Stimulus Money for the Twain House?

The historic Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut fell on some pretty hard times last year, but has since been bouncing back thanks to some very successful fundraising. And now, according to WFSB Channel 3 News in Hartford, there may be even more help soon on the way in the form of government stimulus relief.

Hartford mayor Eddie Perez told Channel 3 that he has considered proposing a Hartford stimulus project as a way of protecting the Twain House from future financial ruin. A total of $640 million in stimulus funds have been given to Connecticut, with a large portion obviously going to public works and infrastructure. But Perez and others also hope that a portion of it can be diverted to arts-related projects like the Twain House, as well.

Meanwhile, the Twain House is also waiting to hear back on the status of its recent application for a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Church Twain Helped Build In Danger

Carson City, Nevada is under fire today from a watchdog group thanks to repeated financial contributions to the First Presbyterian Church, a historic Carson City house of worship whose construction was funded in part by a young Sam Clemens in 1864, according to a story run by the Associated Press.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State has called Carson City on the carpet for the money it has contributed for the maintenance of the 145-year-old church and its more modern, adjacent counterpart. Should the payments continue, the group has threatened to sue.

The city paid $78,800 to the church for sidewalks, landscaping and roof repairs last February. In 2006, the city gave $67,700 to help with design costs for the new church. City officials claim the money is not intended to defy church/state separation, but rather is being given for the preservation of a Nevada landmark.

While working as a newspaper man in the territory in his 20s, Clemens supported the construction of the church by raising approximately $200 (about $2,2oo in today's money) charging admission to his roast of Nevada's elected officials in January 1864.

Happy April Fool's

"It's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and leave no doubt."

Former Nixon Cabinet Member and Amatuer Twain Scholar Dies

Claude Stout Brinegar, the nation's third Secretary of Transportation, passed away on March 13 in Palo Alto, California at the age of 82, according to the Associated Press.

Brinegar served under Richard Nixon, and is best remembered for instituting the 55 m.p.h. speed limit during the oil crisis of the mid 1970s. A lifelong oil man, as a hobby Brinegar indulged in a passion for Mark Twain throughout his life, collecting Twain memorabilia and first editions. He was also responsible for conclusively refuting the attribution of a collection of letters that had previously been credited to Twain.

Elmira College awarded Brinegar an honorary doctorate in 1997 for his work on Twain research. In lieu of services, his family is instead requesting contributions to either the college's Mark Twain Studies Center, or the Mark Twain House in Hartford.

Watch Clip from New Twain Documentary

Some months ago, I blogged about the new documentary Dangerous Intimacy: The Untold Story of Mark Twain's Final Years. And now, Brent Colley of the impeccable Mark Twain Stormfield Project has brought to my attention this bit of footage from the upcoming doc, made available at Digital Video Dynamix. Take a look:



Could be very interesting, although I admit I'm not at all a fan of the "historical dramatizations" employed these days by documentarians.

Mark Twain Coin Proposed in Congress

Big news for Twain enthusiasts and numismatics with some money to burn in these trying times: A commemorative Mark Twain gold and silver coin was proposed in congress yesterday. Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. John Larson introduced the legislation, according to MSNBC.

"While [the 124th anniversary of the the publication of Huck Finn] passed with little fanfare, we should not forget the incredible contributions Mark Twain made to American literature," said Dodd in a press release.

The price of the coin would be the going cost of an ounce of gold or silver, plus ten dollars, which, in the case of gold, comes to a whopping $955. The proceeds would go towards the support of Twain-related landmarks, such as the recently beleaguered Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut. A Mark Twain commemorative coin was minted once before, back in 1981.

Twain and Eastern Philosophy

A rare book belonging to Mark Twain is currently part of an exhibit running through March 31 at the College of Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Tracing the ongoing influence of Eastern thought on Western culture, the exhibit features a myriad of books in the personal collection of Kent Bicknell, a scholar who has long been fascinated by the subject.

The exhibit, entitled "Imprint: From Walden to Graceland, 200 Years of Asian Spiritual Traditions in Western Thought", contains Asian volumes from the likes of Henry David Thoreau, Elvis Presley and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Twain's contribution is the 1889 book Aryan Sun-Myths: The Origins of Religions.

Best of all, the book actually contains some of Twain's own hand-written notes in the margins, such as this gem on the nature of "saviors" throughout history: "I feel an honest reverence [for saviors] … I was only meaning to slur those liars their followers."

