find out, I think that I am an anti-imperialist. I was not though, until some time ago, for when I first heard of the acquisition of the present Pacific possessions I though it a good thing for a country like America to release those people from a bondage of suffering and oppression that had lasted 300 years, but when I read the Paris treaty I changed my mind."

"You are going to vote for Mr. Bryan, then, are you?" was the query put to him by another bystander.

"No, I am a Mugwump. I don't know who I am going to vote for. I must look over the field. Then, you know, I've been out of the country a long time, and I might not be allowed to register."

"You are still a citizen of the United States, are you not?" interposed a member of the party.

"Well, I guess I am. I've been paying taxes on this side for the last nine years. I believe, though, a man can run for President," laughingly inquired Mr. Clemens, "without a vote, can't he? If this is so, why, then I am a candidate for President."

Dropping anti-imperialism, Mr. Clemens made the plea that he had been away so long that he really knew very little on the subject, as all of his information had practically been gleaned from foreign papers. Some one in the crowd asked him about his autobiography that is to be published 100 years hence.

"It is true I am writing it," he said.

"That's not a joke, is it?"

"No; I said it seriously; that's why they take it as a joke. You know, I never told the truth in my life that some one didn't say I was lying, while, on the other hand, I never told a lie that somebody didn't take it as a fact."

"Well, it's not wrong, anyway, to tell a lie sometimes, is it?" was a question some one asked in a very conciliatory way.

"That's right, exactly right. If you can disseminate facts by telling the truth, why that's the way to do it, and if you can't except by doing a little lying, well, that's all right, too, isn't it? I do it."

Mr. Clemens had become very restless by this time, and the many friends surrounding him on the pier managed to rescue him from the clutches of the newspaper men, who had been firing questions at him since he first appeared on the pier.

"I'll see you again. I'll be at the Earlington all the Winter. I am not going to Hartford till next year," and with a pleasant nod of the head the famous writer, accompanied by is friends, began a search for his baggage.

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102nd Anniversary of the "Chapel" Library Opening

2010-10-11T11:14:00.000-07:00

Chapel Building Library Officially opened on October 11th, 1908

On October 11, 1908 a small, unused Chapel on the corner of Umpawaug Rd. and Diamond Hill opened as a temporary library to house the thousands of books Mark Twain donated from his personal collection to the people of Redding.

On October 28, 1908, Twain formally dedicated the library, naming himself as first President.

Twain didn’t stop there. He began raising funds for a permanent library building by charging admission to his personal gatherings, imposing a $1 tax on all male visitors, a luggage tax on all his many famous visitors, and receiving gifts from influential friends like Andrew Carnegie.

Russian Versions of Mark Twain's Books

2010-07-22T16:04:00.000-07:00

For all those who cannot make the Boston University Mark Twain/Leo Tolstoy Symposium I've posted the Powerpoint Presentation: Mapk Tbeh (Mark Twain's name in Russian)

Registration Form for Boston University's Mark Twain/Leo Tolstoy Symposium on the weekend of August 20-22, 2010.

The State Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries
Kalinina, 9, Moscow, Russia

Dear Editor,

This is to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of April 6, 1959.

I fully agree with you that cultural communications between people of different countries is one of the surest mediums of maintaining peace. That is why it is especially important to strengthen cultural ties between the Soviet and American peoples.

Part II

Dear Editor,

I thank you for your letter and for the special issue of the “Redding Times” dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Mark Twain Library in your city.

My colleagues and I have read with interest the special features about the life of your great countryman.

Mark Twain is immensely popular among the Soviet people. His works have been published and republished here in large editions which have rapidly sold out.

In order to give the readers of your journal an idea about the popularity of Mark Twain books in the Soviet Union, we have asked a scientific worker of the Gorky Institute of World Literature to prepare for you a short article on the subject “Mark Twain in the Soviet Union.”

I take pleasure in forwarding this article and two volumes of Mark Twain’s selected works in Russian translation from my private library, together with my best wishes of success to you personally, Mr. President (Bradley Kelly), and to all the executives and staff members of the “Redding Times” and of the Mark Twain Library in Redding.

A. Kuznetsov
Vice Chairman, Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries

Mark Twain in Russia

By A. Sarukhanyan, M.S. Philology

Mark Twain is one of the best known and most popular foreign authors in the Soviet Union. His productions were first introduced to Russian readers in the early 1870’s. Mark Twain’s story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” was translated into the Russian language in 1872, and “The Gilded Age” immediately after its publication in America; it was printed in “Otechestvenniye Zapiski,” a progressive Russian magazine headed by the great Russian poet Nekrasov and by the illustrious satirist Saltykov-Shchedrin. The first collection of Mark Twain’s productions was published in Russia, in 11 volumes, in 1890. The second edition of Mark Twain’s works was published in the year of Mark Twain’s death, and a complete collection in 28 volumes appeared in 1911.

Friend of Gorky

Mark Twain was personally acquainted with I.S. Turgenev, S.M. Stephnyak-Kravchinsky and Maxim Gorky. Recalling his meeting with Mark Twain, who was 70 years old at that time, Maxim Gorky wrote:

“He had on his round skull a rich shock of hair-unruly tongues of some cold white flames. The clever, keen sparkle of his gray eyes was barely visible from under his drooping heavy lids, but when he looked you squarely in the face one could feel that all the wrinkles on that face were measured and would forever linger in the memory of this man…He seems very old, but it is clear that he plays the aged man, because his movements and gestures were so powerful, quick and graceful, as to make one forget about his gray hair.”

A great many biographical notes about Mark Twain and reviews of his books, may be found in the Russian press of the late 18th and early 19th centuries (1890-1900). Already at that time, progressive Russian writers saw that Mark Twain was especially brilliant as a satirist, and he was not accidentally compared with the great Russian satirist N. Gogal. Mark Twain’s importance in the history of World literature was emphasized in the obituary written by the Russian author A.I. Kuprin, who paid tribute to the deceased for his “all-embracing humaneness and free understanding of the charm of a joke,” for his “inexhaustible love of man.”

Still Being Read

Mark Twain’s productions are extremely popular in the Soviet Union, as is strikingly shown by the following figures:

Between 1918 and the end of 1958, Mark Twain’s books were published in the USSR in editions totaling 10,260,000 copies in 25 languages.

In the first twenty years under the Soviets, “Tom Sawyer” has 18 editions, and three adaptations of it were made for the stage.

In 1919, the book was issued by the World Literature Publishing House founded by Maxim Gorky, with a foreword by the well known author and translator K. Chukovsky.

Mark Twain’s productions have been published in the USSR in separate books, in one-volume editions (1954-1959) and in a two-volume edition of selected works. All the main productions of the celebrated American author will be included in the new edition, the publication of which is to be started in 1959.

There is hardly a schoolboy in USSR that has not read “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” or “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” Mark Twain’s stories have become reading books in English language classes of the Soviet schools, and adaptations of his “Tom Sawyer,” “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “The Prince and the Pauper” have become permanent features in the repertories of the theaters for children in Moscow and other Soviet cities. Tom Sawyer, and even more so, Huck Finn, are favorite heroes of the Soviet boys, and Mark Twain’s Negro, Jim, holds there inalienable affection.

His Memory Revered

How well Mark Twain is appreciated in the Soviet Union may be judged by the fact that the dates associated with the life and death of the great American writer are widely commemorated in the Soviet Union. A Mark Twain Memorial Meeting was held at Moscow’s Central Writers’ Club, on April 26, 1950. A report on the work of Mark Twain was delivered by the Soviet writer Valentin Katayev.

It is noteworthy that the materials published for the 120th anniversary of Mark Twain’s birth marked by a special literary evening, included a bibliographical reference book covering the Russian translations of his productions.

Soviet literary scholars have made their contribution to the study of Mark Twain’s work. Mark Twain is rightfully called the founder of American realistic literature. He is studied as a satirist and humorist whose works give a deep and truthful picture of life in the United States over half a century. Book, pamphlets and articles about Mark Twain in the Russian language, written in old Russia and in the Soviet Union, cover about 100 titles. Mark Twain is the subject of two treatises presented for an M.S. degree, and of a three-volume dissertation submitted for a D.Sc. degree. Special attention is paid to Mark Twain in University lecturers on 19th Century American literature.

Mark Twain’s place in the history of World literature was defined as follows by A. Fadeyev, one of the most outstanding Soviet authors:

“In the 19th century there was no greater realist in France than Balzac, than Dickens in Britain and than Mark Twain in the United States of America.”

Russian Books in the Mark Twain Library's Collection

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Geocaching with Twain

2010-04-25T17:40:00.000-07:00

So far, so good!!

After an initial "Opps!" with the GPS location. I was just 350 feet off...challenge 'em right?

Things are looking positive and the goal is being realized...

Mark Twain's Stormfield Cache Log
Date: 4/24/2010

"Great hide and we especially enjoyed the history lesson. I watched a PBS special on Mark Twain on the 21st so finding this cache was ever more meaningful. We stopped by the library for a hiking map (they were out) but enjoyed their Twain display. Great job and great cache. TNSL Thanks for a memorable find."

Messages like these keep pouring in and I'll be placing Caches all over Redding.

If you want to know more about Geocaching, visit: www.geocaching.com

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Blog about Work From Home Ideas.

Redding's Mark Twain Event Flower Arrangement

2010-04-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

For the Mark Twain Library's Waking Twain Centennial Celebration my friend and floral designing genius, Barbara Nelson of Confetti, LLC, came through for me and provided the party with an amazing Mark Twain Themed Floral Arrangement:

Confetti, LLC offers a full range of specialized events services. They are located at 2 Main Street in Georgetown.

They are innovative designers! I highly recommend them.

Phone: 203-544-6090
www.confetti-events.com

Twain House Comes to Redding

2010-04-24T04:20:00.001-07:00

This morning I'm up and preparing for a special trip down to Redding. A group from the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford is visiting the Mark Twain Library today and we plan to give them a grand tour of Twain's Redding.

We will be exploring locations in Redding that relate to Twain and visiting the Stormfield property. I'm really looking forward to it because as an added bonus... Malcolm Jones of Newsweek will be with us as well. Earlier in April Malcolm visited Hartford with me to explore all the amazing items and exhibits at the Twain House and Jeff, Patti and Steve provided a grand tour of the grounds and buildings...easily the best day I've had all year.

Today we return the favor with a front row ticket to Twain's life and legacy in Redding, Connecticut.

There is no telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream. ~Author Unknown

Mark Twain's Funeral Expenses

2010-04-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

Bouton & Son Funeral Home
West Church Street, Georgetown, Connecticut
April 23, 1910

Mahogany Casket $450.00
Mahogany Box $100.00
Professional Services $50.00
Embalming $50.00
Hearse at Redding $8.00 [likely Zalmon Read Livery. BMC]
Hearse at New York Grand Central Depot to 37th Street $6.00
Hearse from 37th Street to Delaware, Lackawanna & Western $7.00
Transferring Box to Hoboken $3.50
Four Porters at $3.50 each $14.00
Coach from 37th Street to 22nd Street $4.00
Conveyor for Flowers $3.50
Corpse Ticket Redding to New York City $1.20
Corpse Ticket New York City to Elmira, NY $6.10

Total: $703.30

Magical Centennial At Stormfield

2010-04-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

Last night I had the rare opportunity to stand where Mark Twain left this Earth at 6:22pm. Although Twain's estate burned to the ground in 1923 a slightly smaller replica was built on its foundation in 1925. With the help of the original blueprints it was no problem to find the exact spot. It was magical to say the least.

To mark the Centennial I also left a special Mark Twain Stormfield Cache for the Geocachers to find on Mark Twain Lane.

The cache contains a property layout of Stormfield, a short history of Stormfield, a copy of the land purchases that Twain made while living in Redding, Connecticut and a for sale advertisement from October of 1910. More will be added soon. Looking forward to reading comments from those who find the cache.

Full coordinates:
N 41° 17.707 W 073° 24.309

More later...I'm in deep need of doing "actual work".

See the cool cake Mark Twain House got from Ace of Cakes:

http://ow.ly/i/1cle

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Redding, Connecticut & Mark Twain

2010-04-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

With the Centennial finally upon us, I'd like to share some information on Mark Twain's time in Redding, Connecticut.

News articles and blog posts are appearing all over the World today and in them many people are seeing the words "Redding, Connecticut" next to "Mark Twain" for the very first time.

In an effort to raise awareness of & interest in Mark Twain's time in Redding, I have put together a slideshow presentation that highlights his final home, Stormfield, and the library he founded for the people of Redding.

http://www.historyofredding.com/Twain-Redding.ppt

"Give me a breath of Redding air once more and this will pass."
-Mark Twain as he returned home from Bermuda for the last time.

Mark Twain's Last Day at Stormfield

2010-04-20T08:22:00.000-07:00

Redding, Connecticut April 21. - Samuel Langhorne Clemens, "Mark Twain," died at 22 minutes after 6 tonight. Beside him on the bed lay a beloved book - it was Carlyle's "French Revolution" - and near the book his glasses, pushed away with a weary sigh a few hours before. Too weak to speak clearly, "Give me my glasses," he had written on a piece of paper. He had received them, put them down, and sunk into unconsciousness from which he glided almost imperceptibly into death. He was in his seventy-fifth year.

For some time his daughter Clara and her husband, Ossip Gabrilowitsch, and the humorists' biographer, Albert Bigelow Paine, had been by the bed waiting for the end which Drs. Quintard and Halsey had seen to be a matter of minutes. The patient felt absolutely no pain at the end and the moment of his death was scarcely noticeable.

Death came, however, while his favorite niece, Mrs. E. E. Loomis, and her husband, who is Vice President of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railway, and a nephew, Jervis Langdon, were on the way to the railroad station. They had left the house much encouraged by the fact that the sick man had recognized them, and took a train for New York ignorant of what happened later.

Hopes Aroused Yesterday.

Although the end had been foreseen by the doctors and would not have been a shock at any time, the apparently strong rally of this morning had given basis for the hope that it would be postponed for several days. Mr. Clemens awoke at about 4 o'clock this morning after a few hours of the first natural sleep he had had for several days, and the nurses could see by the brightness of his eyes that his vitality had been considerably restored. He was able to raise his arms above his head and clasp them behind his neck with the first evidence of physical comfort he had given for a long time.

His strength seemed to increase enough to allow him to enjoy the sunrise, the first signs of which he could see out of the windows in the three sides of the room where he lay. The increasing sunlight seemed to bring ease to him, and by the time the family were about he was strong enough to sit up in bed and overjoyed them by recognizing all of them and speaking a few words to each. This was the first time that his mental powers had been fully his for nearly two days, with the exception of a few minutes early last evening, when he addressed a few sentences to his daughter.

Calls for His Book.

For two hours he lay in bed enjoying the feeling of this return of strength. Then he made a movement and asked in a faint voice for the copy of Carlyle's "French Revolution," which he has always had near him for the last year, and which he has read and re-read and brooded over.

The book was handed to him, and he lifted it up as if to read. Then a smile faintly illuminated his face when he realized that he was trying to read without his glasses. He tried to say, "Give me my glasses," but his voice failed, and the nurses bending over him could not understand. He motioned for a sheet of paper and a pencil, and wrote what he could not say.

With his glasses on he read a little and then slowly put the book down with a sigh. Soon he appeared to become drowsy and settled on his pillow. Gradually he sank and settled into a lethargy. Dr. Halsey appreciated that he could have been roused, but considered it better for him to rest. At 3 o'clock he went into complete unconsciousness.

Later Dr. Quintard, who had arrived from New York, held a consultation with Dr. Halsey, and it was decided that death was near. The family was called and gathered about the bedside watching in a silence which was long unbroken. It was the end. At twenty-two minutes past 6, with the sunlight just turning red as it stole into the window, in perfect silence he breathed his last.

Barbara Schmidt's Mark Twain web site is the perfect place to visit for the Centennial. It includes many newspaper articles by Mark Twain and about Mark Twain but that's not all! It also has an amazing amount of background information on his life and works.

For Mark Twain Quotes all day long follow http://www.twitter.com/TwainToday

The Last Day at Stormfield
By Bliss Carman, Collier's Weekly

At Redding, Connecticut,
The April sunrise pours
Over the hardwood ridges
Softening and greening now
In the first magic of Spring.

The wild cherry-trees are in bloom,
The bloodroot is white underfoot,
The serene early light flows on,
Touching with glory the world,
And flooding the large upper room
Where a sick man sleeps.
Slowly he opens his eyes,
After long weariness, smiles,
And stretches arms overhead,
While those about him take heart.

With his awakening strength,
(Morning and spring in the air,
The strong clean scents of earth,
The call of the golden shaft,
Ringing across the hills)
He takes up his heartening book,
Opens the volume and reads,
A page of old rugged Carlyle,
The dour philosopher
Who looked askance upon life,
Lurid, ironical, grim,
Yet sound at the core.
But weariness returns;
He lays the book aside
With his glasses upon the bed,
And gladly sleeps. Sleep,
Blessed abundant sleep,
Is all that he needs.

And when the close of day
Reddens upon the hills
And washes the room with rose,
In the twilight hush
The Summoner comes to him
Ever so gently, unseen,
Touches him on the shoulder;
And with the departing sun
Our great funning friend is gone.

How he has made us laugh!
A whole generation of men
Smiled in the joy of his wit.
But who knows whether he was not
Like those deep jesters of old
Who dwelt at the courts of Kings,
Arthur's, Pendragon's, Lear's,
Plying the wise fool's trade,
Making men merry at will,
Hiding their deeper thoughts
Under a motley array,--
Keen-eyed, serious men,
Watching the sorry world,
The gaudy pageant of life,
With pity and wisdom and love?

Fearless, extravagant, wild,
His caustic merciless mirth
Was leveled at pompous shams.
Doubt not behind that mask
There dwelt the soul of a man,
Resolute, sorrowing, sage,
As sure a champion of good
As ever rode forth to fray.

Haply--who knows?--somewhere
In Avalon, Isle of Dreams,
In vast contentment at last,
With every grief done away,
While Chaucer and Shakespeare wait,
And Moliere hangs on his words,
And Cervantes not far off
Listens and smiles apart,
With that incomparable drawl
He is jesting with Dagonet now.

[Copyright, 1910, by Collier's Weekly.]

Mark Twain's Final Days

2010-04-20T06:10:00.000-07:00

As we are just a day away, I thought it would be of interest to post some of the Newspaper reports at the time of his passing.

The following comes from Barbara Schmidt's Mark Twain web site.

Barbara Schmidt's Mark Twain web site is the perfect place to visit for the Centennial. It includes many newspaper articles by Mark Twain and about Mark Twain but that's not all! It also has an amazing amount of background information on his life and works.

MARK TWAIN SINKING
Author's Condition is Critical, but He Is Expected to Live Through the Night

Special to The New York Times.

Danbury, Conn., April 20. - At 11 o'clock tonight Samuel L. Clemens, though he had been sinking all day, and at one time late in the afternoon was thought to be in a very serious condition, was resting at his residence, Stormfield, in Redding, Conn., comfortably enough to assure those in attendance on him that his chances for living through the night were very favorable. His daughter, Clara, and her husband, Ossip Gabrilowitsch, the pianist, and Alfred Bigelow Paine, the humorist's manager and biographer, who comprise the household, felt confidence enough to retire for the night shortly before 11 o'clock.

Dr. Robert H. Halsey, the heart specialist who has been in attendance, admitted that his patient was in a critical condition giving his trouble as angina pectoris. Dr. Quintard was called from New York in consultation during the afternoon, but left this evening. Oxygen was resorted to early in the afternoon to stimulate vitality. Although he was weak on his arrival from Bermuda last Tuesday, and had not since recovered his strength, it was not until today that his symptoms became alarming.

He was noticeably weak this morning and did not respond to treatment as he had previously. As the day went on he became weaker and collapsed this afternoon. He has been almost in an unconscious condition during the afternoon and this evening. He did not show any interest in his surroundings and took no notice of the people around him. Early in the evening he aroused a little and talked for a short time with his daughter. He does not seem to be suffering any pain.

