Twain’s Connecticut There’s more to it than you think.

Project Goals 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.

Project Overview By collaborating with us to provide the public with a location specific “Twain Connection” exhibit, historic and cultural museums/centers can expand their audience and attract future visitors. Bridgeport's P.T. Barnum Museum would be a perfect example of a museum that would benefit from this "friends of Twain" marketing concept. To date we have made connections in 55 towns here in Connecticut.

Project Benefits Increase the chances of a significant Mark Twain Conference/Convention being held here in Connecticut. Increase the foot traffic to Connecticut museums, libraries, and public buildings. Provide a tourism program that can be expanded upon in the future. i.e. 'Connecticut's Greatest Residents'.

The Connections are all over the State!

Fairfield County 1.Redding, Connecticut- Twain arrived in Redding on June 18th, 1908 and departed on April 21, Easton, Connecticut- Helen Keller; Ida M. Tarbell. 3.Bridgeport Connecticut- P.T. Barnum was mayor of Bridgeport. 4.Westport, Connecticut- Edgar "Ned" Wakeman was born in Westport, Connecticut. 5.Ridgefield, Connecticut- Cass Gilbert, Edward W. Kemble and Edward M. Knox

Coastal Areas 1.New Haven, Connecticut- Yale University, 2.New London, Connecticut- Fort Trumbull via Twain's Short Story “A Curious Experience” 3.Stonington, Connecticut- James Hammond Trumbull was born in Stonington. 4.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. 5.Saybrook, Connecticut- Fenwick (Hall) Hotel where some believe he began writing Tom Sawyer.

New Haven- Yale “It pleased me beyond measure when Yale made me a Master of Arts, because I didn't know anything about art.” Yale's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library holds 2,000+ Mark Twain related archives.

Points in-Between 1.East Granby, Connecticut- Roswell Phelps who was paid as a stenographer on Twain’s 1882 trip on the Mississippi River. 2.Southington, Connecticut- Joseph Hopkins Twichell was born in Southington, Connecticut. 3.Unionville, Connecticut- The Platner & Porter Manufacturing Company. Twain used their paper for personal letters and literary manuscripts. 4.Sharon, Connecticut- Frank J. Sprague. The “Father of Electric Traction” Close friend of Twain.

Points in-Between 1.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 attempted from Hartford to Boston in "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]"

Greater Hartford 1.Mark Twain House & Museum, Hartford CT 2.Asylum Hill Church, Hartford, CT 3.Windsor, Connecticut- Elisha Bliss, Jr. of American Publishing Company. 4.Wethersfield Prison- Where the Stormfield Burglars ended up. 5.Simsbury, Connecticut- Talcott Mountain. 6.Manchester, Connecticut- The Monday evening club at Charles Cheney mansion.

Monday Evening Club 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 1860’s. Rev. Dr. Parker, Rev. Dr. Burton, Charles H. Clark, of the Courant and Joe Twichell were members. 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.

Monday Evening Club To James Hammond Trumbull 15 February 1873 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

Monday Evening Club Clemens attended the meeting of February 17, 1873 and heard Congregational clergyman Nathaniel J. Burton read an essay entitled “Individualism.” The first paper Twain read was on the "License of the Press." 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.

Monday Evening Club April 1880 Hartford, Conn. To the Monday Evening Club: An amusing announcement of a meeting of the Monday Evening Club at Twain’s Hartford house. The subject for discussion? “The Decay of the Art of Lying.”

Twain’s time in Connecticut It was significant!!

From 1871 to 1885 is a whirlwind of success for Mark Twain. Where did he live? Connecticut!

In 1871, moves to Hartford CT. Continues his lecture tours and visits England for the first time. 1872: Susy Clemens is born. Roughing It published. 1873: Sam returns with family to England, The Gilded Age published. 1874: Hartford house completed. Clara Clemens is born.

1876: Publishes The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Starts to work on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. 1878: Travels with family in Europe for nearly 2 years. 1880: Publishes A Tramp Abroad. Daughter, Jean Clemens, is born. 1881: Publishes The Prince and the Pauper. Hires Louis Comfort Tiffany to decorate public rooms of Hartford home.

1882: Travels down the Mississippi River to do research for Life on the Mississippi. 1883: Publishes Life on the Mississippi. Finishes Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. 1884: Founds Charles L. Webster Publishing and Co. Lectures throughout United States. 1885: Publishes Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Charles L. Webster and Co. issues first volume of Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant.

June 18, 1908 April 21, 1910

So How Can We Promote it?

With Funding… Is the website to view an iPhone app we were looking into. The iPhone app is of interest because it offers everything a print map offers and so much more. We were quoted $500 per location. That provides: GPS driven maps & directions Overview of Twain connection towns & cities Interactive audio and video of connections User feedback & ratings of each location

Plan B…

Without Funding… Is the website to view our Plan B. It’s a digital treasure hunt. We place weatherproof boxes that contain photos and information about Mark Twain in each of the towns and cities that have connections. Cost? Under $30 in most cases. Basically the cost of printing materials, cost of cache container, gas money to travel to location and time spent placing it and setting up the cache details online.

Capture location’s GPS coordinates

Place a Cache at that location

Alert Geocachers of the Cache via the website GeoCaching.com

Read Geocahcer’s messages as they find your cache. Positive 99.9% of the time.

Why do it?? Kids love learning this way!!

This is the year, This is the time, To promote Twain in Connecticut!

11/30/ /21/1910 Halley’s Comet

This presentation is over for now, I thank you all for watching!! Someone please have a whiskey & a smoke for me. Be well.