Unpublished Essay Collection to Hit in April

Author and blogger Russ Kick of the literary blog Books Are People, Too was kind enough to drop me a line yesterday about the much-anticipated collection of unpublished Twain essays to be released in April, Who Is Mark Twain? Apparently, the publisher has made an entire uncorrected galley of the book available on its website.

If you proceed to his blog, you can check out the table of contents of the book, as well as Kick's own eloquent review. Of particular interest to me was ol' Sam's skewering of one of the canon's most overrated writers, Ms. Jane Austen.

Reports of the Twain House's Death Greatly Exaggerated

Thanks to a rousing show of support, it looks like the historic Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut will not be closing its doors anytime soon.

After reports surfaced last year that the former home of the Clemens family was woefully in debt due to an overambitious renovation project, word got out in the news and several high-profile fund-raising efforts got underway.

And now, because of those efforts, the House actually made a profit when the book was finally closed on the fiscal year last weekend. Its operating deficit of $400,000 has been paid off, and that's without even tapping into a $500,000 Annenberg Foundation grant. That grant will be used to kickstart a new $1.5 million Stabilization and Planning Fund, intended to support operations and future fund-raising initiatives.

So it looks like the Mark Twain House has sidestepped financial calamity. If only Twain himself could've done so when he lived there!

Fascinating Look at Sam Clemens' Formative Years

The Sierra Mountain Times has a very interesting piece up today on the early years Twain spent in California, particularly in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties, writing in relative anonymity before his career took off with the publication of The Innocents Abroad.

Apparently, the piece ties into an event being put on by the Tuolumne County Historical Society at the Sonora Library this Friday night. Actor Pat Kaunert will portray Twain, and the book Mark Twain's Sojourn in Tuolumne County will be available for purchase. I encourage all to check out the article here.

Washington Teacher Calls for Ban on Huck Finn

"The time has arrived to update the literature we use in high school classrooms," Ridgefield, Washington high school teacher John Foley wrote in a guest column this month for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "Barack Obama is president-elect of the United States, and novels that use the 'N-word' repeatedly need to go."

It's very sad that the so-called controversy still rages on after so many years, but apparently, it still does. Foley claims that he is tired of having to rationalize the book to offended students and parents, yet still claims to be "passionate" about it. Oh yeah, and he also wants To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men dropped from the curriculum as well, because of their repeated use of the word "nigger", and their supposed demeaning depiction of African Americans as "ignorant".

How unfortunate that these sentiments would be coming from an educator, and that that educator would be using the historic election of Barack Obama--which Twain himself would more than likely have welcomed joyously--as a justification for the abandonment of Twain's greatest work. That a man who claims to be "passionate" about the novel is unable to comprehend its true message and the means to bestow that message upon his students. All he sees is that word, regardless of context and meaning. Now that's ignorant.

Want to find a demeaning use of the word "nigger"? Try listening to some of the music that those very high school students he's trying to "protect" are listening to on their iPods.

Foley's editorial was met with a largely negative response by readers of the Post-Intelligencer, as well as fellow educators. That, at least, I can take solace in. For the entire report, go here.

Hal Holbrook's Amazing Legacy

A profile of acclaimed actor and Twain impersonator Hal Holbrook today in the Knoxville News makes the very amusing observation that Holbrook has actually portrayed Mark Twain for a longer period of time than Samuel Clemens himself used the pen name of Mark Twain.

Specifically, Holbrook has played Twain for 55 years, since his first 1954 performance at Pennsylvania's Lock Haven State Teachers College. Clemens only used the Twain pen name for the last 47 years of his life.

University Library Dedicates Room to Twain

The University of South Alabama's campus newspaper, The Vanguard, reports that Mobile, Alabama entrepreneur Ross Sloan has donated $50,000 to the school's library to set up a special study room in honor of Mark Twain.

Sloan's endowment will allow the University library to purchase literature by and about Twain. The businessman, who previously created a room in the library in honor of Albert Schweitzer, said that Twain, "is a prime example of literary genius in American history." Make that the prime example, Mr. Sloan!

A Fond Remembrance of a Visit to Hannibal

Joseph Wettengal of the Lawrence, Kansas newspaper the Journal-World has published a very enjoyable reminiscence of a childhood visit to Twain's hometown of Hannibal, Missouri. I encourage all to check it out here.