The daughters who have been watching Mark Twain agree that it is simply a case of how long his wonderful constitution can battle with the malady which is gradually overcoming him. He may die during the night or he may live for several weeks, there is no knowing.

Read all the New York Times Mark Twain articles.

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Video of Mark Twain at Stormfield in 1909

2010-04-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

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Norwalk to Showcase Their Mark Twain Connection Sunday at 2pm

2010-04-16T07:02:00.000-07:00

I am jumping for joy over this! Madeleine and Ed Eckert of Norwalk, Connecticut are doing exactly what we envisioned when we started uncovering Mark Twain Connections across the State. The Norwalk Historical Society has taken ownership and is promoting their Mark Twain Connection this Sunday at 2 East Wall Street, Norwalk, CT.

Hopefully this starts a trend. Well done Madeleine and Ed, I'll see you Sunday.

Sunday, April 18, 2010 from 2:00-4:00 pm

Norwalk, Connecticut & Mark Twain: Some interesting associations between Norwalk and America's beloved author

Lecturers Madeleine and Ed Eckert will recount some colorful anecdotes related to the City of Norwalk and Mark Twain. Some humorous and others notorious! The presentation will highlight Mark Twain-themed artworks by notable Silvermine artists. Written as part of Connecticut's 2010 Mark Twain Centennial Project. Light Refreshments.

All donations received will be used to fund programs of the Norwalk Historical Society.

For more information, please call the Norwalk Historical Society at (203) 846-0525 or email info@norwalkhistoricalsociety.org or visit the NHS website at www.norwalkhistoricalsociety.org.

Mark Twain's Final Years Article Released

2010-04-14T18:54:00.000-07:00

Mark Twain's Final Years By Hillel Italie, AP National Writer, is out.

It was released online Wednesday and I'm hoping a print version will be available on Thursday. Mark Twain collector and book dealer, Kevin Mac Donnell, of Austin, Texas forwarded the Associated Press an impressive number of images relating to Twain's most significant works and it would be nice to see them in print.

Hillel did a great job on the article and we in Redding are very pleased with the exposure his article provides.

The interactive version of the article is located here: Mark Twain's Legacy 100 Years Later and includes rare photos and book covers.

For more on Mark Twain's time in Redding, Connecticut check out my Redding CT History website and the Mark Twain PowerPoint Presentation.

-------------------------------------------

Special thank you to sponsor: Confetti LLC, a Redding Wedding Planner. 203-544-9260

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Thursday: Mark Twain's Time in Redding

2010-04-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

On April 15th, Brent M. Colley will present a slideshow in Watertown, Connecticut that highlights a period in Samuel L. Clemens' life which many have never seen & some never knew existed.

Colley's passion for Twain was kindled by the 2002 Ken Burns documentary, Mark Twain:

"Burns opened the flood gates so-to-speak. It was the volume of requests for information about his time in Redding, following the documentary's release, that initiated my interest in his life. People were shocked to find out he lived and died in Redding."

In answering questions about the twilight years of Samuel L. Clemens' life, Colley discovered that his time in Redding was a significant period in his life:

"It was just 1 year and 6 months, if you subtract the time he spent in Bermuda, and yet so much happened. The problem is that his years in Redding have not been properly documented, and as a result there are many questions, conflicting theories & opinions that need to be clarified."

Books that explore Twain's time in Redding are coming out left and right and yet not one author has spend a significant amount of time in Redding to research their subject's final destination. That's vexatious to Mr. Colley:

"If you are going to write about his time in Redding, thoroughly research Redding. There are archives in Redding's Mark Twain Library that no one has seen. I mean that. There are things I have not seen and I've been in the archives quite a bit. These authors do a "drive-by" and think they know all there is to know."

The slideshow Mr. Colley will present at Walker Hall: "Celebrating Twain's Redding" covers everything you ever wanted to know about the great author's final home, with many interesting facts, stories and rare photos to illustrate the timeline:

"It was a very short time period but a very eventful one that many find enthralling. It's a fun presentation to give."

The Watertown Historical Society talk is April 15th, 7pm at Walker Hall. Walker Hall is a stone building across the street from the Town Hall in Watertown, Connecticut.

Mark Twain and Helen Keller Talk is Thursday

2010-04-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

The Historical Society of Easton will host a free lecture, “Mark Twain and Helen Keller,” on Thursday, April 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the Easton Library community room, 691 Morehouse Road.

Brent Colley, Redding historian and promoter of the 2010 Mark Twain Connecticut Tourism Project, will share his research about the special friendship and lives of these two unique individuals and former local residents.

Though spanning different generations and lifestyles, Twain and Keller shared a mutual respect and admiration for each other.

The lecture is open to the public; for details contact Lisa Burghardt at 203-581-0850.

This week Brent will be Tweeting information about Twain and Keller via his personal account- http://www.twitter.com/BrentMColley

-------------------------------------

Also, this Saturday morning Brent will be speaking at The Association for the Study of Connecticut History (ASCH) Annual Meeting.

11:15AM Brent Colley, "Mark Twain in Connecticut: One Hundred Years Past"

April 21, 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of Mark Twain's passing which provides the residents of Connecticut the great opportunity to celebrate and raise awareness of Twain's life here in Connecticut. Since September of 2009, Redding historian Brent Colley, has been working on a project called: The Mark Twain Centennial Project.

The project's primary goal is to encourage a re-awakening of interest in Twain-related research and tourism here in Connecticut. Its secondary goal is to increase foot traffic to Connecticut museums, libraries, and public buildings that have "Twain Connections". To date Brent has uncovered (55) towns and cities connected to Mark Twain and he cannot wait share these connections with us at the ASCH annual meeting.

In addition, Brent will present a PowerPoint presentation on Manchester, Connecticut's Twain Connection - Charles Cheney mansion.

--------------------------------------------

Special thank you to sponsor: Confetti LLC, a Redding CT Floral Arrangements & Design. 203-544-9260

Mark Twain Marginalia

2010-04-01T16:55:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite examples of Mark Twain Marginalia because it shows not only his humor but his knowledge of fame and how it lives on.

A signed copy of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to Edward & Charles Sisson of San Francisco on March 12, 1885.

"Some people can smoke to excess. Let them beware. There are others [who] can't smoke to excess because there isn't time enough in the day which contains only 24 hours. But never mind about that: The matter which touches me much nearer is the question who got this book from poor Edward & Charles?"

Truly Yours,
-Mark Twain

To the left of Twain's signature are two "sparring" figures Twain drew and what appears to be the words "guess it."

What's amazing is that the man who "got the book" from poor Edward & Charles made note of it!

J.M Barrie August 1908.

And! he signs it over to the new owner, Michael Llewelyn Davies, on June 16, 1910.

This very interesting piece of Twain Marginalia is at Yale University's Beinecke Library.

There is additional Marginalia examples at the Mark Twain Library in Redding and the Mark Twain House in Hartford.

Our favorite Redding marginalia is in the margin of Saratoga 1901 by Eli Perkins & Lumley:

"Saratoga in 1891(sic) or The Droolings of an Idiot"

View article/post on Hartford's Mark Twain Marginalia.

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Interesting Facts about Mark Twain

2010-03-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

Back in 2002, Ken Burns' documentary film 'Mark Twain' kindled my interest in Mark Twain's life. Hopefully these interesting Mark Twain facts will have a similar effect on you. 2010 is the year of Twain!
-Brent M. Colley

Interesting Mark Twain Facts:

1. Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri on November 30, 1835. Last perihelion of Halley's comet, Nov. 10, 1835.

"I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year (1910), and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with Halley's Comet."
- Mark Twain, a Biography

2. Before he was 13 he had to be rescued from drowning 9 times -- 3 times from the Mississippi and 6 times from Bear Creek.

3. At a very young age Twain ran away from home- My Dear Mother: you'll doubtless be a little surprised, & somewhat angry when you receive this: http://bit.ly/9GrA5P

4. Before the age of 20, Twain had visited and lived in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC, St. Louis, Muscatine & Keokuk Iowa and Cincinnati!

5. Early in his life he didn't really care for Irish Catholics.

6. Twain gave his first public speech at printers banquet in Keokuk, Iowa in 1856.

7. In February of 1857 Twain left Cincinnati for New Orleans with the intent to embark for the Amazon River. He was going to seek his fortune in the thriving coca trade. Luckily, on his way south he met pilot Horace Bixby. Bixby was a steamboat captain and Twain's childhood dream became a higher priority than the Amazon venture.

8. Twain earned his steamboat pilot license in 1859 and works steadily as a river pilot on the Mississippi River between St. Louis and New Orleans until 1861. The Civil War ended that career.

9. Twain headed West to the Nevada territory in August 1861. His brother was appointed Secretary of Nevada territory by Abraham Lincoln.

10. He adopted the pen name "Mark Twain," an old riverboat term which means the line between safe water and dangerous water in 1863 while working for the Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City, Nevada. His first pen name? "Josh"

11. In 1866 Twain traveled to Hawaii writing for the Sacramento Union. When he returned to California, he delivered his first travel experience related lecture on the topic.

12. From June 8 to November 19, 1867 he was commissioned to report on an excursion to the Mediterranean and Holy Land. This trip would lead to the travel letters that become his first book.

13. Twain enjoyed Baseball & had a very good understanding of the game. Mark Twain's scorecard from baseball game between Hartford and Boston: http://nyti.ms/bzx6f9 I like the SLC logo on the right side!

14. Twain wrote constantly! View his journals: http://terryballard.org/professional/twainjournals.html Be sure to check out the Google map of Mark Twain's America at the bottom. Very cool!

"If you wish to inflict a heartless and malignant punishment upon a young person, pledge him to keep a journal a year."
-Mark Twain

15. The Ghost Hunters visited Mark Twain's house in Hartford in December 2009. If you missed the Ghost Hunters visit to the Mark Twain House here's some video links of the episode: http://bit.ly/98LNsi

16. The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Connecticut maintains a collection of 16,000 museum objects and artifacts, including an archive of more than 6,000 documents and 5,280 photographic images.

17. Mark Twain never visited Ireland. He did write a very short story: Party Cries in Ireland.

18. Twain wrote a large number of short stories over the course of his lifetime. The Death of Jean is the last one I'm aware of.

19. Twain considered himself neither a Republican nor a Democrat:

"I had been accustomed to vote for Republicans more frequently than for Democrats, but I was never a Republican and never a Democrat. In the community, I was regarded as a Republican, but I had never so regarded myself." - Autobiographical dictation, January 24, 1906

20. Twain was an inventor and had several patents. An adjustable garment strap & a history memorization game are examples. His most successful invention was a scrap book.

21. Mark Twain's "Aquarium Club" was not his first organization of female correspondents. Prior to 1902 he had formed "The Juggernaut Club".

"I have built this house (in Redding, CT) largely, indeed almost chiefly, for the comfort & accommodation of the Aquarium. Its members will always be welcome under its roof."
-Mark Twain

22. The April 2010 issue of Knowledge, published by the BBC, features Mark Twain on the front cover! http://bit.ly/GCgtl

23. Mark Twain didn't have a positive view of "big" Government: http://www.twainquotes.com/mercury/OfficialPhysic.html Read the last sentences closely.

"The mania for giving the Government power to meddle with the private affairs of cities & citizens is likely to cause endless trouble."
-Mark Twain

24. Mark Twain's 1870 Lecture Tour had at least 49 engagements, the topic - "Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands"

"Mark Twain is a very good looking man. He is of medium height and moderately slender build, has light brown hair, a reddish brown moustache, regular features and a fresh complexion; and he has a queer way of wrinkling up his nose and half closing his eyes when he speaks. The expression of his face is as calm and imperturbable as that of a sphinx. Looking at him you feel it to be an impossibility that he should ever hurry or be out of temper, and you might suppose him to be incapable of a joke, if it were not for the peculiar twinkle in his merry eyes. His voice is remarkably light and remarkably dry--like some German wines--and it seems to be modulated to only two keys. His style of speaking is unique to the last degree. It is all of a piece with the quality of his humor, and fits him like a glove."
-Newspaper Review of November 30, 1870 Thompsonville, Connecticut tour stop. November 30th is his Birthday, must have been a good show!

25. Interesting fact about Clara Clemens (Twain's daughter) in 1909 she asked Rev. Joseph Twichell to omit 'Obey' from her marriage vows. 1909!

26. Twain researched and wrote "Life on the Mississippi" in one year, 1882-83.

27. From 07/1895 to 07/1896 Twain toured the US, Canada, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa...140 engagements! http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/onstage/world.html

28. Before he began his 1895/96 World Tour Mark Twain was deep in debt.

29. Twain's Short Story "A Curious Experience" begins:

"This is the story which the Major told me, as nearly as I can recall it:-- In the winter of 1862-3, I was commandant of Fort Trumbull, at New London, Conn."

There is now an exhibit at Fort Trumbull where you can sit and hear this story.

30. Mark Twain lived in Hartford, Connecticut for 20+ years and lived in Redding, Connecticut for 2 years. Redding is where he died on April 21st 1910.

31. 161 of the original 340 Redding, Connecticut acres once owned by Mark Twain are open to the public in the present day. In 1974, eight years of negotiations resulted in the "installment purchase" of Stormfield from then owner, Doreen Danks.

There are four miles of trails off of Fox Run Road available to those that wish to hike the Stormfield trail system in Redding.

67 acres of Twain's Redding, CT property remain in private ownership.

32. Twain was a big fan of Bermuda. Elizabeth Wallace published "Mark Twain and the Happy Island" in 1913. The book explores Twain's many visits to Bermuda.

33. Architect, Cass Gilbert, who is best known for the Woolworth Building in NYC, also owned the Keeler Tavern in Ridgefield Connecticut was a close friend of Twain's.

34. Twain was a founding member of The Players club in NYC.

35. Twain was a naturalist and greatly enjoyed nature's beauty.

"The foliage at Stormfield "was heaven and hell and sunset and rainbows and the aurora, all fused into one divine harmony, and you couldn't look at it and keep the tears back."
-Twain in Redding Fall 1909

36. One of Twain’s final acts was approving a $6,000 check for the Library Building Fund. He dedicated the Library in the memory of his daughter Jean.

37. In 1960, Reddingite, Brad Kelly, discovered that the Russians were very enthusiastic about Mark Twain and most of his books and stories had been translated into their language. 1960 was the 50th Anniversary of his passing.

Two years later Clara wrote him to express her approval of his efforts.

February 1962

Dear Mr. Kelly,

I think it is a superb idea to harmonize the Russians and Americans through their authors or any other possible means.

It is dreadful to live in a World of enmity towards anyone, and of course I sympathize most particularly with your plans, as I am sure Father would.

That would be a reason for authorship that the whole world must respect and give its heart to.

I wish to thank you and Mrs. Kelley most cordially for your good wishes, and also to give you our, Mr. Samossoud and mine.

I must wish you tremendous success with your undertaking, and I offer my heartfelt sympathy with your great plan.

Sincerely yours,
Clara Clemens Samossoud

38. In 1917, Emily Grant Hutchins published a book "Jap Herron," that she claimed Mark Twain had written from the grave via a Ouija board. "after several messages had been spelled out the pointer of the planchette traced the words 'Samuel M. [sic] Clemens, Lazy Sam,' "and the story as printed was then told."

40. Mark Twain's books were published at a time when international copyright did not exist. Many were released first in England to obtain the British copyright, then in the United States.

Visit to the Mark Twain House

2010-03-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

Bust of Mark Twain in the entry way of the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut. This section of the house is very dark so I had to open the lens real wide to capture the image. The Twain House used gas lights back when Twain owned it and in the present day they do their best to emulate the look....Dark! The other interesting item in this photo is the Louis C. Tiffany & Co. wall stenciling.

This was something that I never noticed before- the gas "extension cord" from the ceiling gas light to the bedside gas lamp, next to... the smoking paraphernalia. How he lived to 74 is amazing!

The butler's area. This where the cook would bring the food to the butler. From here, the butler would plate it and bring it into the family.

Mahogany Room. This room is currently under renovation.

Mark Twain's Billiard Room. The most important room in the house! His writing area is in the far right corner.

Mark Twain as a Lego figure.

The Mark Twain Lego House from the Billiard Room side.

Mark Twain Lego House from the Front Entry side. This is a very cool exhibit in the cafe area of the Visitor Center. This was done in 1985 without the help of computers. How long did it take?? 700 hours!

How the Mark Twain House looks when you arrive.

The Mark Twain Carriage House from the Parking Lot. If you follow the Twain House on Twitter, the Tweets come from the far right corner of this building.

Entrance to the Mark Twain Exhibit inside the Visitor Center. The "Man in White" welcomes you.

Map of Mark Twain's Travels. The more you learn of these travels, the louder you'll hear Johnny Cash singing "I've been everywhere, man, I've been everywhere!" in your head.

Rare view of the Carriage House from the "off-limits" Billiard Room porch area.

The living room area. It is here where the family gathered around the fire to hear Twain's latest stories and I'm sure share their opinions of them.

The Redding/Hartford connection in this room is the mantle piece you can see a section of on the left hand side of the photo. This hand-carved piece from Scotland was made for the Hartford house but traveled with the family from there on after. It eventually ended up in Stormfield and was thought to have been lost in the fire of 1923...it wasn't, it was in a locals barn and eventually made it back home to Hartford again when that Redding gentleman learned of it's history & importance.

Full View of the fireplace and mantle.

Twain visited New Haven in 1885 and befriended Warner McGuinn, an African-American student who was struggling to remain in school. Twain paid the young man's expenses at Yale and McGuinn went on to become a respected lawyer who would later mentor Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

The 1887 model of the Paige Typesetter. This is the only one left. The 1894 model was donated to Cornell University and was later donated to a scrap metal drive during World War II. Read the history of the Paige Typesetter.

Mark Twain News Articles of Interest

2010-03-24T04:27:00.000-07:00

Twain's been a hot topic...apparently the Reports of his Death were an exaggeration, he gets more press than most modern day writers!

Here are some of the most recent articles that I've found interesting enough to share:

1. From the Buffalo News, A Tour of Twain's Summer Home in Elmira New York

2. From the New York Times, Mark Twain the Baseball Fan

3. From the Los Angeles Times, A Review of the latest Mark Twain book, Mark Twain's Other Woman

4. From the Redding Pilot, History of Boy Scouts is rooted in Redding, Connecticut

5. From the Christian Science Review, Their Review of Man in White, A close look at the last four years of Mark Twain's life

6. From Daily-Record in Wooster, Ohio, Mark Twain Scholarship Alive and Well

The Countdown to April 21st Begins

2010-03-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

We're finally within a month of the Centennial. As mentioned in the previous post, Susan B. Durkee, will be talking about Mark Twain and Isabel Lyon this weekend in Sharon CT.

Susan has a special connection with Twain and Isabel as she lives in the Lobster Pot, which is the first property Twain purchased in Redding, Connecticut and the location of the house Isabel lived in and so lovingly restored.

In other Twain news- there has been increasing interest in Mark Twain's life in Connecticut with the Centennial just around the corner and many local newspapers and magazines have run stories recently. The Redding Pilot just ran a nice little piece on Twain, Dan Beard and the Boy Scouts connection to Redding.

The Associated Press has visited Redding recently and is planning an article on Twain's final writings.

Friday, Newsweek is meeting us at the Mark Twain House in Hartford to view their archives and take a special tour of the house and grounds. Later this month we hope to have them down to Redding to showcase what we have to offer as well. The hope is that with the Nationwide attention we can spur local interest in our Twain-themed tourism project.

On the events calendar..."Tom Sawyer" -- The Opera? Yep. At Mark Twain House in Hartford. "Tom Sawyer," the chamber opera by Phillip Marton will receive its world premiere April 16 and 17 at 7:30 p.m. and April 18 at 2 p.m. at the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Connecticut.

Other than that...I've been using Twitter to spread the news on #Twain2010. You can follow me at:

http://www.twitter.com/BrentMColley -Personal account w/ Twain events and news.

http://www.twitter.com/HeavenlyTwain -Twain tweets from Heaven. So much fun!

http://www.twitter.com/HellFireTwain -Twain tweets from Hell. Why not?

Oh and before I forget, if you're in or near NYC: 2 hour NYC Mark Twain tours on Saturdays and Sundays all through April. Call 917-620-5371 or send an email to mtc@salwen.com. $15 donation. All tours have a 1pm start.

Susan B. Durkee to talk about Mark Twain’s Final Years in Connecticut

2010-03-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

Sharon, CT: On Saturday, March 27th beginning at 9:30am, the Sharon Historical Society will hold its annual meeting, featuring a short business meeting and election of Trustees.

The meeting will be followed by a lecture by noted artist and amateur historian Susan B. Durkee, beginning at 10:30am.

A highlight of her talk, “Mark Twain’s Final Years in Connecticut” will be the presentation of excerpts from the documentary film, Dangerous Intimacy.

Dangerous Intimacy tells the story of how, shortly after his wife’s death in 1904, Mark Twain enjoyed the attentions of Isabel Lyon, his flirtatious – and calculating – secretary.

Dangerous Intimacy: The Untold Story of Mark Twain’s Final Years shows how Twain extricated himself from the lies, prejudice and self-delusion that almost turned him into an American Lear.

Thanks to Karen Lystra’s research, which liberates the author’s last years from a century of popular misunderstanding, we see how, late in life, this American icon discovered a deep kinship with his youngest child and experienced the interplay of love and pain that is one of the hallmarks of his work. Dangerous Intimacy was begun in February of 2007, and recently completed in the fall of 2009.

The film was produced by History Film Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1987 to create film and video works on cultural and historical subjects. Richard Altomonte, the organization’s founder, graduated from Boston University’s College of Communications with a B.S. in Filmmaking and has been a fundraiser, screenwriter and documentary producer/director for many years.

Many of the movie scenes were filmed at The Lobster Pot, the home and studio of Ms. Durkee, as well as in and around Redding, CT, and such spots as Twain’s property, “Stormfield.” Ms. Durkee may be seen in the film in the part of Jean, Twain’s daughter.

The annual meeting and lecture will take place at the Sharon Historical Society museum located at 18 Main Street in Sharon, just north of the intersection of Routes 4 and 41.

For more information call the Sharon Historical Society at (860) 364-5688 or email to Liz Shapiro at sharonhistoricalsociety@yahoo.com.

Talkin' Mark Twain Project on Cablevision

2010-03-18T07:57:00.000-07:00

Next Tuesday March 30th on Cablevision's Channel 88 at 9:30pm. The show is called "Christina". Brent Colley, Susan B. Durkee and Heather Morgan discuss their efforts to promote Mark Twain's time in Connecticut during the Twain Centennial year of 2010.

It will also play on channel 88 in April at 8:30pm April 6th, April 13, and and April 20th.

Mark Twain Library

2010-03-12T11:24:00.000-08:00

If you come to Redding, Connecticut to do some research on Mark Twain's time here, these are the doors you'll be walking through.

One of Twain’s final acts was approving a $6,000 check for the Library Building Fund. He dedicated the Library in the memory of his daughter Jean.

To Charles T. Lark, New York:
HAMILTON, BERMUDA. April 6, 1910

DEAR MR. LARK,–I have told Paine that I want the money derived from the sale of the farm, which I had given, but not conveyed, to my daughter Jean, to be used to erect a building for the Mark Twain Library of Redding, the building to be called the Jean L. Clemens Memorial Building.

I wish to place the money $6,000.00 in the hands of three trustees,– Paine and two others: H. A. Lounsbury and William E. Hazen, all of Redding, these trustees to form a building Committee to decide on the size and plan of the building needed and to arrange for and supervise the work in such a manner that the fund shall amply provide for the building complete, with necessary furnishings, leaving, if possible, a balance remaining, sufficient for such repairs and additional furnishings as may be required for two years from the time of completion.

Will you please draw a document covering these requirements and have it ready by the time I reach New York (April 14th).

Very sincerely,
S. L. CLEMENS.

The Mark Twain Library officially opened at its present location on February 18, 1911.

This is the entry of the Jean L. Clemens Memorial Building.

The foliage at Stormfield "was heaven and hell and sunset and rainbows and the aurora, all fused into one divine harmony, and you couldn't look at it and keep the tears back."
-S.L.C. 1909

Redding, Connecticut: Mark Twain's Last Residence

2010-03-10T08:49:00.000-08:00

Connecticut Twain-Themed Tourism Project

2010-03-08T16:31:00.000-08:00

We have launched the new web site. It's a mini-site really but it will serve as an example of what we can do and where people can access information on Mark Twain's Connecticut.

Featured on the homepage are four of our favorite Mark Twain tourist attractions: The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Fort Trumbull in New London, Gillette Castle in East Haddam and the Mark Twain Library in Redding.

1. "(Our House) had a heart, and a soul...we were in its confidence, and lived in its grace..." -Mark Twain 1896. Clemens and his family lived in this 19-room mansion in the Nook Farm neighborhood of Hartford, Connecticut for 20+ years.

2. Clemens and his wife loaned Will Gillette the three thousand dollars which tided him through his period of dramatic education. Their faith in his ability was justified.

3. Twain's Short Story "A Curious Experience" begins:

"This is the story which the Major told me, as nearly as I can recall it:-- In the winter of 1862-3, I was commandant of Fort Trumbull, at New London, Conn."

4. Clemens' most important legacy to Redding remains, in the Mark Twain Library Association that he founded shortly after he moved to town.

This project is all about increasing awareness of Mark Twain's time in Connecticut by showcasing the people and places connected to him across the State.

Support the effort by spreading the word. Together we can build a Twain-themed tourism trail.

We Need a Venue for Fund Raising Event

2010-02-12T09:28:00.000-08:00

Alan Kitty has offered to bring his one-man-show "Mark Twain's Last Stand" to the Southwestern Connecticut area to help us raise fund for our Connecticut Tourism Project.

The show recalls Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” - a social satire and sci-fi fantasy delivered before its time. But the genre was just getting started then. Today, time-travel is a popular theme among both science fiction writers and scientists.

Alan Kitty’s vision & talent brings Twain in an instant from the nineteenth century into the present....you can read about that here: http://www.marktwainslaststand.com/Mark%20Twain%20Improv.htm

We need a venue...a big venue where we can raise as much money as possible. We are looking to Fall 2010 for the event.

Please spread the word, we need funding.

The ultimate goal of this project is to make Connecticut a destination for Mark Twain tourism and research in the future. The project is based on Illinois' successful "Looking for Lincoln" tourism project.

With 55 Connecticut towns and cities now connected to Mark Twain, and many of these connections relating to existing museums and/or public buildings...the only thing we need now is funding.

Twain-Themed Connecticut Tourism Project

2010-01-19T16:08:00.000-08:00

Our Twain-Themed Connecticut Tourism Project is in need of assistance. We need your help to spread the word and help us make this project a reality. This is what we are attempting to do:

We are in the process of uncovering Connecticut towns/cities connected with Mark Twain to celebrate his life and promote future tourism in Connecticut.

April 21, 2010 marks the Centennial of Mark Twain's passing and provides the residents of Connecticut with a great opportunity to showcase and celebrate Twain's life in Connecticut and encourage a re-awakening of interest in Twain related research and tourism here in Connecticut.

About the Mark Twain Centennial Project
Our project involves online and offline exhibits designed to increase awareness of Mark Twain’s time in Connecticut by showcasing the people and places connected to him across the State. This project is timed to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of his passing in 2010.

Offline Component of Our Project
The offline component of our project brings informative exhibits to every Connecticut library, museum and/or public building that would like to be a part of this celebration. These Exhibits will be free to the public and free to the libraries, museums and public places that display them. The exhibits will include information about Twain's life, his work and his friends in Connecticut. Exhibiting locations will be provided with a framed portrait of Twain along with photos and information brochures that showcase his life in Redding and Hartford. A fold out map of Connecticut marking all the Twain Connections that have been made in towns and cities across the State will also be provided in an effort to increase visits to participating libraries, museums and public buildings.

The specific problem our offline Twain Connections exhibits address is the dismal funding environment our local libraries, museums, and historical societies are facing in the current economic downturn. Connecticut has allotted $1 for state tourism marketing in 2010. Our offline exhibits provide a means for Connecticut's libraries, museums, and historical societies to not only increase foot traffic to their buildings, via this historic Twain Centennial, but to also showcase their own offerings and talents to an audience they may otherwise have missed. This is important as the ultimate goal of this project is to make Connecticut a destination for Mark Twain tourism and research in the future. We feel that merging information about Twain with information about the "Friends of Twain" in the many towns and cities that have a Twain Connection is a great way to promote town pride and Connecticut tourism in the future.

Bridgeport's P.T. Barnum Museum would be a perfect example of a museum that would benefit from this "friends of Twain" marketing concept, another is Keeler Tavern in Ridgefield. In the present day people visit Keeler Tavern to learn about a colonial tavern. We hope in the future they'll visit to learn more about Architect Cass Gilbert and his friendship with Mark Twain. By simply collaborating with us to provide the public with a location specific exhibit that sheds light not only on Twain but their local individual as well, these historic and cultural museums/centers can expand their audience and attract future visitors.

To date we have made connections in 55 towns here in Connecticut.

Online Component of Our Project
The online component of our project is to digitize the Mark Twain Library's extensive collection of Samuel L. Clemens' photographs, documents, & personal belongings tied to his time in Redding, Connecticut. The digitization project will transform the Mark Twain Library's static archives into dynamic digital resources that will be added to a new web site which will provide 24/7 online access to documents, photos & information connected with the beloved American author's final years in Connecticut.

"Mark Twain's tenure in Redding, Connecticut, is of tremendous importance to scholarship… You know something is important if people fight over it, and scholars argue over this phase of Twain's creative development constantly…Whatever light can be shed on this final phase of Twain's life is vital to the study of Mark Twain. "

- Steve Courtney
Author, Joseph Hopkins Twichell: The Life and Times of Mark Twain's Closest Friend

The online efforts of this project are essential to the dissemination of our research. Providing 24/7 online access to our primary source artifacts, books, documents and photographs that relate to Twain's final years provides the means for a more personal understanding of his time in Redding, Connecticut to evolve over time. This new online historical resource will allow Twain scholars and enthusiasts to freely share and exchange information on Twain's time in Redding, Connecticut.

Through web site forums and e-mail lists we will encourage interaction amongst our site's visitors to discuss and debate the topics related to his time here. Features, such as maps, web slide shows and geocaching databases will be provided to encourage tourism and gain the interest of young adults.

Is it of Interest?
Presently there is a lack of accessible information on Samuel L. Clemens' years in Redding. Clemens' life and works in Hartford, Connecticut are well documented. The Mark Twain House serves as an outstanding resource to those who seek information and wish to experience how he lived in this period of his life. Conversely, Clemens' years in Redding, Connecticut have not been properly documented, and as a result there are many questions, conflicting theories and opinions with regard to what really happened in Redding that need to be answered. This project's immediate objective is to digitize anything and everything relating to Clemens' time in Redding, making it readily available to those that seek it. We also seek to unravel some mysteries relating to Samuel L. Clemens' final years. It was a very short time period but a very eventful one that from all indications is a topic that many find enthralling. In the course of our research to determine the significance of this project's impact, we've yet to received a response that wasn't positive or enthusiastic.

"Yes, it's of interest. I've had occasion to look into Twain's time at Stormfield and found it frustrating that so little information was available. The work you describe will be of real use."

- Cal Pritner
Author of Mark Twain and Me Unlearning Racism

"As a member of the Twain Forum and as a lifelong Connecticut resident, I can tell you that your work to digitize the collections relating to Clemens' time in Redding are of tremendous interest to me. I encourage you to proceed with this venture."

- Alain D. Munkittrick

Impact of this Project
The long term goal of this project is to make Connecticut a destination for Mark Twain tourism and research. With 55 Connecticut towns and cities now connected to Mark Twain, and many of these connections relating to existing museums and/or public buildings there is very little effort required to bring this plan to fruition.

By connecting 55 Connecticut towns and cities to Mark Twain:

 We increase the chances of a significant Mark Twain Conference/Convention being held here in Connecticut. Hartford would be the host city with our Twain Connections providing plenty of sight seeing opportunities for conference attendees.

 We increase the foot traffic to Connecticut museums, libraries, and public buildings.

 We provide a tourism program that can be expanded upon in the future. i.e. If the Twain Tourism angle works we could expand the idea to showcase 'Connecticut's Greatest Residents'.

 We raise Redding, Twain's final home, to the level and status of the other Mark Twain Sites- Hartford, Hannibal, Buffalo, Berkeley, Elmira.

The Plans We Have to Disseminate Information to the Public About Our Project
From a marketing standpoint, the timing of this project is favorable as 2010 marks a number of 100 year Mark Twain related anniversaries and celebrations. Connecticut has already recognized our efforts and proclaimed April 21, 2010 as Mark Twain Day, and a nationwide Mark Twain Day effort is currently being led by the State of Missouri. We have been disseminating information to the public about our project for well over two years. Through our sites, blogs and social networks we have a very strong internet presence in place, offline our efforts have been featured in newspapers, magazines, and television interviews.

The offline and online projects will be tied together via an aggressive cross marketing campaign. Our new web site will be explained and promoted in all of our 2010 exhibit materials and maps, we will also explain our online project during slideshow presentations that will be made at all of our host locations. Conversely, our offline exhibits will be showcased on the web site.

Planning and Progress

1. Our request to make April 21, 2010 Mark Twain Day in Connecticut has been approved by Governor Rell. This proclamation provides the perfect kick-off to our 2010 exhibits across the State.

2. We are making connections daily using a number of online and offline resources. We are also actively marketing our idea across the State via newspaper articles and television interviews. We have submitted requests for assistance from local historical societies and historians. State librarians have also been made aware of our project and have been asked to participate. To date we've been amazed by the number of people and towns connected (55) to his life and we cannot wait to make others aware of these connections, people and their own individual accomplishments. Feedback on the project has been very positive.

http://twainproject.blogspot.com/2009/10/connecticut-mark-twain-connections.html

3. Exhibit materials:

 The artwork has been created but needs to be printed and framed.
 Destination Map, Photos, information brochures still need to be compiled and printed.
 We are in discussions with www.curatour.com to create a custom GPS driven iPhone app of these locations
 We are in discussions with ConneCTions History Tours of Darien to help promote the locations that have strong connections to Mark Twain and can provide enhanced experiences to visitors.

4. Funding. Sponsorships and donations are essential to the success of the project. We are currently sending out funding inquires and proposals. All donations are tax-deductible and our sponsors will be prominently featured in all of our offline and online exhibits.

5. Project Prototype. We're using Illinois' Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition as prototype, especially in the brochure aspect of the project.

6. Project information is shared with the public daily via updates posted at our project blog: http://www.twainproject.blogspot.com We are also sharing updates via e-mail through the Mark Twain Forum, Connecticut History Forum and Connecticut Librarian Forum. We are also promoting it via Twitter: www.twitter.com/BrentMColley

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Mark Twain Library Director, Heather Morgan

Portrait Artist, Susan Durkee

Redding historian, Brent M. Colley

We are in deep need of funding for our 2010 Mark Twain Centennial Project. As Twain once said:

"Necessity is the Mother of Taking Chances."

So, I'm giving Mark Twain T-Shirts a try. We get $4.00 for each Mark Twain T-Shirt sold.

My personal favorites are the ones in Braille, which are in reference to the relationship between Mark Twain and Helen Keller.

Thank you to Gene at http://twaintoday.blogspot.com for the plug! Visit his Twitter account for daily quotes and Twain wisdom: http://twitter.com/TwainToday

Connecticut Twain Connection #55

2010-01-14T14:58:00.000-08:00

Fort Trumbull, New London, Connecticut

Short Story "A Curious Experience" begins: This is the story which the Major told me, as nearly as I can recall it:--

In the winter of 1862-3, I was commandant of Fort Trumbull, at New London, Conn. Maybe our life there was not so brisk as life at "the front"; still it was brisk enough, in its way -- one`s brains did n`t cake together there for lack of something to keep them stirring. For one thing, all the Northern atmosphere at that time was thick with mysterious rumors -- rumors to the effect that rebel spies were flitting everywhere, and getting ready to blow up our Northern forts, burn our hotels, send infected clothing into our towns, and all that sort of thing. You remember it. All this had a tendency to keep us awake, and knock the traditional dulness out of garrison life. Besides, ours was a recruiting station -- which is the same as saying we had n`t any time to waste in dozing, or dreaming, or fooling around. Why, with all our watchfulness, fifty per cent. of a day`s recruits would leak out of our hands and give us the slip the same night. The bounties were so prodigious that a recruit could pay a sentinel three or four hundred dollars to let him escape, and still have enough of his bounty-money left to constitute a fortune for a poor man. Yes, as I said before, our life was not drowsy.

View all 55 Connecticut Twain Connections here: http://twainproject.blogspot.com/2009/10/connecticut-mark-twain-connections.html

Blog Tag...Twain is it!

2010-01-08T10:37:00.000-08:00

Talk of Our Town: Ridgefield CT has a neat little game called "Blog Tag" in the works... it's a fantastic interactive idea and seeing it's pushing 2pm Friday and I can't concentrate anyway I'll accept the challenge.

The rules are simple. First, on your own blog, tell 10 things about yourself, in the spirit of sharing and, well, self-promotion! Then you tag 5 blogs or websites that inspire your blog!

Here it goes:

1. I'm 39 years old, grew up in Redding, Connecticut, married (Christine), two kids (Liam and Emma), one dog (Bailey) and we all live up in Sharon, Connecticut now.

2. In real-life, I'm a web developer who specializes in online promotion and search engine rank improvement.

3. In my spare time, I work with a number of non-profit groups and lead walking tours, slide shows and speaking engagements that showcase a wide range of historic interests.

4. Since January of 2008, I have been working to uncover Connecticut's Mark Twain 'Connections' in towns and cities across the State to encourage a re-awakening of interest in Twain related research and tourism here in Connecticut. 54 towns and cities to-date.

5. My first site www.HistoryofRedding.com was launched in 1998. I started the site to share what I was finding out about Redding, Connecticut and make it easier for others to learn about Redding's amazing past.

6. It was because of www.HistoryofRedding.com that I learned HTML and Graphic Design and three years later launched my own web services company.

7. In 2006, www.HistoryofRedding.com was averaging 15,000 page views a year. I wanted to improve those numbers so I switched web hosting companies and began a search optimization campaign using site traffic statistics and online search trends for guidance. In 2009, www.HistoryofRedding.com had over 480,000 page views, averaging over 40,000 page views a month. Now I help others do the same.

8. I love the Historical Fiction Novel My Brother Sam is Dead. In my opinion is it the best historical fiction novel focused on our area...ever. I use it to teach kids from all over the Country about the early stages of the Revolutionary War.

9. I am addicted to Twitter and it bothers me. www.twitter.com/BrentMColley

10. Never tell me I can't do something, I will.

The 5 Blogs that I visit often and inspire me are:

The Mark Twain LibraryRedding's public library that Mark Twain himself founded and funded. Their history archives are amazing and their online database resources are pretty sweet too!

http://www.marktwainproject.org I've made 85% of my Mark Twain Connections via this amazing database of letters.

http://www.marktwainhouse.blogspot.com If you haven't been to the Mark Twain House in Hartford in a while...Go! Many great upgrades and exhibits.

www.twainweb.net The home of the Mark Twain Forum, a great Listserv service for Twainiacs.

www.twainquotes.com Twain quotes, newspaper collections and related resources. This is the sources of all sources for Twain.

Tag, you’re it!

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Mark Twain's Time in Redding

2009-12-30T09:16:00.000-08:00

With the Centennial year just a couple days away I put together a slideshow presentation that highlights his final home, Stormfield, and the Mark Twain Library which he funded and founded for his "fellow farmers" in Redding.

Many, many rare photos included.

http://www.historyofredding.com/Twain-Redding.ppt

"Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising."
- Mark Twain

Need daily Twain updates? http://twitter.com/BrentMColley

A special Thank You to all those that made this PowerPoint Presentation possible.

Thank you to Barbara Schmidt and her amazing Twain resource site.

Thank you to David Thompson and his collection of Twain photos and montages.

Thank you to Kevin Mac Donnell for his knowledge, insights, rare photos and books.

Thank you to Susan Boone Durkee for her knowledge, photos, artwork and parties.

Thank you to The Mark Twain House, for their truly amazing museum, and priceless photos. Thank you to Patti Phillippon for access and usage.

Thank you to Heather Morgan and her staff at the Mark Twain Library for access and usage to their collections. The MTL is a treasure trove of new information on Twain's Final years and I am amazed by its contents on each and every visit.

Thank you to The Mark Twain Forum and all its members for sharing their knowledge and bringing Twainiacs together.

Thank you to The Mark Twain Journal, for promoting Stormfield and Redding in Volume 44.

Thank you to The Mark Twain Project, for access to Sam's letters. Your work has allowed for the research that fuels us all to keep searching and sharing.

Blog about Work From Home Ideas.

The Stormfield Christmas Elephant

2009-12-23T07:55:00.000-08:00

Mark Twain Library Archive Treasures

2009-12-11T06:13:00.000-08:00

In deep need of "de-stressing" I traveled down to Redding this week to see what I could find in the archives that... I had not found before! Mission accomplished, I found some amazing items. Here are several I thought others may enjoy.

Experimental photo negative engraving plates of Sam and George Eastman. These portraits, which Eastman developed, were given to Eastman's chauffeur, William Carter. They became the property of George Hollett in 1946. Hollett donated them to the Mark Twain Library in 2005.

Handcarved replica of the Mississippi River Boat, Eclipse. This was carved by one of the Stormfield burglars and donated to the library by Clara Clemens.

Hal Foster not only created artwork of Twain, he also served as the Library's President.

Mark Twain and his Characters Display at the Mark Twain Library.

Close up of the "characters" display.

Interesting find in the archives...four (4) Hiawatha Heirloom Needle Paintings of Mark Twain's Birthplace. These were sent to the library in the 1960's by William A. Romkey of New York. Romkey inquired about the use of these needle paintings for the Library's fund raising efforts.

Brad Kelly Discovers Russians Enthusiastic Over Mark Twain. Many articles in the archives about Kelly's efforts and the books that were donated to the library. The library has the books and at the present a Redding resident is working on translating this Russian book collection.

February 1962

Dear Mr. Kelly,

I think it is a superb idea to harmonize the Russians and Americans through their authors or any other possible means.

It is dreadful to live in a World of enmity towards anyone, and of course I sympathize most particularly with your plans, as I am sure Father would.

That would be a reason for authorship that the whole world must respect and give its heart to.

I wish to thank you and Mrs. Kelley most cordially for your good wishes, and also to give you our, Mr. Samossoud and mine.

I must wish you tremendous success with your undertaking, and I offer my heartfelt sympathy with your great plan.

Sincerely yours,
Clara Clemens Samossoud

Paul Newman Stained Glass art on display at the 2009 Art Show this week.

View the Connecticut Twain Connections

The Elmira Study Move from East Hill to Campus

2009-12-11T06:04:00.000-08:00

New Article: Stormfield Burns

2009-12-06T07:15:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Hilda Rhodes for forwarding...

Neighbor Mark Twain
June/July 1985 Volume 36, Issue 4

Coley Taylor, the author of “Our Neighbor, Mark Twain” (February/March 1985), was luckier than I by about eight years. My uncle and aunt, John and Mabel German, bought eighty acres of Connecticut rocks and a 1740 Dutch home on Diamond Hill Road in West Redding in 1917. The house belonged to Albert Bigelow Paine, who was then living in “The Lobster Pot,” a rambling house adjoining Samuel Clemens’s property.

Clemens was gone by the time I, as a twelve-year-old, had my first visit to Stormfield, his former residence. I recall it well. It was a gray, ominous, windy day in November. A group of us drove to the entrance of Stormfield and walked through the overgrown fields, filled—as Mr. Taylor recalls—with small cedar trees.

Being the smallest of the group, I was delegated to slip through an open window in the basement of the house, find my way through the eerie darkness, climb the main stairs to ground level, and unlock the front door. An illegal but reverent and respectful tour of the house took place with bated breath, so as not to disturb the ghosts.

Every weekend, every holiday, and every summer vacation was spent at Redvale (my uncle’s name for his farm) for many years until, late in World War II, the place was sold. I met Mr. Paine frequently, and, as a matter of fact, my cousin is named for him. He was a tall, stately man; so tall, in fact, that he repeatedly hit his head on the old New England ceiling beams in his home, until he had them hand-axed to half their thickness. This allowed him to proceed up and down a step or two from room to room usually without bodily harm.

One rainy summer night in 1923, the phone rang at 1:00 A.M. The operator spoke with a great sense of urgency. “All men, hurry! Stormfield is on fire!”

I was there at the end. Water was too far away for the hoses, so chemicals were used (for the first time that I can recall). No use, sadly. The blaze was almost controlled when the chemicals ran out. The fire picked up again, and we lay in the wet grass as rifle and shotgun ammunition exploded over our heads.

The house had been sold some months before to a family of four, and they had been more or less camping out as they did repairs, modernization, and painting. It was said that the fire was caused by paint rags. Be that as it may, the family never came back to rebuild. There was nothing left but the foundation.

Before the fire got out of control, some items were saved. 1 recall helping to get out the billiard table and a tremendous hand-carved mantelpiece that had surrounded the fireplace.

Mr. Taylor was luckier than I. He knew the great author face-to-face. I knew him only secondhand.

Daniel S. Klinger
Park Forest, Ill.

View Photos of Stormfield in this post: Stormfield Photos

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Connecticut Twain Connection #54

2009-12-05T17:16:00.001-08:00

Made a connection to Pomfret over the weekend...that makes 54.

http://twainproject.blogspot.com/2009/10/connecticut-mark-twain-connections.html

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Proof Twain Expected to be Researched

2009-11-30T09:49:00.000-08:00

Going through the MTP papers...this one caught my eye...he estimates 80 years but we're still reading his letters 129 years later!

Letter to Joe Twichell 1880 about baby Jean and life in general in this timeperiod of his life.

"Well, we are all getting along here first-rate; Livy gains strength daily, [&] sits up a deal; the baby is five weeks old [ and—— but] no more of this;

somebody may be reading this letter 80 years hence. And so, my friend (you pitying snob, I mean, who are holding this yellow paper in [your] hand in 1960,) save yourself the trouble of looking further; I know how pathetically trivial our small concerns [would] seem to you, [&] I will not let your eye profane them. No, I keep my news; you keep your compassion.

Suffice it you to know, scoffer [&] ribald, that the little child is old [&] blind, now, [&] once more toothless; [&] the rest of us are shadows, these many, many years. Yes, [&] your time cometh!"

-Mark

Ouch! I'm a "pitying snob" but I'm gonna keep at it, "looking further" that is, we have 47 Connecticut towns and cities currently linked to Twain...can't stop now.

http://twainproject.blogspot.com/2009/10/connecticut-mark-twain-connections.html

Happy Birthday Samuel L. Clemens!

2009-11-30T06:45:00.000-08:00

November 30th, 2009 is Sam's birthday. For fun I looked up the last person to write him on his birthday using the Mark Twain Project website.

The answer is...

Margery Hamilton Clinton
Margery (a.k.a. "the plumber") visited Clemens at Stormfield at least three times -- in July 1908, October 1908 and February 1909.

"The plumber is coming Feb. 23d; a girl you would greatly like. She isn't a M.A. [angel-fish], but is not without good qualities, nevertheless. She is official plumber of Stormfield, by her own request, but doesn't know how to plumb. Name, Margery Clinton (Cooley, p. 249)."

Margery Hamilton Clinton was the daughter of renown New York architect Charles William Clinton and his wife Emily de Silver Gorsuch.

-----------------------------------------

So who did Twain write to on his birthday from Stormfield?

1909:

Nobody

1908:

Elizabeth Wallace, Frederick A. Duneka, Jean Clemens, H. P.
Wood, F. N. Otremba

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Mark Twain's Passions

2009-11-28T13:53:00.000-08:00

Mark Twain's Passions. The latest addition to the Mark Twain Centennial Collection by Susan Boone Durkee.

"Mark Twain's Passions"
Limited 500 Edition 11x14 Giclee on Canvas. $125.00
Each signed and numbered by the Artist and accompanied with a Certificate of Authenticity

The "Centennial Collection" of prints commorate Mark Twain's last years in Redding, CT and his death at Stormfield, his Redding home, April 21, 1910.

2010 is the year of Twain
Celebrating 175th Anniversary of Mark Twain's Birthday
Celebrating 100th Anniversary of Mark Twain's Passing
April 21st, 2010 proclaimed "Mark Twain Day" for the State of Connecticut

This print is available for purchase at http://www.susandurkee.com/the-mark-twain-gallery.htm.

New Stormfield Articles

2009-11-14T19:58:00.000-08:00

Mark Twain's Stormfield Today (June 2, 1960)
by Robert C. Brilmayer

Perched atop the hills of West Redding, and bordered by Highway Route 53, is Stormfield, the final home of Mark Twain and the one that he often said he loved more than any place he ever lived.

Since 1937 Stormfield has been the home of Mrs. R. Lyndon Danks, an owner who is as devoted to the place as was her famous predecessor. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, it might seems unusual for Mrs. Danks to be located so far away in Redding, Connecticut. Her explanation is quite simple. Living in New York City she decided she would like to have a small country farmhouse where she could spend part of her time. She looked at several places around Redding and found nothing to her liking. When the Real Estate man casually mentioned "the old Mark Twain home" a place she hardly knew even existed, she asked to see it.

It wasn't love at first sight. It was love even before the first sight. She decided she wanted Stormfield on the drive up to the grounds. An inspection of the house and gardens made her more eager to get on with the formalities of closing the sale. On that day began Mrs. Danks' long love of Stormfield.

What if Twain returned??

The hills of Stormfield are no different from what they were in 1908 or 1910 or will they be a thousand years from now, barring of course a modern builder with a bulldozer. Mr. Clemens would feel at ease and content on their tree studded slopes.

At the crest of the long rise from the highway to the grounds of Stormfield he would see the stables and cottages of his day, low squat buildings that blend into the landscape and many of them bearing his name stenciled on their timbers.

Beyond the cottages, where the driveway takes a gentle curve, and shielded by the native cedars of his day, he would see a beautifully reproduced Italian Villa-like structure similar to the original he loved so well.

'New' Stormfield

The Stormfield house, the one in which Mr. Clemens lived, was destroyed by fire in 1923. The present house was built in 1925 using the plans of the original building. [The house sits on the original foundation/basement]

Except for a few feet of dimensions (the Loggia & Clara's bedroom, to be exact) it is exactly the same (size-wise).

Excerpts from-
"Our Friend Mark Twain" by Helen Nickerson Upson
The Redding Times, June 2, 1960

Background-

During the Civil War- John N. Nickerson, later known as Judge John N. Nickerson of Redding, served as a Private in New York's 56th Regiment. While in action, he was very seriously wounded and visited by a young Army Chaplain named Joseph H. Twichell. Nickerson survived, received a Medal of Honor and in the process formed an enduring friendship with Twichell.

Later in life, While serving as a State Legislative Representative (1885), Nickerson, through his friendship with Twichell, met informally with many of the "Hartford Wits" including Samuel L. Clemens and Charles Dudley Warner.

Narrative of Helen N. Upson-

Frequently Dad passed an evening playing billiards with Mark Twain in his Hartford home, and the Rev. Twitchell and Mr. Warner were often guests at our home in Redding.

I recall very well when I was a small girl that Mr. Warner lifted me on his knee and said, much to my delight: "Helen you are a girl after my own heart- brim full of spunk, fire and go. No grass will ever grown under your feet."

Twain Comes to Dinner

Only once was Mark Twain a dinner guest at our house and then he was accompanied by Mr. Warner and Albert Bigelow Paine. He was so impressed by Redding's beautiful hills and rolling landscape that eventually he wanted to build a house here.

{BMC: I do recall a letter by Isabel to an Angelfish that notes Paine and Clemens are headed to Redding well before he arrived here officially. There is no follow up on the trip and it did prompt me to note the entry for further research. The trip may have been the dinner date Helen writes of...makes sense, why would you not want to view this type of investment? Given the history of poor investments he had made, it would seem probable he would at least want to see Redding before purchasing land here.}

One day after answering a telephone call my father seemed happily excited. Nobody knew why and he didn't talk about it. It seems the call was from Mr. Paine who wanted Dad to drive around with him to look over a few building sites. Twain had asked for a site on higher ground, with an expansive view and neighbors- not so near.

Dad went and the site of "Stormfield" was selected, deeds and other business were taken care of and construction was started and proceeded secretly. No one knew for whom "Stormfield" was being built.

There was much curiousity and gossip in Redding about the mysterious structure rising in the pasture on Diamond Hill. It was so much larger than the average Redding home that a rash of guesses went all the way from a select school for girls to an infirmary for incurables.

Mark Twain's orders were that no one was to know that he was to own the place nor that he was to live there. He did not want to see the place until is was entirely finished, furnished, and complete with a kitten purring on the hearth.

His wishes were carried out to the letter and he seemed delighted with his new home in its quiet, restful setting.

The House is Named

However, soon after his arrival, a thunder storm of such violence came up that Mr. Clemens said it sounded as if its force was being created over his head which gave rise to the name "Stormfield"

{BMC: One of many theories on the re-naming of the house. This is not too far fetched. In the summer of 1999, I was caught completely off guard by a freak, late afternoon thunderstorm. It came out of nowhere while I was mountain biking in the Stormfield trail system. It was a thunder and lighting show like to no other I've encounter before or since, further enhanced by the fact that I was wearing steel toe-clips! I've encountered similar storms while visiting Susan Durkee at the Lobster Pot. So, it is a fact that... for one reason or another Storms do hit hard on that ridge.}

My father so successfully engineered...Mark Twain's purchases of real estate in Redding that during the rest of his life Dad took care of his personal legal business and affairs.

{BMC: She must mean legal business and affairs in Redding.}

At the time I assisted my father with his office work and also did all his driving for him, so I spent much time at "Stormfield." Frequently Dad and I had the priviledge of listening to Mr. Clemens' masterful organ playing on his fine instrument placed on the landing midway between the floors in the large hall at Stormfield.

It was indeed a treat to listen to the white haired Clemens accompany his daughter, Clara, who was a concert soloist. His heart was in it and I really think that this was his favorite pastime. Had Mark Twain not been a great humorist he certainly would have been a famous organist.

Careless with Copy

Mr. Clemens was a most informal, but geniune personality. He detested insincerity and over stressed formality was distasteful to him. He preferred to receive his guests or associates while he was propped up in bed. Here one usually found him busy with his writing or reading. As he wrote long-hand, a sheet finished was a sheet discarded. It might be manuscript or waste paper. To him that was a minor detail.

Once finished, a sheet of paper was indifferently cast aside. It might nestle in the bed clothes or slide on to the floor. Family and attendants were instructed never to disturb ANY papers in that room except Mr. Albert Bigelow Paine. We have him to thank for his painstaking daily care of every scrap of Mark Twain's paper as he carefully scanned each piece arranging and organizing usable material in proper sequence so that the literature for which Mr. Clemens was famous would be published in proper form.

With all his splendid qualities Mark Twain was the victim of two besetting sins. Reports of great conflagrations or of people burnt to a crisp could not stop him from smoking in bed. Also he was so obliging that if anyone asked for his signature on a paper or document, without a second look, he would sign and for him, at least, the transaction was finished.

Mr. Paine had repeatedly rebuked him for such readiness with his pen and over and over again Dad had warned him that if he continued so indifferently to this practice that sooner or later he would find himself in very serious trouble. Someway their warnings went unheeded and slipped away like water off a duck's back.

Signed the Wrong Letter

Early one morning the phone beside Dad's (Judge John N. Nickerson of Redding) bed rang persistantly. He answered. It was Mr. Clemens - distress plainly registered by his voice, "Jack, can you come to me at once? I am in trouble - very serious trouble."

"What under heavens is the matter now?" my father asked.

"I'll tell you when you get here, can you come now?" the humorist answered.

Dad called me to hurry through my breakfast, harness my horse and be ready to drive to Stormfield in half an hour. When we arrived Mr. Clemens was angrier than we had ever seen him and his daughters Clara and Jean were very much disturbed.

"Now, Sam, what on earth has happened that you are so excited and upset?" asked Dad. The great humorist replied with something far removed from humor,

"Well, Jack, just as you predicted, I have been a damned fool, and as a result I am in the deal of a fix. A trusted friend of mine who has recently married a 'man of experience' brought me a document to sign without in any way explaining it- and I was foolish enough to require no explanation."

"At the moment I was concentrating on the writing of a script and, as was my custom, took the paper and quickly signed as she directed without reading it and I supposed the matter was dismissed, but this morning, to my horror, I discover that I have signed over to a trusted friend ABSOLUTE Power of Attorney over everything that I possess and I cannot spend so much as a nickel! without her O.K. Could any man have been a bigger damned fool??"

Eventually she consented to withdraw if a certain [piece] of Mr. Clemens treasured real estate (and he owned property in several states) could be turned over to her. As Mr. Clemens was convinced this was the only way out he acceded. Dad took care of the transaction and the case was closed.

One day after the case was settled, Dad was seated beside Mr. Clemens' bed talking to him when the humorist reached over to a table and picked up a copy of Innocents Abroad. I saw his eyes twinkle as he opened the book and wrote something inside the front cover, then he passed the book to my father. Dad grinned as he read the handwriting, then passed the book to me. This is what he wrote:

"The sane man readeth first but the ass signeth without looking. Truly yours, Mark Twain"

Below this he added:

"To John N. Nickerson with the compliments of the Author."

This book today is among my (Helen's) treasures.

Bermuda- Last Trip Abroad

Mark Twain as we knew him was thoroughly American and always revealed the deepest respect for all things worthy of reverence, and would hit hard at anything which seemed to him to be hateful or mean. As a humorist, in my opinion, none greater ever lived. For this quality he was best known and loved. It is doubtful if any one in this century has made more people laugh than Mark Twain has done, and yet the laughter he has aroused has been clean, wholesome, and self respecting. However, he harbored a scorching and bitter hatred for frauds, hypocrites, and pretenders and often he seared them with his wit. As a man he was always sincere and straight-forward.

It was during Mr. Clemens' last summer while he was resting at his home in Bermuda that he sent for Dad to go to him on important business and suggested that I accompany him for the pleasure of the trip. It was my good fortune to go with my father on this errand. Mr. Clemens was do delighted to have us both accept the invitation- that in honor of my visit he arranged an afternoon tea with young women my own age as guests. He said that he doubted very much if my father would enjoy a hen party presided over by an old, strutting cock, so he sent Dad off fishing with a couple of friends.

It was a memorable occasion. Although the great humorist was not well, seated there among us in his easy chair he made a distinguished appearance. We all were delighted with his conversation which was simple yet verbose. Although his humor was gay and laugh provoking, there was a seriousness about the man which probably was due to his age and the imprint of the grief he had endured.

For further entertainment I rode around in Mr. Clemens' little two wheeled Park Wagon pulled by a pretty little donkey; also I rode a number of miles on his daughter's bicycle. Among other things I saw a large field of Easter lilies (Bermuda lilies) in gorgeous full bloom. They made such an impression that when I returned to Redding I threw away a pathetically sad looking, spindly Easter lily that I had been coaxing to bloom for three years.

Death Comes to Stormfield

Having already lost his devoted wife and talented daughter, Susie, before coming to Redding, Mark Twain received a crushing blow when his devoted daughter, Jean, in the midst of Christmas celebration in 1909, died very suddenly. Dad went to him at once. Albert Bigelow Paine was already there and Clara and her husband were returning from Europe. The great humorist could not be comforted. From then on he failed rapidly and on April 21, 1910, when Spring was dawning over the Redding hills, our beloved humorist breathed his last breath in the home he had learned to love- Stormfield.

Mr. Clemens' Cat Party

When I was a little girl about seven years old, we lived near Stormfield, the big house belonging to Samuel Clemens. Folks around Redding called him Mark Twain, the famous writer and humorist, but we youngsters knew him as a kindly old man who had daughters of his own. He used to tell us funny stories and often played games with us under his great trees. There was always a prize for the winner, a dime or a even a quarter.

One common bond of the friendship we shared with Mr. Clemens was out love of cats and kittens. I remember so well the day of his "cat party." All the children in the neighborhood were invited (about 12 or 14 of us) and every child had to bring a live cat or kitten along to compete for a big prize.

Such excitement! Mother made me a new dress. Our big tabby was combed and brushed (much to her disgust) until, in my estimation, we were sure to win. Finally Tabby was captured, tucked into a rose-trimmed market basket and I started up the long road to Stormfield with my precious though unwilling burden.

But alas, half way up the hill, the jiggling was too much for kitty and despite my efforts to hold her down, she scratched me, tore my new frock and with a jump, was off and away. Bloodied and tear-stained, I struggled on up to the party, expecting to be turned away, for I had no cat to show.

Mr. Clemens listened intently to my sad story. Then, patting me on the head, he announced- "Well, this little girl has gone her best to show off her fine big littycat. I think she ought to win the very First Prize." No wonder we children all loved Mark Twain!!

Name of story teller unknown.

Mark Twain Estate

The annual hearing on the accounts of the trustees of Mark Twain's estate took place almost to the day of his death 50 years ago at Stormfield. (April 21, 1910)

Judge Hjalmar Anderson presided and Joseph H. Donnelly represented the estate.

The income beneficiary is Miss Clara Clemens Samossoud of San Diego, California, only living daughter of the humorist. The net was $38,000. The principal amounts to $403,336.00.

Mrs. Samossoud who enjoys the Redding Times Anniversary issues was the subject of a recent article in Parade. Her concluding thought was:

"Father, I guess you might say, was a human philosopher. He abhorred hypocrisy. But he loved humanity."

My Three Meetings with Mark Twain at Stormfield

by William Ireland Starr

During his Redding years, Stormfield was inaccessible enough to limit Mark Twain's callers to a small number, these he welcomed without benefit of introduction or advance appointment. During the warm part of the year 1908, exact date not remembered I was cruising around Redding with my good friend Arthur K. L. Watson in his White Steamer, and we decided to pay a visit to the local celebrity. At that time the approach to the Clemens' home was via Diamond Hill Road and what we now call Mark Twain Lane.

On such an excursion I was never without my cameras, and at this time I had just begun to experiment with the new Lumiere three-color photographic process, although my stand-by was my stereoscopic camera with which I took twin exposures giving the effect of a third dimension. Why I took no color shots on my first call I do not remember, but I did photograph the old gentleman in several poses, sitting in his front window, with his pipe in his hand, looking out at the Connecticut landscape.

I was assisted in this by Twain's two secretaries, Miss Isabel Lyon, his social secretary, and Ralph Ashcroft. English literary secretary, who, incidently had accompanied Mark Twain to Oxford for the presentation of the doctorate not long before.

Twain was very proud of the cap and gown he had worn on this occasion and sometimes strutted around in them like a small boy dressed up. It was a sumptuous garment of bright red with gray half-sleeves and wide lapels. This colorful costume was largely responsible for my second visit, the following December 14th, at which time I brought along some autocrome plates for a few color shots of Doctor Clemens.

Our host received us graciously on both of these calls, and on the second visit I was invited to stay for lunch. He was at the time, however, greatly intrigued over the founding of the Mark Twain Library, and he "put the bee" on all his visitors for a contribution, however small, to the building fund. You will find my name among the founders, next to that of Mr. Watson, on the list we still have at the Library.

Twain was in good form that December day and greeted us warmly with one of his funny stories, as we were about to sit down at the table. He was very amusing and showed that he liked an audience, even a small one consisting chiefly of his henchmen and Watson and myself. In 1908 color photography was quite new in America and I seem to have been among the first to use the Lumiere process, which employed glass plates on which sensitized tiny grains of starch were used to photograph the scene as a transparency.

My host kept kidding me about what he called my "color machinery" but I could see that he was interested in having another portrait in color, following a "sitting" of only fifteen to twenty seconds. One thing I noticed was that he was the autocrat at the luncheon table; Miss Lyon had whispered that he did not like to be interrupted, much less contradicted.

Rare Color Shots Disappear

The color shots turned out beautifully and I mailed all of them to "Dr. Samuel Clemens, Redding, Connecticut" That was the last I ever saw or heard of my prized transparencies.

When, after the elapse of some weeks, I had had no acknowledgement, I wrote to inquire if they had been received and what Mark Twain thought of them. Still no answer.

Finally, in the spring, I journeyed a third time to Stormfield to see if I could not rescue the missing plates in person. By this time the old gentleman was suffering from what turned out to be his last illness and was confined to his bedroom on the second floor. He did stick his head out the window and shout down to me a greeting and an apology for not inviting me up. "Doctor's orders" He was gone before I could ask any questions about my color photographs. Judging by some subsequent happenings, I would not be surprised if Ralph Ashcroft could have explained the mystery, had he been so minded.

My brief acquaintanceship with Isabel Lyon grew into a lifelong friendship between her and my family. She and Ashcroft were married, but their union broke up with great unhappiness to Isabel, and she came and lived with my mother for quite a time while she was trying to recover from the shock.

Starr-Haley Potrait on the Cover

I still have some of the black and white negatives I took of Mark Twain, and it was one of these Duane Haley used as a guide in drawing the portrait he made. Unfortunately photographic plates in those days were so "grainy" that enlargements of any considerable size magnified the rough texture to the point of distortion. I am glad, however, that I did preserve a few of the negatives and that Haley was able to produce such a fine drawing likeness from them.

I sincerely hope that a way can be found to purchase the Haley portrait for the Mark Twain Library here in Redding and that Haley's widow can benefit from what turned out to be one of his last, as well as one of his most notable pictures.

April 21, 2010 is Mark Twain Day in Connecticut

2009-10-28T20:14:00.000-07:00

Received some great news this evening from State Senator Boucher's office...it's gonna happen, April 21st, 2010 is Mark Twain Day in Connecticut.

More on our plans will come soon. At the present we are making Twain Connections all over the State!

Check out our Google Map of Connecticut Mark Twain Connections.

Mark Twain Centennial Collection Prints now available for online purchase...framed and unframed.

Connecticut Mark Twain Connections

2009-10-23T17:17:00.000-07:00

Current connections are:

Redding, Connecticut- Mark Twain arrived in Redding on June 18th, 1908 and departed on April 21, 1910.

“I was never in this beautiful region until yesterday evening. Miss Lyon and the architect built and furnished the house without any help or advice from me, and the result is entirely to my satisfaction.

It is charmingly quiet here. The house stands alone, with nothing in sight but woodsy hills and rolling country.”

-Samuel L. Clemens letter to Dorothy Quick dated June 19, 1908

Easton, Connecticut- Helen Keller; Ida M. Tarbell. "I have visited Stormfield [Twain's home in Redding] since Mark Twain's death [April,1910]. The flowers still bloom; the breezes still whisper and sough in the cedars, which have grown statelier year by year; the birds still sing, they tell me. But for me the place is bereft of its lover." -Helen Keller

Bethel & Bridgeport, Connecticut- P.T. Barnum was born in Bethel CT; He later lived in Bridgeport and served as mayor.

On Feb 3, 1875 Sam wrote:

"My Dear Barnum: ...of all the amazing shows that ever were conceived of, I think this of yours must surely take the lead!"

Barnum replied in March of 1875:

"You did a big thing with the Comet & perhaps sometime another chance may turn up."

It did! In 1910...hence our project here in 2010.

Danbury, Connecticut- Twain had a cat named Danbury and William Webb Sunderland & his son Philip Nichols Sunderland, the builders of Twain's Redding home- Stormfield, were from Danbury. Also, Judge William Scoville Case and State's Attorney Stiles Judson visited Twain on November 19, 1908. They tried the Stormfield burglars. February 21, 1872 - Twain lectured on "Roughing It".

Ridgefield, Connecticut- Architect, Cass Gilbert, who is best known for the Woolworth Building in NYC, also owned the Keeler Tavern and was a close friend of Twain's. Also, Edward Windsor Kemble and Henry Knox of Ridgefield are connected to Twain.

Westport, Connecticut- Ned Wakeman, who was the prototype for Twain's ship captain in Roughing It. Twain wrote: "I'd rather travel with that old portly, hearty, jolly, boisterous, good-natured sailor...than with any other man I've ever come across,"

Norwalk, Connecticut- E.K. Lockwood (Lockwood Museum) traveled with Twain while he was researching/writing Innocents Abroad.

CosCob/Greenwich, Connecticut- Jean Webster, talented daughter of Twain business partner Charles Webster. Also, the Stanton House Inn in Greenwich was designed as a private residence by Stanford White. White and Twain were members of The Players club in NYC.

Windsor, Connecticut- Elisha Bliss, Jr. of American Publishing Company. Clemens stayed with the Blisses while in Hartford in August and October 1868 to work on his book Innocents Abroad.

South Windsor, Connecticut- Azel Stevens Roe (1798–1886) was a wine merchant in New York City before relocating to his farm on East Windsor Hill, about eight miles northeast of Hartford. (East Windsor Hill became part of South Windsor when East Windsor was divided in 1845.)

After Clemens settled in Hartford in 1871, Roe “spent some pleasant nights with him” there and Clemens “paid a visit to the elder Roes” (Samuel Chalmers Thompson, 76).

Read more at the Mark Twain Project web site.

Manchester, Connecticut- The Monday evening club in which Mark Twain participated met at the Charles Cheney mansion in Manchester, about 0.2 mile from Cheney Hall. The Monday Evening Club was an organization which included the best minds of Hartford. Dr. Horace Bushnell, Prof. Calvin E. Stowe, and J. Hammond Trumbull founded it back in the sixties, and it included such men as Rev. Dr. Parker, Rev. Dr. Burton, Charles H. Clark, of the Courant, Warner, and Twichell, with others of their kind. Clemens had been elected after his first sojourn in England (February, 1873), and had then read a paper on the "License of the Press." The club met alternate Mondays, from October to May. There was one paper for each evening, and, after the usual fashion of such clubs, the reading was followed by discussion. Members of that time agree that Mark Twain`s association with the club had a tendency to give it a life, or at least an exhilaration, which it had not previously known.

Twain's friedship with Frank and Mary Bushnell Cheney is another Manchester connection.

Chatham, Connecticut- has a guest book signature by Twain at an inn he stayed at there.

New Haven, Connecticut- Twain visited New Haven in 1885 and befriended Warren McGuinn, an African-American student who was struggling to remain in school. Twain paid the young man's expenses at Yale and McGuinn went on to become a respected lawyer who would later mentor Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Saybrook , Connecticut- Fenwick (Hall) Hotel where Twain and family stayed and where some believe he began writing Tom Sawyer.

Hartford, Connecticut- Obviously the Hartford area has many friends and the Mark Twain House Museum. January 31, 1873 Twain lectured in Hartford - Benefit for Father Hawley, Allyn Hall, Hartford, Connecticut. Topic "Sandwich Islands". All services having been donated, the benefit netted $1,500 for Father Hawley.

East Hartford, Buckland, Bolton, Vernon, Tolland, Westford, Ashford, North Ashford, West Woodstock, and New Boston, Connecticut- All these towns connected via an amazing trek Joe Twichell and Twain made from Hartford to Boston in 1874.

"Livy darling, we started from the end of east river bridge, East Hartford, 2 hours & a half ago. Vernon is 11 miles from Hartford. The day is simply gorgeous—perfectly [matchless]"

In his 17 November, 1874 journal entry, Twichell noted that his pedestrian excursion with Clemens began at “8½ o’clock,” when they “left our house in his carriage” and “rode through the E. Hartford bridge, and then took to our feet—I carrying a little bag and he a basket of lunch.” Their itinerary, “furnished me by an ancient stage driver” through N. H. Andrews, the Hartford passenger agent of the Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad Company, was to take them along the old stage route to Boston: in Connecticut through East Hartford, Buckland, Vernon, Tolland, Westford, Ashford, North Ashford, West Woodstock, and New Boston, and then in Massachusetts through Blackstone, West Sutton, Northbridge, Upton, Holliston, Needham, Newton, and Brighton (Twichell, 1:12–13; Geer 1874, 27, 296).

Norfolk, Connecticut- Both Twain’s daughters Jean and Clara stayed at the sanitarium in Norfolk. September 22, 1906: Clara Clemens Concert, Eldridge Gymnasium, Norfolk, Connecticut.

Simsbury, Connecticut- Twain lectured Simsbury’s McLean Seminary in 1891. Also, Clemens and Joe Twitchell often visited the Daniel Wadsworth Tower.

Sharon, Connecticut- Frank and Harriet Sprague. Frank J. Sprague is an amazing individual. He was an American naval officer and inventor who contributed to the development of the electric motor, electric railways, and electric elevators. He became known as the “Father of Electric Traction”. Frank and Harriet attended Clara's wedding in October 1909.

Milford, Connecticut- Frank J. Sprague was born in Milford.

Fairfield, Connecticut- A "Mr. Forbes" of Fairfield, CT visited Stormfield on November 14, 1908. We're looking into who he was.

New Britian, Connecticut- After his December 13, 1869 lecture in New Britain, Connecticut, Clemens wrote James Redpath directing a change in the advertisement of his lecture.

“About twice a week I have to make an annoying apology to the audience.”

Pursuant to Clemens’s letter of 10 May 1869, Redpath had distributed a circular to lyceums announcing that ‘Mark Twain’s’ only lecture for the season of 1869–70 will be entitled ‘The Curiosities of California’. Clemens had remained committed to such a lecture at least into early summer, then abandoned it by 27 September, five weeks before the beginning of his tour. Redpath must have adjusted his publicity promptly, perhaps with an amended circular, for newspaper advertisements in host cities generally reported the new topic—“Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands.” Nevertheless, Clemens sometimes had to explain the substitution at the last moment.

Norwich, Connecticut- November 13 & 14, 1869 Twain lectured in Norwich, Connecticut. Topic: "Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands".

West Meriden, Connecticut- Twain lectured in West Meriden sometime around December 11-13th, 1869.

East Haddam, Connecticut- William "Will" Gillette. The Sellers play was given in Hartford, in January (1875), to as many people as could crowd into the Opera House. Raymond had reached the perfection of his art by that time, and the townsmen of Mark Twain saw the play and the actor at their best. Kate Field played the part of Laura Hawkins, and there was a Hartford girl in the company; also a Hartford young man, who would one day be about as well known to playgoers as any playwright or actor that America has produced. His name was William Gillette, and it was largely due to Mark Twain that the author of Secret Service and of the dramatic "Sherlock Holmes" got a fair public start. Clemens and his wife loaned Gillette the three thousand dollars which tided him through his period of dramatic education. Their faith in his ability was justified.

Waterbury, Connecticut- On May 21, 1901, the Waterbury Clock Co. received a letter from Mark Twain stating, "Please send me a watch. $1 enclosed." This refers to the highly successful and inexpensive "Watch That Made The Dollar Famous" made by the company. In Following the Equator, he wrote: "In a minor tournament I won the prize, which was a Waterbury watch. I put it in my trunk."

Stonington, Connecticut- James Hammond Trumbull. Trumbull was born in Stonington, Connecticut. The Hartford Monday Evening Club (which Trumbull had helped found in January 1869) gathered fortnightly to hear and discuss an original essay presented by one of its members. Clemens attended the meeting of 17 February 1873 and heard Congregational clergyman Nathaniel J. Burton read an essay entitled “Individualism.”

To James Hammond Trumbull
15 February 1873
J H Trumbull Esq

Dr. Sir:

I shall be very glad indeed to meet with the Club as a member on next Monday Evening, & am thankful, too.

And I willingly “excuse the informal character” of the notice—am even grateful for it; for if you had started in to make it formal you might have got it in [Sanscritt ], & that would just simply have made trouble with

Ys Truly
Samℓ. L. Clemens

Southington, Connecticut- Joseph Hopkins Twichell (1838–1918) was pastor of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church at 814 Asylum Street in Hartford. He was born in Southington, Connecticut. Twitchell played a significant role in many of the most important events occuring in the Clemens family. He was the presiding clergyman at Sam's marriage with Livy, and at their daughter Clara's wedding with Ossip Gabrilowitsch. Twitchell also provided support during the darkest periods for the family; he was present at the death of Susy, and officiated over the funerals of both Livy and Jean, and well as over Sam's funeral in New York City.

To Olivia L. Langdon
18 October 1868
"Set a white stone—for I have made a friend. It is the Rev. J. H. Twichell. I have only known him a week, & yet I believe I think almost as much of him as I do of Charlie. I could hardly find words strong enough to tell how much I do think of that man. (And] his wife, too. I met him at a church sociable. I had a splendid time at their house. I had my “manners” with me, & got up to go at 9.30pm, & never sat down again— but he said he was bound to have his talk out—& bless you I was willing—& so I only left at 11pm. And then he made me carry off the choicest books in his library. Splendid fellow!"

Wethersfield, Connecticut- Where the Stormfield Burglars ended up. "According to contemporary news reports of the Stormfield burglary, the two prisoners were named Charles Hoffman and Henry Williams. They were sentenced to time in Connecticut State Prison at Wethersfield."

"The 1910 census for Connecticut shows two prisoners by the names of Charles Hoffman and Henry Williams at Wethersfield."

Branford, Connecticut- Twain summered at Branford, Connecticut's Montowese House in 1881. Franklin G. Whitmore's House.

Unionville, Connecticut- The Platner & Porter Manufacturing Company. From the appendix of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn edition published by The Mark Twain Project of the Bancroft Library (2002 Edition)

Appendix A, Group 2 (Page 468)

"Mark Twain wrote these notes on eleven leaves: 2-1 through 2-10 on ten town half-sheets of unlived wove paper, the same paper as that used for MS1b pages 447 through 663; and 2-11 on a torn half-sheet of laid paper, ruled horizontally in blue and embossed "P&P (probably for Platner & Porter, the Connecticut paper manufacturer) in the upper left corner. (He used this stationary sporadically, for personal letters and literary manuscript, in the 1870's and in 1880: see Blair 1958-7-8...."

"P & P was indeed the symbol for The Platner & Porter Manufacturing Company. The company which was located in Unionville, Connecticut, made fine writing and book papers from around 1848 until the mill closed during the early years of the great depression in the 1930's. It was considered one of the major paper companies of Connecticut and at one time supplied the Federal Government with paper, and its paper was also used for Yale Diplomas. The Library of Congress also has several hand assembled notebooks of Walt Whitman, some of which are embossed "Platner & Porter, Congress".

I (Clifford Alderman)only came accross this reference to Twain recently though, but it makes sense, as Twain's next door neighbor, Mary Porter Chamerlain, wife of Hartford Attorney Franklin Chamberlain, was the sister of Samuel Quincy Porter, the owner of the Platner & Porter Paper Mill in Unionville.

Washington, Connecticut- William Hamilton Gibson: Nature illustrator & writer - wrote several books as well as articles for Harpers Magazine. Went to the Gunnery, returned and built a summer house and studio in Washington.

Newtown, Connecticut- William Hamilton Gibson was born in Newtown, Connecticut. Neat and informative article on Newtown's library, Twain and Gibson, here.

Stamford, Connecticut- Edward Quintard, M.D. (1867-1936) was born in Stamford, CT, the son of Edward Augustus and Mary (Skiddy) Quintard, and was related through his mother to president Zachary Taylor.

During his storied career, Edward was an outstanding medical practitioner and educator, but also was the personal physician to many celebrities. Perhaps the best known was Samuel Langhorne Clemens -- better known as the best-selling author Mark Twain -- and in fact Edward was at Twain's deathbed at the end.

Monroe/Stepney, Connecticut- The Burr-Hawley General Store. Burr Hawley General Store 435 Main Street. Two turnpikes intersected here, and the Stepney Green and new Baptist and Methodist churches made the area a hub of community life. The store's founder, Isaac Burritt, had a very successful general store on this site by 1850. Burr Hawley, a 'twenty-something' entrepeneur, bought & rebuilt the store (in 1870) into a three-story emporium organized somewhat like a modern “superstore” that offered just about anything a shopper could want. The most well known celebrity to gather round the potbelly stove to share yarns, or tales, was Mark Twain. The store and Georgian homestead were torn down in the late 1950s.

East Granby, Connecticut- Roswell, Phelps. A Hartford insurance company stenographer, Phelps was a former schoolteacher and journalist when James Osgood recruited him to assist Mark Twain as a paid stenographer on his 1882 trip on the Mississippi River. The dications he recorded along the way became part of Mark Twain's notebooks and Life on the Mississippi.

Bloomfield, Connecticut- Francis Gillette. A Connecticut politician, abolitionist and insurnace company executive. Gillette and his brother-in-law John Hooker bought Nook Farm, which they developed into a prestigious Hartford residential community where Mark Twain later became his neighbor. Gillette also helped found Joseph Twichell's Asylum Hill Church.

Enfield, Connecticut- On Monday morning, 25 November, Clemens left the Batavia in Boston, whence the ship proceeded to New York. He took an express train for Hartford, which narrowly escaped derailment near Enfield, Connecticut, about fifteen miles north of Hartford:

"About three-quarters of a mile from the bridge the express train coming south on the west track, about seven o’clock Monday evening, met a pile of ties. The engineer saw them, and by his presence of mind and the Westinghouse brake was able to stop the train before the crash so that no damage was done. (“A Villain’s Work,” Hartford Courant, 27 Nov 72, 2)"

Hartford Nov 26. 1872

Dear Folks,

I will write only a note to say Sam has arrived safely and in good health after being gone three months & a week; and of passing through the most [ terriffic ] S[t]orm of a week—and just before reaching Hartford of a narrow escape of a car wreck as there were ties fastened on the track in two places.

Thompsonville, Connecticut- 1870 Lecture Tour: At least 49 engagements, topic - "Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands" Under the management of James Redpath. November 30 - Thompsonville, Connecticut. November 30th is his Birthday, must have been a good show!

"Mark Twain is a very good looking man. He is of medium height and moderately slender build, has light brown hair, a reddish brown moustache, regular features and a fresh complexion; and he has a queer way of wrinkling up his nose and half closing his eyes when he speaks. The expression of his face is as calm and imperturbable as that of a sphinx. Looking at him you feel it to be an impossibility that he should ever hurry or be out of temper, and you might suppose him to be incapable of a joke, if it were not for the peculiar twinkle in his merry eyes. His voice is remarkably light and remarkably dry--like some German wines--and it seems to be modulated to only two keys. His style of speaking is unique to the last degree. It is all of a piece with the quality of his humor, and fits him like a glove."

Old Lyme, Connecticut- Willard L. Metcalf and Twain were members of The Players club in NYC. The Florence Griswold Museum houses a large collection of Metcalf's paintings.

Marlborough, Connecticut- Asa Bigelow was born in Marlborough on the 18th of January, 1779. Asa Bigelow was John Bigelow's father, John Bigelow was Poultney Bigelow's father. Poultney Bigelow and Twain were friends. http://poultneybigelow.org/ Poultney Bigelow, was an American adventurer, world traveler, and roving foreign correspondent. He was a close friend as this passage shows:

"It was on the afternoon of the next day, April 18, 1894, that the firm of Charles L. Webster & Co. executed assignment papers and closed its doors.

Naturally, the failure of Mark Twain’s publishing firm made a public stir, and it showed how many and sincere were his friends, how ready they were with sympathy and help of a more material kind. Those who understood best, congratulated him on being out of the entanglement.

Poultney Bigelow, Douglas Taylor, Andrew Carnegie, Charles Dudley Warner, and others extended financial help, Bigelow and Taylor each inclosing him a check of one thousand dollars for immediate necessities. He was touched by these things, but the checks were returned." -Albert Bigelow Paine

New Canaan, Connecticut- Katharine B. Clemens. Found via a letter written by Sam from Bermuda in 1910...

Bermuda, March 24, 1910

Dear Cousin Katharine,

I am grateful for the prayers of those good nuns, and for yours; they have already answered themselves in giving me a deep pleasure...

About a month hence I shall be homeward bound after a year's sojourn in these islands of the Blest. Write me as soon as you get to New Canaan and tell me when I can have you at Stormfield.

Your Affectionately,
S.L. Clemens

Pomfret, Connecticut- Louise Chandler Moulton. Moulton, a Boston resident, was visiting in Pomfret, the small town in northeast Connecticut where she had grown up (Whiting 1910, 5, 71–72).

October 14, 1874 • Hartford, Conn.

My Dear Mrs. Moulton,

Your dainty volume came last night & Mrs. Clemens read “Brains” to me while I smoked—& I was glad she read instead of I, because I was so touched my voice would have done me treachery, & I find it necessary to be manly & ferocious in order to maintain a proper discipline in this family. We have so long read your book reviews in the Tribune that it was no surprise that we liked to the story so much.

Our eldest daughter is progressing finely, & I think you will like her when you come down to see us by & by as you promised to do. We have been in a portion of our house a month, & we expect the carpenters to give up the rest before Christmas—though “art is long” & so they may possibly remain with us a year or two more.

With many thanks for the pretty book I am Heartily Yours,

Sam

New London, Connecticut- Fort Trumbull

Twain's Short Story "A Curious Experience" begins: This is the story which the Major told me, as nearly as I can recall it:--

In the winter of 1862-3, I was commandant of Fort Trumbull, at New London, Conn. Maybe our life there was not so brisk as life at "the front"; still it was brisk enough, in its way -- one`s brains did n`t cake together there for lack of something to keep them stirring.

Check out our Google Map of Connecticut Mark Twain Connections.

Mark Twain Centennial Collection Prints now available for online purchase...framed and unframed.

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Mark Twain Centennial Project: Tours, prints help promote Twainiacs’ efforts to share history

2009-10-13T07:13:00.000-07:00

Written by Rachel Kirkpatrick
Sunday, 11 October 2009

Self-described “Twainiacs,” portrait artist Susan Durkee, Mark Twain Library Director Heather Morgan and Redding historian Brent Colley, look over limited edition prints of works Ms. Durkee created to help raise funds for the library and to promote a project connecting Twain history to towns across the state.—Rachel Kirkpatrick photo

Redding historian Brent Colley loves to imagine the town’s landscape after Mark Twain, aka Samuel Clemens, built his Stormfield estate atop the hillside off Diamond Hill Road.

“I can see myself just sitting there and mulling in awe at seeing this glowing thing,” he said, looking up through the trees where residents may have gazed upon the mansion.

With the help of fellow “Twainiacs,” portrait artist Susan Durkee and Markv Twain Library Director Heather Morgan, Mr. Colley has been conducting Twain Tours, offering historians and enthusiasts insight into the last two years of Twain’s life, which were spent in Redding. These are years that are still shrouded in mystery for those on the outside, he said.

The year 2008 marked the 100th anniversary of Mark Twain’s arrival to Redding, and the founding of the Mark Twain Library, but 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of his death. It’s an opportunity, Mr. Colley said, to continue to recognize his life and promote Redding’s treasured Twain history.

The three Twainiacs are teaming up to place free exhibits next year in every public library or public place in the state that has Twain significance in an effort they call the Mark Twain Centennial Project. The project is being undertaken in partnership with the Mark Twain Library.

Twain called a number of places home over the course of his lifetime, Mr. Colley said in a news release. However, his years in Connecticut came during very significant periods in his life. These exhibits will include artwork, photos and informational brochures about Twain’s life, work and friends in Connecticut.

“We’re trying to build a foundation and connect more towns to his life,” Mr. Colley said. “This whole effort can just grow and grow and grow, and the possibilities are endless.”

To help fund this project, Ms. Durkee is selling limited edition prints, including portraits of Twain, a centennial calendar and illustrated pictorial reference guide. Twenty percent of the proceeds, which are tax deductible, will go toward the project.

The Twain Tours always end at a very special place — Ms. Durkee’s own home and studio, The Lobster Pot, part of the former Stormfield estate, and where Isabel Lyon, Twain’s social secretary, household manager and social companion lived. Ms. Lyon “played a critical role during his last years,” Ms. Durkee said.

“He was such a complicated man, with so many dimensions,” Ms. Durkee said. “Being a portrait artist, I felt strongly that people should be proud in Redding of the library, and I had this idea to create these centennial prints.”

“Part of this is to recognize what an important person he was for American history and culture,” she said. “He affected so many people and so many people devote their lives to him. He’s undefined, he just keeps going and going.”

Mr. Colley, creator of the Web site historyofredding.com, has been promoting the effort through a blog (twainproject.blogspot.com) he created to collect and share information about Twain and about the project.

The next step, he said, is to digitize the items in the Twain archive room at the library, so that people all over the world may access the library’s records.

“The more I learned about Mark Twain, the more I realized there is really not a consensus of what happened here, so I feel like this would be an opportunity to add to the history, and give people the capability to learn more about the last two years through the collections the library has in its archives,” Mr. Colley said.

“It’s really what sparked my interest in Twain,” he added. “The more you learn, the more you want to know.”

Twain’s connection here, Ms. Morgan said, “has always been Redding’s best kept secret — but I don’t think that’s right.”

“This has become a busy library,” Ms. Morgan said. “First and foremost I am library director, but when you’ve got such a treasure trove under your care, you spend a lot more time than you realize. It’s so remarkable, and enjoyable, looking after it.”

She gets a lot more requests by e-mail from researchers who want to know something about Twain’s life in Redding, which has always remained a mystery to some.

“We get a lot of visitors, people who live in Redding are now bringing their friends and relatives to visit,” she said.

Next month, the library is celebrating the anniversary of Clara’s wedding. Clara was Twain’s middle daughter. In 2010, the library will honor Twain because it is the year he died. The library, she said, is working with Hartford Public Library and the Mark Twain house on programs for that.

“I’ve been delighted I’ve made so many friends in the Twain world and they’re all helping me discover things and discover more things,” she said.

Fewer than 300 of the 3,000 original collection of books are now left since the library was founded. Over the years, many of the books were circulated, and in the 1950s, the library sold a great number of the books to raise funds. Ms. Morgan is still actively trying to find them.

Ms. Morgan said she always liked his books, but the connection to Twain grew stronger when she began working part time at the library.

“I loved working there and then I realized I had a whole lot of Mark Twain stuff to deal with,” she said. “You learn by being surrounded with his works and things that belonged to him. You find you become inquisitive and follow through on things. I learned more about the man and got totally hooked, and meeting all these Twainiacs helped, too.”

Mr. Colley said the goal is to feature these free exhibits in at least 200 locations across the state. There are already so many Twain connections in Connecticut, including Ridgefield’s Cass Gilbert, who owned the historic Keeler Tavern and who often visited Twain at Stormfield. Another connection is through Easton, because Helen Keller often visited Twain at Stormfield. Another is Hartford where the Mark Twain House Museum is.

The key now is to fund-raise and secure sponsors for the effort, Mr. Colley said. He is now working to establish the anniversary of Twain’s death, April 21, 2010, as an official Mark Twain Day in Connecticut.

“We want people to know about Twain’s time in Redding, because it is so huge,” Ms. Durkee said.

Last May, Ms. Durkee held a special centennial “sendoff” celebration at her home on Mark Twain Lane. When she moved into the home she began researching its history and learned more about Isabel Lyon and her somewhat controversial relationship with Twain, the subject of which is featured in a documentary prepared by History Film Inc. and produced by Richard Altomonte.

Called “Dangerous Intimacy,” the documentary is based on the book, Dangerous Intimacy: The Untold Story of Mark Twain’s Final Years, by Karen Lystra, a professor of American studies at California State University at Fullerton.

When Twain’s daughter Clara died, Isabel’s diary was opened to the public and a lot of writings and information about her time at Stormfield began to come out.

“Isabel kept a meticulous diary of everything she did at Stormfield,” Ms. Durkee said. “The diary brought to light a lot of information people didn’t know about.”

“So many people want to share in this information and participate,” she said. “No one wants to keep any of it exclusively.”

Tax-deductible donations may be made toward this effort.

Checks may be sent to:

The Mark Twain Library, Mark Twain Centennial Project
P.O. Box 1009, Redding CT 06875.

Mr. Colley may be reached at bcolley@colleyweb.com To view the collection of prints for sale, visit thelobsterpotstudio.com/the-mark-twain-gallery.htm.

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Twain Connections project seeks residents with a link to popular author Mark Twain
By Melissa Bruen
Danbury News-Times
Updated: 10/29/2009 05:44:45 PM EDT

A desire to learn more about Samuel L. Clemens (more popularly known by his pen name, Mark Twain) has propelled a local historian to create a statewide project that celebrates this popular author.

Twainiacs -- fans of Mark Twain -- couldn't be happier.

The project, called Twain Connections, is just that. It involves finding connections Twain made here during his remarkable life as a writer, humorist and philosopher. Next year marks the 100th anniversary of his passing, and since Twain once lived in Connecticut -- in Hartford and Redding -- there are many connections to be made.

"I had a late start realizing the history of Redding, so I'm trying to promote it and get the kids more excited about it," said historian Brent Colley, whose family came to Redding five generations ago.

Two years ago, in search of images to compile in a calendar, Colley found himself elbows deep in information about Twain at Redding's public library.

"I thought, 'Wow, we need to go a lot further with this,' " Colley said.

When he began his research, he made instant friends in Redding.

"We call ourselves the Twainiacs -- Twain plus maniac," Colley said of Heather Morgan, the director of the library, and Susan Durkee, an artist who lives on the Redding property once owned by Twain, which he named the Lobster Pot.

Twain died April 21, 1910, at Stormfield, his home in Redding.

Between Morgan, Durkee and Colley's mutual love and respect for Twain, and the encouragement Colley received through the Mark Twain Forum at www.twainweb.net, Colley was off and running.

Since then, he's been researching Twain's connections across the state in an attempt to create a yearlong centennial celebration. In the course of his research, he's met many interesting people with important stories to tell.

"I spoke to a woman up in Windsor, who is 84," Colley said. "Her great-great-grandfather is one of the main reasons Twain came to Connecticut; he was a publisher."

Colley's hope is that each town will display a Twain Connections exhibit and brochure map of all the places connected to his time in Connecticut. Each exhibit would include a limited edition print of Twain by Durkee, information about Twain, plus details about that town's local resident who had a connection with Twain.

In addition to the exhibits, Colley pushed for and got a statewide Mark Twain Day proclamation for April 21, 2010.

It's a large undertaking, but Colley said it's worth it.

"We (the Twainiacs) have a great time with it because doing something you love you never feel like you are really working," he said.

Already Colley has communicated with Twain fans across the country, many of whom have expressed an interest in visiting the area -- another reason he believes the project can successfully stimulate interest in Redding.

"We could drive tourism to Connecticut if we connect him to enough towns," Colley said, adding funding is needed to make copies of materials so the towns can have displays.

"I'm hoping that in each town businesses will come forward to sponsor (the exhibits), allowing them to be free to the public," he said, adding that if people sponsor this their name will be all over Connecticut on the actual anniversary as well.

"In the future," he said, "we hope to digitize the Mark Twain archive that is in the Redding library, which is extensive, and then share it all online."

Contact Melissa Bruen at mbruen@newstimes.com or 203-731-3350.

October 11th, 2009- 101st Anniversary of the Chapel Library's Opening

2009-10-10T06:45:00.000-07:00

Chapel Building Library Officially opened on October 11th, 1908

On October 11, 1908 a small, unused Chapel on the corner of Umpawaug Rd. and Diamond Hill opened as a temporary library to house the thousands of books Mark Twain donated from his personal collection to the people of Redding.

Coley Taylor recalled:

"Mark Twain donated a large number of books from his own collection to the library. They were housed in the seldom used old chapel facing the ancient but still used Umpawaug Cemetery. A librarian was on hand Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. Twain secured donations from many friends, including Andrew Carnegie, and publishers."

Making Connections- Helen Keller, Easton, CT

2009-10-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

October 7th- 101st Anniversary of the Mark Twain Library

2009-10-03T06:17:00.001-07:00

“Stormfield,” Redding, Conn. October 7, 1908:

“To My Guests

Greetings and Salutation and Prosperity!
And Therewith, Length of Days.

Listen:

My fellow farmers of this vicinity have gathered together some hundreds of books and instituted a public library and given it my name. Large contributions of books have been sent to it by Robert Collier, of Collier’s Weekly, by Colonel Harvey, of Harper & Brothers, and by Doubleday, Page & Company- all these without coercion; indeed upon the merest hint. The other great publishers will do the like as soon as they hear about this enterprise. The Harper Periodicals, Collier’s Weekly, World’s Work, Country Life in America, and other magazines are sent gratis to the library- this also without coercion, merely a hint. The hint in due time be extended to other magazines. And so, we have a library…”

Library Officially opens on October 11th, 1908

On October 11, 1908 a small, unused Chapel on the corner of Umpawaug Rd. and Diamond Hill opened as a temporary library to house the thousands of books Mark Twain donated from his personal collection to the people of Redding.

On October 28, 1908, Twain formally dedicated the library, naming himself as first President.

The temporary library was actively used, and a librarian was on hand Wednesdays and Saturday afternoons for the town’s people.

Twain didn’t stop there. He began raising funds for a permanent library building by charging admission to his personal gatherings, imposing a $1 tax on all male visitors, a luggage tax on all his many famous visitors, and receiving gifts from influential friends like Andrew Carnegie.

On September 21, 1909 he hosted a Library Fund concert at Stormfield in which his daughter Clara Clemens and her future husband Ossip Gabrilowitsch, the Russian pianist, entertained 525 guests.

Land for the new library building was donated by Theodore Adams. One of Twain’s final acts was approving a $6,000 check for the Library Building Fund. He dedicated the Library in the memory of his daughter Jean.

To Charles T. Lark, New York:
HAMILTON, BERMUDA. April 6, 1910

DEAR MR. LARK,–I have told Paine that I want the money derived from the sale of the farm, which I had given, but not conveyed, to my daughter Jean, to be used to erect a building for the Mark Twain Library of Redding, the building to be called the Jean L. Clemens Memorial Building.

I wish to place the money $6,000.00 in the hands of three trustees,– Paine and two others: H. A. Lounsbury and William E. Hazen, all of Redding, these trustees to form a building Committee to decide on the size and plan of the building needed and to arrange for and supervise the work in such a manner that the fund shall amply provide for the building complete, with necessary furnishings, leaving, if possible, a balance remaining, sufficient for such repairs and additional furnishings as may be required for two years from the time of completion.

Will you please draw a document covering these requirements and have it ready by the time I reach New York (April 14th).

Very sincerely, S. L. CLEMENS.

The Mark Twain Library officially opened at its present location on February 18, 1911.

This is the entry of the Jean L. Clemens Memorial Building.

The foliage at Stormfield "was heaven and hell and sunset and rainbows and the aurora, all fused into one divine harmony, and you couldn't look at it and keep the tears back."
-S.L.C. 1909

Learm about our Mark Twain Centennial Project

100th Anniversary of Clara's Wedding

2009-10-03T06:17:00.000-07:00

October 6, 2009 marks the 100th Anniversary of Clara Clemens and Ossip Gabrilowitsch's wedding at Stormfield in Redding, Connecticut.

The wedding took place in the drawing room at Stormfield, with the Rev. Dr. Joseph H. Twitchell of Hartford, a close friend of Mr. Clemens, as officiating clergyman.

The bride was attended only by her sister, Miss Jean Clemens, but her cousins, Jervis Langdon of Elmira, N. Y., and Mrs. Julia Loomis, wife of Edward Loomis, Vice President of the Delaware Lackawanna & Western Railroad, were present.

Miss Ethel Newcomb of New York City played a wedding march as the bridal party entered the drawing room shortly after Noon. The room was decorated with evergreens, autumn leaves, and roses, and the bride and bridegroom stood beneath a bower of white roses and smilax.

While the ceremony was being performed Mr. Clemens was attired in he scarlet cap and gown which he wore when the Degree of Doctor of Literature was conferred upon him by Oxford University. After the wedding he returned to his customary white flannel suit. Forty guests from New York City were present and attended a wedding brunch which followed the marriage.

Speaking of the bride and bridegroom Mr. Clemens said:

"Clara and Gabrilowitsch were pupils together under Leschetizky, in Vienna, ten years ago. We have known him intimately ever since.

It's not new - the engagement. It was made and dissolved twice six years ago. Recovering from a perilous surgical operation, two or three months passed by him here in the house ended a week or ten days ago in renewal. The wedding had to be sudden for Gabrilowitsch's European season is ready to begin."

Reporters were curious about the library:

Reporter:

"Can you say a word or two about the Redding Mark Twain Library?"

Clemens:

"The village did me the honor to name it so. It flourishes. We are all engaged in propagating the building fund, in a social and inexpensive way, through picnics, afternoon teas, and other frolics in the neighborhood, with now and then a full strength concert in my house at ostentatious prices.

We had one (a concert to benefit the library) last week with a team composed of Gabrilowitsch, David Bispham, and his bride, with me as introducer and police. We had an audience of 525.

When I have a male guest I charge him a dollar for his bed and turn the money into the fund and give him an autographed receipt, which he carries away and sells for $1.10."

They were also curious about Redding:

Reporter:

"Do you like it here at Stormfield?"

Clemens:

"Yes, it is the most out of the world and peaceful and tranquil and in every way satisfactory home I have had experience of in my life."

Yet the most interesting strain of thought that Samuel L. Clemens had on this day was not about the wedding, the library or life in Redding...it was about life itself.

Reporter:

"The marriage pleases you, Mr. Clemens?"

Clemens:

"Yes, fully as much as any marriage could please me or perhaps any other father. There are two or three tragically solemn things in this life, and a happy marriage is one of them, for the terrors of life are all to come. A funeral is a solemn office, but I go to them with a spiritual uplift, thankful that the dead friend has been set free. That which follows is to me tragic and awful - the burial.

I am glad of this marriage, and Mrs. Clemens would be glad, for she always had a warm affection for Gabrilowitsch, but all the same it is a tragedy, since it is a happy marriage with its future before it, loaded to the plimsoll line with uncertainties."

This was how Clemens viewed life in the final years of his life and it was through his life experiences that he had come to view life this way.

While many are drawn to Mark Twain by his literary talents, there are also those attracted to the study of his life experiences. He was an enormously talented writer, at times larger than life, but personally he endured the same peaks and valleys we all face along this road of life and that, to me, is a key reason his persona and his popularity have not faded nearly a century after his death.

Making Connections- Captain Ned Wakeman, Westport CT

2009-09-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

The Mark Twain Centennial, to me, is all about celebrating the life of Samuel L. Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) and making people more aware of his time in Connecticut.

To connect Connecticut towns and cities to his friends, family, associates and the places he visited I recently asked for assistance from local historians. As it turns out I didn't need to look past my own personal rolodex! Portrait Artist Susan Durkee, my friend and fellow Twainiac, forwarded a real gem to me this week. Westport's Captain Edgar "Ned" Wakeman.

Captain Edgar "Ned" Wakeman was skipper of the steamship America(a ship Clemens sailed on from San Francisco to NYC in 1866-67), and one of the most colorful seafarers of the time period. Wakeman is reincarnated in several of Twain's book characters: Captain Ned Blakely, Captain Stormfield, and Captain Hurricane Jones.

In a letter to the Alta (Newspaper), Clemens speaks of him as follows:

"I will do him the credit to say that he knows how to tell his stirring forecastle yarns; with his strong, cheery voice, animated countenance, quaint phraseology, defiance of grammar, and extraordinary vim in the matter of emphasis and gesture, he makes a most effective story even out of unpromising materials.

He is fifty years old, as rough as a bear in voice and action, and yet as kind hearted and tender as a woman. He is a burly, hairy, sunburned, stormy-voiced old salt, who mixes strange oaths with incomprehensible sailor-phraseology and the gentlest and most touching pathos, and is tatooed from head to foot like a Feejee Islander.

He knows nothing of policy or of the ways of the world, but he can keep cheered-up any company of passengers that ever traveled in a ship. He never drinks a drop, never gambles, and never swears where a lady or a child may chance to hear him."

In a notebook entry he writes:

"I'd rather travel with that old portly, hearty, jolly, boisterous, good-natured sailor...than with any other man I've ever come across,"

In his memoirs he wrote:

"I first knew Capt. Wakeman thirty-nine years ago. I made two voyages with him and we became fast friends. He was a great burly, handsome, weather-beaten, symmetrically built and powerful creature, with coal-black hair and whiskers and the kind of eye which men obey without talking back. He was full of human nature, and the best kind of human and loving a soul as I have found and when his temper was up he performed all the functions of an earthquake, without the noise."

In a letter Clemens wrote to his brother Orion, from Hartford, Clemens notes helping the Captain in 1874. This letter and more like them can be found at http://www.marktwainproject.org

"Farmington Avenue, Hartford.

March. 18, 1874

My Dear Bro:

The enclosed letter [ it is ] from a remarkable man—old Ned Wakeman, mariner for 40 year.,—or 50, more like it. He hung the mate (see “Roughing It”) for killing the negro. It is a true story.

I have written him that you will edit his book & help him share the profits, & I will write the introduction & find a publisher."

Westport Connection

Edgar "Ned" Wakeman was born in Westport, Connecticut:

"My great-great-great-grand-father, more than two hundred years ago, settled at Green Farms, Fairfield county, Connecticut; taking up a farm, as was the custom then, by running two parallel lines in a northerly direction from Long Island Sound,
so as to in close a strip of land as long and as wide as he desired.

This grant, signed by the English king, and always to be exempt from taxes, extended, according to the record on parchment in the Hartford Hall of Records, from the Sound, through Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont. There were plenty of Indians in the country then, but neither roads nor fences, and the trees were marked with an ax to indicate the boundary lines.

The old house, the home of my fondest recollections, was built by this Joseph Wakeman, and lived in by five Josephs successively, down to my uncle Joe, who died in 1854. After his death it was sold to the Episcopalian society, and a stone church, the finest religious edifice in Westport, the town which has grown up around it, erected upon its site.

The old house measured fifty feet by forty, the stone chimney was eighteen feet square, the kitchen fireplace was ten feet wide at the back, twelve feet wide in front and six feet deep; a horse was employed to haul in the back-log, which was generally about nine feet long by three in diameter. The stone steps into the cellar were immense, and the oak timbers in the chamber floor and around the chimney were sixteen inches square. The original siding and shingles were never changed, but the last time I saw the old place the shingles were worn through in many places and were generally threadbare.

When the mail-stage road from New York to Boston came to be made, it ran close to the house, where the stage always stopped upon each trip, and when the British troops were in this country a number of officers made their headquarters at this house. My father was then a boy, and I have heard him say that he and the other frightened children ran and threw themselves into a bed as the troops approached; and I have seen him laugh as he remembered how he trembled when a soldier pulled back the covering, exclaiming:

"Here they are; black and white, all together!"

Down the road and across it, when I was young, stood an old building, which I have heard my father say was the house of a Jenning, a family which intermarried with mine. When the soldiers were leaving Westport they set fire to this building, and left a small squad behind to see that the fire was well kindled.

But the boys, my father among them, got an old King's tim and loaded it and then crept behind the stone fence, from which place they shot at the soldiers, wounding one and putting all to flight, so that the boys extinguished the flames and saved the house.

My grandfather Joseph and his wife Mary both died young. His family consisted of my father, whose name was Hezekiah, Seth, Joseph, Gideon and one daughter, Abigail; good, old-fashioned, names, that I love to recall, and family histories that my father used to relate to me when I was a boy at home, how I love to repeat them!

My father married Mary Godfrey on the eighteenth of February, 1798. He lived to the ripe age of eighty-seven, and my mother died at seventy-eight. My father was noted for his skill and strength in wrestling more than for anything else, unless it was for his sturdy honesty. On public occasions in our village, eighty years ago, wrestling matches were always held in which my father invariably, engaged, while report saith that he was never once thrown by his opponent. It was the custom then for the lad who was the best wrestler to wait upon the county belle, so it may be surmised that my mother was a very pretty girl; and I have often heard her say that Hezekiah was not only the strongest lad, and the only one of her acquaintance who possessed a double row of teeth all around, but also the best-looking young man in the country.

My first personal recollections carry me back more than forty years to a little tow-headed fellow living with his kind father and his loving mother in Westport, in the State of Connecticut..."

From: The log of an ancient mariner: being the life and adventures of Captain Edgar Wakeman. Library of Congress, American Memory.

Edgar "Ned" Wakeman, of Westport, Connecticut...one of the "most winning and delightful" people Samuel L. Clemens ever met.

Does your Town have a "Twain Connection"???

I'd like to know all about it!

Make a Donation to the Project

Stormfield Project Site Map

2009-09-27T07:29:00.000-07:00

It's been getting tough to find the "good stuff" so until Blogger gets a better category sorting gadget I've listed some helpful links below.

Twain's Time in Redding:

June 18th, 1908, the arrival

The Burglary at Stormfield, September 18, 1908

The Burglary... who were the Stormfield burglars?

Stormfield Burglar makes his confession

Our Neighbor Mark Twain by Coley Taylor

Mark Twain as I Knew Him. Recollections of an Angelfish

Guestbook Entries September 1909

Who were the Angelfish?

The Billiard Room Addition (Bigelow Paine's House)

Mark Twain & Isabel Lyon

Funeral Expenses

The Tour de Twain... where to visit when you come to Redding

Stormfield:

The property known as Stormfield

Books and articles containing information on Stormfield

The Stormfield Guestbook

Sunderlands, the builders of Stormfield

Stormfield and Mark Twain Lane in 1915

Stormfield Rebuiding Crew, 1925 (post fire)

Mark Twain Library:

Concert in support of library for Redding

Letter asking lawyer, Charles Lark, to release $6,000 for library

Samuel L. Clemens Book Collection at the Mark Twain Library

Mark Twain Library Celebrates 100th Anniversary

Mark Twain Library Launches New Website on the 99th Anniversary of his Death

The Mark Twain Centennial Project:

The Mark Twain Centennial Project Explained

Does Your Town Have a Twain Connection?

The Centennial Project Artwork

The Centennial Project Kickoff at the Lobster Pot

What We Want to Do Going Forward

Movie Projects:

Dangerous Intimacy: The Untold Story of Mark Twain's Final Years

Does Your Town Have a Twain Connection?

2009-09-23T18:54:00.000-07:00

April 21, 2010 marks the Centennial of Mark Twain's passing and provides the residents of Connecticut with a great opportunity to showcase and celebrate Twain's life in Hartford and Redding, Connecticut throughout the year 2010.

Mark Twain (a.k.a. Samuel L. Clemens) called a number of places home over the course of his lifetime, however, his years in Connecticut came during very significant periods in his life. These years and the people and places that occupied them are the focus of a very special program Redding Historian Brent M. Colley is working on for 2010.

Having partnered with The Mark Twain Library and Portrait Artist Susan Durkee, Mr. Colley is currently securing funding in an effort to place exhibits in every public library and/or public place that wants to be a part of this celebration. The exhibits will include artwork, photos and information brochures about Twain's life, his work and his friends in Connecticut. These Exhibits will be free to the public and free to the libraries and public places that display them.

The Artwork:

"The most exciting feature in this project, to me, is the opportunity to explore the Friends of Twain and make connections to Twain in towns & cities across Connecticut. To date I've been amazed at the number of people and towns connected to his life and I cannot wait to make others aware of these people and their accomplishments." Said Mr. Colley in a recent interview.

Mr. Colley feels that merging information about Twain with information about the "Friends of Twain" in the exhibits of each town and city that has a Twain Connection is a great way to promote town pride and Connecticut tourism in the future.

"This project's objective is to promote and raise awareness of Clemens' time in Hartford and Redding, Connecticut. If we can do the same for the towns and cities connected with Twain that would be an amazing and welcomed bonus. I want to work with local historians and local historical societies to promote their resources and efforts. Making Connecticut a destination for Twain research is my ultimate goal."

Towns and Historians that would like to assist Brent in his efforts can contact him at 860-364-7475 or bcolley@colleyweb.com

Businesses and Individuals that would like to sponsor these exhibits can forward their tax deductible contributions to:

Mark Twain Library
P.O. Box 1009
Redding, Connecticut 06875
Attn: The Mark Twain Centennial Project

Mark Twain Centennial Collection Prints now available for online purchase...framed and unframed.

September 18th, 1908: The Burglary at Stormfield

2009-09-16T17:21:00.000-07:00

Danbury Evening News, Friday, September 18th, 1908:

"Crooks carry off Humorist's Silverware. Caught while fleeing by train. One jumps from car while other uses revolver."

The New York Times, September 19, 1908:

BURGLARS INVADE MARK TWAIN VILLA
Captured After a Pistol Fight on a Train in Which Prisoner and Officer Are Shot.

The Burglary

A little past midnight on September 18th two burglars (Charles Hoffman & Henry Williams) entered Twain's Redding house via a window in the kitchen that had been left unfastened. In the process of locating and carrying out a table filled with silverware they awakened Twain's secretary Isabel Lyon. Miss Lyon hearing the commotion downstairs, ran to the stairs, and upon seeing the intermittent flashing of lights below she awakened Claude Beuchotte (Twain's butler) and a house guest (Will Wark).

A search of the house was made and it was found that an English serving table that stood in the dining room was missing. Following a trail of discarded plateware, the serving table was found a short distance from the terrace, the drawer broken and its silverware gone.

Burglar Henry Williams would later describe the burglary in his book entitled: IN THE CLUTCH OF CIRCUMSTANCE, My Own Story by a Burglar; D. Appleton & Co., 1922 pp. 168-182:

"It was September 16, 1908, when I called on my partner (Charles Hoffman) and put the Mark Twain house proposition up to him. Like myself, he was "broke." We were in the same boat. The Mark Twain house possibilities lured him as powerfully as they did me. The following afternoon we boarded a train out of New York for Redding, Connecticut, where "Stormfield" stood.

Arriving at "Stormfield," we found the house lights still burning brightly. The family had not yet retired. In order to give the occupants time to go to sleep, we picked out a secluded place behind some bushes and indulged in a quiet smoke during a period of watching and waiting.

It was getting well on toward midnight when one by one the lights were extinguished and the house was enshrouded in complete darkness except for one dim light upstairs. Experience told us that this was nothing unusual. My partner went on a tour of inspection around the house. He returned presently with the word that the coast was clear and that one of the kitchen windows had been left partly open. I helped my partner to climb in through it; and he then went and opened the big French double doors leading out from the dining room on the great veranda. I entered by the front door, like a gentleman.

By the rays of our flashlights, we first made a careful inspection of the dining room. The heavy, old-fashioned, oak sideboard near the door leading into the hall commanded our attention. We knew that it contained the family silver, which it was our object to secure first, as usual. We tried to open the drawers of the sideboard, but found them locked. To break them open would make a noise, of course, and disturb the family if done inside the house. We did not wish to be guilty of such carelessness, so we took hold of the sideboard and carried it out of the house and some five hundred feet down the road. There we broke the locks of the drawers and emptied their contents into a black bag which we had brought for the purpose. Then we went back into the house to see what else we could find.

Before proceeding, it is necessary to mention a brass bowl which had stood as an ornament on top of the sideboard, and which played such an important and fatal part on that night. Since a brass bowl was of no value to us I took it and placed it noiselessly on the dining-room floor - without my partner's knowledge, however. This was my second mistake on that night. When we entered the dining room the second time, my partner, walking rather carelessly, stumbled and fell heavily over that brass bowl.

In the stillness of the night it seemed to me as if an earthquake had suddenly struck the house. Such a noise that rolling brass thing made! With every nerve tense, we silently watched and waited for the result.

Presently a woman, dressed in bathrobe and slippers, appeared at the head of the stairs. Then a soft clear voice called: "Hello!" It was Miss Lyons, Mark Twain's social secretary, as we afterwards learned, who, awakened by the noise, had courageously come to investigate. A moment we hesitated. Then we turned and silently and swiftly left the house.

Running down the road, we picked up our bag with the silver, and continued running till we arrived at the foot of the hill. There we slackened speed and started to walk back in the direction of Bethel, some seven miles away."

The Hunt Begins

Harry Lounsbury, who lived on Diamond Hill Road, was awakened and informed of the burglary. Mr. Lounsbury phoned Deputy Sheriff George Banks and the hunt for Twain's burglars began. By the aid of lanterns the grounds outside the windows of the dining room were examined and a number of footprints with peculiar patterns were found. One of the prints was made with a rubber heel, the other was that of a long pointed shoe. Next the footprints were followed down the roadway leading to Twain's villa, and along the country roads leading to the Simpaug crossing of the N.Y.N.H. and Hartford Railroad. At that point the tracks left the highway and went in the direction of Bethel.

The Search Party Splits Up

Deputy Sheriff Banks left the search party and returned to Redding for the purpose of preventing the burglar's possible escape by train via West Redding station.

Mr. Lounsbury and Wark followed the footprints toward Bethel, which led them to the Bethel train depot, they arrived about 5:50AM. Feeling certain that the burglars would attempt to escape by train they boarded a southbound train from Danbury at approximately 6:01AM.

High Drama on the 6:01 out of Bethel

Searching the train they found two men in the smoking car whose appearance seemed suspicious. The men were seated separately, one behind the other. Mr. Lounsbury engaged one of them in conversation and noticed that his shoes had rubber heels.

At West Redding station Deputy Sheriff Banks boarded the train and was alerted of Lounsbury's suspicions. Banks accosted the man in question and asked to see the heels of his shoes. Muttering some thing unintelligible the man raced from his seat and jumped from the train, which by this time had left the station. Banks turned immediately to the second man and a fierce struggle ensued. The other passengers in the car, of whom there were seven or eight, looked on in amazement as they had no knowledge of what occurred the night before.

The burglar, finding himself no match for the strength of the Deputy Sheriff, drew his revolver and began firing at him. Train Conductor, John Dyas, entered the smoking car as the struggle was in progress and pulled the signal cord which stopped the train at a point just south of the little stream that runs beside the tracks. The passengers then came to Banks' aid, one of them clubbing the burglar over the head which stunned him and allowed Banks to get the better of him. Four shots in all were fired.

Burglar Henry Williams describes the struggle, and the outcome:

"My partner having successfully "flown the coop," the entire posse turned upon me. An automatic pistol was shoved in front of my face and I was commanded to surrender. In stead of obeying the command, I pulled out my own revolver and began to blaze away at the ceiling of the car to cause a panic if possible. I did not want to kill any one; and they did not want to shoot me. The sheriff, from behind me, seized me by the right wrist and tried to twist my gun out of my hand. The others now attacked me, and a free-for-all fight ensued. Showers of blows fell upon me from all sides. Then I was struck several times on the head with a blackjack and, partly conscious, sank to the floor still grappling with the sheriff. In the furious struggle for possession of the revolver, which I still gripped securely, it went off. I became unconscious.

When I came to myself, I was lying hand cuffed out on the tracks, with my captors standing over me. I felt a heavy stream of blood pouring down over my face from wounds in my head. A sickening sense of despair came over me. I was in for it again; and all my dreams of marriage and of happiness in a home of my own were blown to shreds."

The Second Burglar Captured

Several men who were standing on the platform at West Redding station and witnessed the first burglar jump from the train followed him to Brookside Park (behind present day West Redding Post Office building). There they prevented him from escaping and alerted Banks of his location (under a bridge) and he was arrested without resistance.

Somebody Call the Doctor!

When Deputy Sheriff Banks left the train it was found that he had been wounded in the leg by one of the bullets fired during the struggle. The bullet entered between his knee and his ankle making an ugly flesh wound. In addition, while handling the revolver taken from the burglar Banks accidently shot himself in the hand.

Banks and the prisoners arrived at Harry Lounsbury house at approximately 7:15AM and the prisoners were placed under armed guard in Lounsbury's front yard. The second burglar's head, face and clothing were smeared with blood and the Deputy Sheriff's wounds also bled freely. Local physician, Earnest H. Smith, was alerted of the situation and came down from Redding Center to attend to the wounds of both Deputy Sheriff Banks and the burglar.

The physician found that the wounds of neither man were serious.

Swift Justice

At 9:00AM the prisoners were escorted to Town Hall in Redding Center where they were arraigned before Justice John Nickerson and Grand Juror Henry Duncan.

Just before the court opened Mr. Clemens arrived at the Town House in a little open wagonette. Dressed in a white flannel suit and white fedora hat, he was accompanied by his Daughter Clara and his secretary Isabel Lyon. The ladies were attired in bright gowns and their costumes with that of Mr. Clemens, gave a touch of brightness to the otherwise gloomy scene.

When the prisoners were called before the Justice they took seats so near Mr. Clemens that they almost touched him. Hoffman was the first to be arraigned. He spoke with a foreign accent and his English was broken. He looked to be an Austrian but he declined to state his nationality. When Lloyd Blackman, who was one of the State's witnesses, testified that early Thursday evening Hoffman called at his house which is on the road from Redding Station to Mr. Clemens' place asking the way to Redding, the prisoner broke in with a remark that the statement wasn't true!

Hoffman declined at first to plead to the charge of burglary made by Grand Juror Duncan, and John B. Sanford was assigned by the court to act as his counsel. Hoffman, acting on the advice of Mr. Sanford, entered a plea of not guilty.

The other prisoner, Williams, also spoke in broken English and looked the part of a hardened criminal.

Deputy Sheriff Banks, Harry Lounsbury, Claude Beuchotte, and Miss Lyon testified to various facts in connection to the burglary. Justice Nickerson found probable cause in each case. Hoffman, who was accused of burglary only, was held on $1,000 bail and Williams, who was charged with burglary, assault, resisting arrest, and carrying concealed weapons, was held on $2,000 bond.

The prisoners were taken to the Bridgeport jail on the noon train where they would remain for three months before being transported back to Danbury for trial. It was the first time in fifty years that the Supreme Court had sat in that particular Connecticut town. Williams was sentenced to a term of 9 years at Connecticut State Prison at Wethersfield, Charles Hoffman was sentenced to a term of 4 years Wethersfield.

The Silverware is Found

Harry Lounsbury searched for and found the satchel filled with the silverware stolen from Mr. Clemens' residence hidden behind a rock down the road on September 30th. This information comes via a letter to one of Twain's Angelfish. The letter in John Cooley's book Mark Twain's Aquarium is dated September 30th, 1908- Clemens writes Dorothy Sturges that:

"Mr. Lounsbury has just this minute been in, with a 'find'. It is the stolen plated ware. The burglars hid it behind a rock almost in front of that farm house which he says you called beautiful...The finding was an accident & happened early this morning."

Twain pokes fun at the Burglars

While dedicating the little chapel/library which he had founded for the residents of the town of Redding in October of 1908, Twain took occasion to make characteristic fun of the affair as follows:

"I am going to help build this library with contributions - from my visitors. Every male guest who comes to my house will have to con tribute a dollar or go away without his baggage. If those burglars who broke into my house recently had done that, they would have been happier now; or if they had broken into this library, they might have read a few good books and led a better life. Now they are in jail, and if they keep on they will go to Congress. When a person starts down hill, you can never tell where he is going to stop. I am sorry for those burglars. They got nothing that they wanted, and scared away most of my servants. Now we are putting in a burglar alarm instead of a dog. Some advised the dog, but it costs even more to entertain a dog than a burglar. I am having the ground electrified, so that for a mile around any one who puts foot across the line will set off an alarm that will be heard in Europe."

Anniversary of Burglary marked by Clemens in 1909 via his Guestbook:

September 18th: Anniversary. A year ago the burglars broke into the house at midnight. They were condemned to terms of 4 and 9 years. Persons of their sort had been plying this trade in the house for a long time, but we were not aware of it. This 18th close all relations with them. [The word "this" is underlined]

Who Were the Stormfield Burglars?

This was a question asked on the Mark Twain Forum and it was answered beautifully by Barbara Schmidt, I'm posting it here so more people have access to it:

According to contemporary news reports of the Stormfield burglary, the two prisoners were named Charles Hoffman and Henry Williams. They were sentenced to time in Connecticut State Prison at Wethersfield.

The 1910 census for Connecticut shows two prisoners by the names of Charles Hoffman and Henry Williams at Wethersfield.

Charles Hoffman is described in the censuses as a white, 29-year-old male, married 4 years, born in New Jersey, mother and father both born in Germany.

Henry Williams is described as a white, male, twenty-two years old, single, born in Connecticut, father born in Ireland, mother born in New York.

Both prisoners are employed in production labor in a shoe factory.

View Barbara's website: www.twainquotes.com for a wealth of information on Mark Twain, including newspaper articles in relation to this burglary.

Are there other Twain-related dates of interest in September??

YES!!

September 21st, 1909:
The Concert held at Stormfield to aid the village library building fund.

It started at 3pm.

Concert Team:

Ossip Gabrilowitsch
David Bispham
Clara Clemens
Mark Twain

+525 other guests

Coley Taylor recalled the concert in his article Our Neighbor Mark Twain:

"We heard music in the distance, a piano and two voices, Miss Clara's and that of David Bispham, then a star of the Metropolitan Opera. (The pianist was Ossip Gabrilowitsch, famous as soloist and as orchestra director, later director of the Detroit Symphony, and the future husband of Miss Clara.)"

September 25th:
Announcement!! (Clara's Wedding was announced after or shortly after the Concert)

Mark Twain Centennial

2009-09-14T09:09:00.000-07:00

Connecticut has a great opportunity to showcase and celebrate Mark Twain's life in Hartford and Redding, Connecticut throughout the year 2010.

Mark Twain Day in Connecticut

We asked for an official Mark Twain Day in Connecticut on April 21, 2010 and we got it! A big thank you to Governor Rell and State Senator Boucher for her assistance.

Mark Twain Centennial Exhibits

Portrait Artist Susan Durkee, Mark Twain Library Director Heather Morgan and Redding historian Brent Colley, are working on a project that will increase awareness of Mark Twain’s time in Connecticut by showcasing the people and places connected to his time here. They call it the Mark Twain Centennial Project.

About the Mark Twain Centennial Project:

The project will place informative exhibits in every public library and/or public building that would like to be a part of this celebration. These Exhibits will be free to the public and free to the libraries and public places that display them.

The exhibits will include information about Twain's life, his work and his friends in Connecticut. Exhibiting locations will be provided with a portrait of Twain along with photos and information brochures that showcase Redding, Hartford and the Twain Connections that have been made across the State.

Towns and cities that have Twain Connections will be encouraged to provide information and photos about the people and places in their towns that are connected with Twain. That way we raise awareness of Twain and bring attention to local individual’s and their accomplishments too. Bridgeport's P.T. Barnum would be a perfect example. Another is Keeler Tavern in Ridgefield, in the present day people visit Keeler Tavern to learn about a colonial tavern. We hope in the future they'll visit to learn more about Architect Cass Gilbert and his friendship with Twain too.

To date we've been amazed by the number of people and towns connected to his life and we cannot wait to make others aware of these connections, people and their own individual accomplishments. The ultimate goal of this project is to make Connecticut a destination for Mark Twain research in the future.

Mark Twain Library Marginalia. Personal note to Jean in 1903 w/sketch.

Planning and Progress

1. April 21, 2010 is Mark Twain Day in Connecticut. Our request has been approved by Governor Jodie Rell. This proclamation provides the perfect kick-off to our 2010 exhibits across the State.

2. We are making connections daily (55 to-date)using a number of online and offline resources. We are also actively marketing our idea across the State via newspaper articles and television interviews. We have submitted requests for assistance from local historical societies and historians. State librarians have also been made aware of our project and have been asked to participate. Feedback on the project has been positive.

3. Exhibit materials:

a). The artwork has been created but needs to be printed and framed.
b). Maps, Photos and information brochures need to be compiled and printed.

4. Funding. Sponsorships and donations are essential to the success of the project. All donations are tax-deductible and our sponsors will be prominently featured in all of our offline and online exhibits.

We Need Your Help

You can help us by...

1. Please make others aware of this idea. We need libraries to place the exhibits in and local historical societies and historians to help us make new connections between towns and Twain.

2. We need sponsors. Please forward this to local businesses, foundations and individuals and please encourage them to fund The Mark Twain Centennial.

Send checks to:

Mark Twain Library
P.O. Box 1009
Redding, Connecticut 06875
Attn: The Mark Twain Centennial Project

I can be reached at bcolley@colleyweb.com or by phone at 860-364-7475 if you would like to discuss this project with me.

Thank you,
Brent M. Colley

Mark Twain Centennial Collection Prints now available for online purchase...framed and unframed.

Does your town/city have a Mark Twain Connection?

Mark Twain and Isabel Lyon

2009-08-31T09:33:00.000-07:00

Mark Twain and Isabel Lyon
an untold Story
By Susan Boone Durkee

Isabel Van Kleek Lyon 1863-1958

The relationship between Isabel Lyon and Mark Twain has basically been kept a secret for nearly 70 years. How can that be? Here is a woman about whom Twain himself said he knew most intimately in all the world -- with the exception of his wife, Livy.

Mark Twain first met Isabel Lyon in 1892, when she was 26 and working as a Governess for a Hartford family. He encountered her at a party while he was playing cards, and he was so charmed by her that at the end of the evening, when invited to return, he replied: "I'll come only if I can play with the little Governess."

When Isabel Lyon first came to work for the Clemens family in 1902, Twain described her as "slender, petite, comely, 38 years old by the almanac, and 17 in ways and carriage and dress." A charming woman, hard working and competent she soon took responsibility for the entire Clemens household.

After Livy's death in 1904, Isabel became Mark Twain's secretary, bookkeeper, household manager, social companion, literary critic, and holder of his power of attorney. For a period she lived at Stormfield with Twain. Supposedly her bedroom was next to his.

Intelligent, and sensitive, Isabel worshipped Twain, referring to him as "The King." He, in turn, called her "The Lioness." Isabel staggered under the demands that Twain placed on her. As Twain described her,

"Miss Lyon runs Clara, and Jean, and me, and the servants, and the housekeeping, and the house building, and the secretary work, and remains as extraordinarily as competent as ever."

In her diary, Isabel records:

"I have been so busy, for there is this house to look after (The Lobster Pot), and the Tuxedo house to think and plan for, and the Redding house to be after too, and Santa (Clara) to love and be with when she was here and do for, and Jean to be anxious over and to help if I can, and her doctors to see, and the King's social life to look after - for in these days he is very lonely and reaches out for people - and people he must have, so now I am planning parties for him."

Although it is said that Isabel had designs to marry Twain, she ended up marrying married Twain's business manager, Ralph Ashcroft, in 1909. It was an unhappy marriage and ended in divorce in 1926.

There is no evidence that Lyon ever betrayed Twain, even though she was paid poorly and treated badly at the end of her service -- Twain even took back the "The Lobster Pot," her "darling house," which he had given her as a Christmas gift in 1907. Still, Isabel remained devoted to him. Many years later, she would refer to the situation as, "we had a falling out." A young actress friend, Joyce Aaron, who lived next to Isabel when Isabel was in her mid-nineties and living in Brooklyn, told this to me.

What really happened between Twain and Isabel? Was it Clara's jealous prodding? Was Twain jealous that she married Ashcroft and not him? Did she really try to steal from Twain? Was Albert Bigelow Paine jealous of her control of Twain? We may never know for sure.

So why has this relationship been kept secret?

After Twain died, Clara Clemens and Albert Bigelow Paine removed virtually all record of Isabel Lyon's existence. So as far as the public was concerned, Isabel Van Kleek Lyon never existed.

Isabel died in 1958. She willed her diary and photos to the Mark Twain Papers collection at the University of California, Berkeley, with the condition that they not be open to the public until after Clara's Death. So I guess you can say that after Clara died, Isabel was reborn.

We all owe a lot to this woman, Isabel Lyon. Because of her diligence in keeping a sequence of detailed journals and photos the last years of Mark Twain's life can now be better known to all.

2010 will bring a lot of Twain activity, with the statute of limitations up for Twain's writing -- hundreds of unpublished letters and documents, including the never before published, 429-page, emotionally charged Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript. Documentaries, including "Dangerous Intimacy," and even a movie, "Remembering Mark Twain," directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, will appear. According to the producer, Albert Ruddy (of Million Dollar Baby), it is a sweet film and a possible Oscar contender.

View photos of Isabel and her house "The Lobster Pot" at: http://www.marktwainslobsterpot.com/lobster-pot-history.htm

View information on Mark Twain's final years in Redding, Connecticut via the History of Redding web site.

Looking for an Affiliate Program with high commissions and 2nd tier opportunities? This is the one that I'm using. It's a water filtration company with a 30% commission on systems and 20% commission on parts. Add in 2nd tier and it's worth trying.

2009 Mark Twain Library Book Fair

2009-08-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

The Annual Mark Twain Book Fair is September 4 - September 7. Daily from 9am to 5pm. Redding Community Center, Lonetown Road (Route 107) Redding CT. Free parking, no admission fee (early buying Friday 9am-10am $10 fee), bargains abound, air-conditioned comfort, handicapped accessible, refreshments sold.

This is "officially" the 49th Annual Fair but the fund raising concept of the fair dates way back to the very beginnning. Coley Taylor described the early days of the fair in his recollections published by American Heritage in 1985 "Our Neighbor, Mark Twain":

"Mark Twain donated a large number of books from his own collection to the library. They were housed in the seldom used old chapel facing the ancient but still used Umpawaug Cemetery. A librarian was on hand Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. Twain secured donations from many friends, including Andrew Carnegie, and publishers. At a meeting to promote the library on October 7, 1908, he read a statement that he had composed for the occasion.

There was a woman's group that met fairly often to sew clean strips of rags of all colors and fabrics for making braided rugs to sell at an annual fair for the library building fund. We children went to the meetings too; there were no baby-sitters then; we could roll the long strips into balls. It was my job to turn the ice-cream freezer for the cake-and-ice cream binge later.

The annual fair was held in August to attract the summer people, who would leave for their homes by Labor Day. There were not many in Redding but the lake resorts near Danbury and a noted summer colony in nearby Ridgefield provided the necessary crowds, together with local residents. All kinds of things were sold at the fair: cakes, pies, jellies, pickles, canned fruits in glass jars, salads, the rag rugs, and second hand furniture, which was grabbed up as antiques. A long picnic table under a tent was loaded with food, provided luncheon for the guests- at a price, of course."

------------------------------------------------

The following weekend is the 58th Annual Redding Antique Car Show at Lonetown Farm.

Linking Connecticut Towns to Mark Twain

2009-08-12T09:26:00.000-07:00

I grew up in Redding, yet it was not until a recent discovery that I realized there was a connection between Redding and Easton outside of each town originally being a part of the Town of Fairfield and the Region #9 school district [Joel Barlow High School]. As I was digging through the Mark Twain Library archives last winter out popped a note about Samuel L. Clemens and his home written by Helen Keller in 1909. Having wondered why Helen Keller was named for the Middle School in Easton and feeling a little guilty for the jokes we made about the name in middle school I was drawn to the entry in his guestbook:

"I have been in Eden three days and I saw a King. I knew he was a King the minute I touched him. Though I had never touched a King before."

-A Daughter of Eve
Helen Keller, January 11, 1909

Ms. Keller was a fan of Redding, CT and the man known to the World as Mark Twain! After all she refers to Redding as "Eden" and Twain as a "King".

Several more file cabinets later I found the photo below:

In case it is tough to read I'll quote it:

"I have visited Stormfield [Twain's home in Redding] since Mark Twain's death [April,1910]. The flowers still bloom; the breezes still whisper and sough in the cedars, which have grown statelier year by year; the birds still sing, they tell me. But for me the place is bereft of its lover. The last time I was there, the house was in ruins. Only the great chimney was standing, a charred pile of bricks in the bright autumn landscape."

This is likely after 1923 when Stormfield burnt to the ground during renovation work.

During her lifetime, Helen Keller lived in many different places—Tuscumbia, Alabama; Cambridge and Wrentham, Massachusetts; Forest Hills, New York, but perhaps her favorite residence was her last, the house in Easton, Connecticut she called "Arcan Ridge."

The same can be said about Samuel L. Clemens...He too fell in love with his final residence and himself wrote:

"I bought this farm of 200 acres three years ago, on the suggestion of Albert Bigelow Paine [Biographer], who said its situation and surroundings would content me- a phophecy which came true 3 years later when I arrived on the grounds. John Howells, Architect + Clara Clemens + Miss Lyons planned the house without help or advice from me + began to build it in June 1907. When I arrived a year later it was all finished + furnished + swept + garnished + it was as homey + cozy + comfortable as if it had been occupied for a generation. This was the 18th of June of the present year [1908] I only came to spend the summer, but I shan't go away anymore."
December 29, 1908

He didn't go away again...he traveled to Bermuda several times but Redding was the last place he'd call home.

Two great Americans, two great towns.

This discovery highlights the great opportunity Connecticut has as we close in on the 100th anniversary of Twain's passing...the opportunity to link Twain to towns and cities across Connecticut.

An idea I've been working on for most of the summer is...

To showcase and celebrate Mark Twain's life in Hartford and Redding, Connecticut throughout the year 2010 to "Mark" the Centennial of his passing.

This will be accomplished by displaying portraits of him in every public library and/or public place, that wants to be a part of this celebration, along with photos and information about his life, his work and his friends in Connecticut.

The friends of Twain aspect is very important because it ties in many Connecticut towns to his life, which allows us to make others aware of these people and their accomplishments. With any luck it will spur community pride as well.

For example: In Easton, Connecticut we would include information & photos about his friendship with Helen Keller; In Ridgefield, Connecticut we'd highlight his friend, Cass Gilbert; In Bethel & Bridgeport, P.T. Barnum; In Norwalk, E.K. Lockwood; In Westport, Ned Wakeman; Cos Cob/Greenwich, Charles & Jean Webster; Saybrook, the Fenwick Hotel; Obviously the Hartford area has many friends.

I feel this idea can be greatly expanded upon once each town and their historians join me to offer their input and ideas...I'm hoping to make connections all over the State so please send names and ideas!

I will be providing the artwork, and Redding information to all public libraries and/or public places interested (free). My hope is that the Mark Twain House will provide some photos and information on Hartford and they have already reached out to me so that's moving in a positive direction.

The artwork: http://www.susandurkee.com/the-mark-twain-gallery.htm

I am also pursuing an official Mark Twain Day in Connecticut on April 21, 2010. If you feel this is a worthwhile effort, you can assist me in pursuing the "Mark Twain Day" idea by contacting Governor Rell's office and asking her to approve it. Governor.Rell@ct.gov

I can be reached at bcolley@colleyweb.com or by phone at 860-364-7475.

It should be great fun,
Brent M. Colley

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Video of Hal Holbrook speaking at the site of the Mark Twain Study at Quarry Farm, Elmira, New York. Hal Holbrook discusses meeting with Clara Clemens during the Elmira Conference.

Why Do You Study Twain? An interesting question and answer video from the attendees of the 2009 Mark Twain Elmira Conference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sQCclY-iUY

Attendeees answering in order of appearance:

Bruce Michelson
Patti Philippon
Barb Taylor
Gretchen Sharlow
Jeff Melton
Joe Csicsila
Tom Quirk
Chad Rohman
Lou Budd
Kerry Driscoll
Sharon McCoy
Alan Gribben
Cameron Nickels
Joe Alvarez
Ann Ryan
David L. Smith
Hal Bush
Michael Kiskis (w/ Ann Ryan)
Jan McIntire-Strasburg
Judith Yaross Lee (w/Joe Csicsila)
Jim Caron
Gregg Camfield
Shelley Fisher Fishkin
Hal Holbrook

I study Twain because I am intrigued by his life, especially the final years of his life- 1905-1910, and I find his maxims, quotations, and various opinions interesting, thought provoking and accurate.

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
- Mark Twain, a Biography

When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain.
- Notebook, 1898