A digital graphic of Mark Twain looking out of the window of his writing room with a quote.
"It now seems plain to me that that theory ought to be vacated in favor of a new and truer one...the Descent of Man from the Higher Animals."
- "The Lowest Animal"
#MarkTwain
From the collection: a first edition of #HuckleberryFinn and a salesman’s prospectus.
Mallory, our Assistant Curator, is sharing two pieces of the story: The prospectus is basically the 1885 pitch deck: sample pages, illustrations, and the selling spiel.
A digital graphic collage of Huckleberry Finn featuring the first edition book cover, a signature of Mark Twain, and a photograph of Mark Twain.
Happy birthday, Huck!
First released in the U.S. on Feb. 18, 1885. Still causing a commotion, which is the highest compliment. That’s 141 years of troublemaking, river-current momentum, and American storytelling. Come see where Twain did part of the writing: right here in Hartford. #HuckleberryFinn
Bonus: I’m great with witty banter and long walks through historic rooms.
#MarkTwainHouse #MarkTwain #HartfordCT #ValentinesDay #ConnecticutMuseums #MuseumHumor #LiteraryLove #HistoricHomes
A digital graphic of Mark Twain with a hand-written note.
Need a Valentine? SWM, 190 years old, 5'9"ish, medium build, not particularly athletic. Love to travel, read, eat, and swap stories. I’m a smoker, but you need not be. Enjoy a glass of warm scotch, billiards, and I come with a 25-room mansion in Hartford. 💝
Read the press release on our website:
marktwainhouse.org/2026/01/16/t...
#BlackHistoryMonth #Hartford #MarkTwain #GeorgeGriffin #Connecticut
George Griffin was a central figure in the Clemens household, Twain's trusted friend, and his story is also part of Hartford’s Black history. We’re grateful to everyone who gave, shared, and helped us finish what should have been done long ago.
A digital graphic for the George Griffin campaign
This #BlackHistoryMonth, we’re saying thank you.
Because of you, we completed the George Griffin Headstone Fund and will place a permanent monument at George Griffin’s New York City gravesite.
A digital quote graphic containing a photo of Mark Twain with a dog.
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man."
- "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar"
#MarkTwain
The Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT covered in snow and ice.
The Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT covered in snow and ice.
The Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT covered in snow and ice.
The Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT covered in snow and ice.
Outside: nature’s ice sculpture exhibit. 🧊
Inside: warm rooms, good stories, and zero icicles. Come visit.
marktwainhouse.org/visit/
#MarkTwainHouse #MarkTwain #Hartford #Museum #Connecticut
Monday, March 16, 2026, | 7:00–8:00 PM
Register: marktwainhouse.org/event/ibram-...
Full Press Release on our website: marktwainhouse.org/2026/01/20/m...
#IbramXKendi #ChainOfIdeas #BookTalk #AuthorEvent #MarkTwainHouse
Presented in collaboration with the Stowe Center for Literary Activism, this program brings two of Hartford’s landmark literary sites together for a timely conversation on the ideas shaping public life and democracy today.
A digital graphic portraying Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and his new book Chain of Ideas.
The Mark Twain House & Museum is honored to welcome
@ibramxk.bsky.social, National Book Award–winning historian and author of How to Be an Antiracist, for a special evening on his new book, Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age.
A black and white portrait of a young Mark Twain.
"It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either."
- Following the Equator, Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar
#MarkTwain
Mark Twain, wearing his classic white suit, sitting in a chair on his front porch with smoking pipe in hand.
"That desire which is in us all to better other people's condition by having them think as we think."
- What is Man
#MarkTwain
A digital graphic for the David S. Brown author event, In The Arena.
Then join us tomorrow, Thursday, January 8, 7:00–8:00 pm (virtual) for In the Arena with historian David S. Brown, for a deeper look at Roosevelt, including Twain’s complicated view of him.
Sign up here: marktwainhouse.org/event/in-the...
#SamsShorts #MarkTwain #TeddyRoosevelt
A digital graphic for the January 2026 edition of Sam's Shorts featuring Mark Twain and Theodore Roosevelt.
New Sam’s Shorts is live, and it is a spicy one. 🦅
This month’s excerpt is “The American Gentleman” (1906), where Mark Twain weighs in on Theodore Roosevelt and what “American manners” look like when power is involved.
Tell us what you think:
marktwainhouse.org/sams-shorts/
#SamsShorts
"...Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph."
- Letter to Emeline Beach, 10 Feb 1868
#MarkTwain #MarkTwainQuotes #Writing
John T. Lewis and Samuel Clemens
"To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself..."
...may eventually be gathered together in a heaven of everlasting rest and peace and bliss, except the inventor of the telephone."
- Letter to the Editor, New York Evening World, 23 December 1890
#MarkTwain #SamuelClemens #MarkTwainQuotes #MarkTwainHouse
A seated Mark Twain holding a pipe, wearing his traditional white suit.
"It is my heart-warm and world-embracing Christmas hope and aspiration that all of us, the high, the low, the rich, the poor, the admired, the despised, the loved, the hated, the civilized, the savage...
Mark Twain House & Museum—Twain’s Midwestern books, written in his beautiful and eccentric Hartford home. #LiteraryLandscapes by @jerklamerk.bsky.social. #MarkTwain #Hartford #Connecticut @marktwainhouse.bsky.social
newterritorymag.com/literary-lan...
The house is dressed for the season, and the details are worth slowing down for. 🎅
Step inside #MarkTwain’s Hartford home and let the holidays do what they do best: make history feel close.
Plan your visit and join us for a tour.
www.marktwainhouse.org
A digital graphic for the January 2026 author events at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, CT.
We have two author conversations lined up for January 2026 at The Mark Twain House, one virtual and one in person.
Register: www.marktwainhouse.org/event/in-the...
#AuthorEvents #BookTalk #MarkTwainHouse #Hartford #Connecticut #NewEngland #LiteraryEvents
Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) black and white portrait, seated in suit, holding a cigar.
"As a rule, we go about with masks, we go about looking honest, and we are able to conceal ourselves all through the day."
- Speech, 8 March 1902
#MarkTwain #MarkTwainQuotes
No experience needed, just curiosity and a love of words. Space is limited, so gather a friend and claim your seat in Twain’s library.
📍The Mark Twain House & Museum, Hartford, CT
⌚ 3:00 to 4:30 PM
🎫 $40 per person / $35 for members
Reserve your spot: marktwainhouse.org/event/christ...
Surrounded by the artwork, objects, and ornate details of the house, you will use Twain’s own rooms as your inspiration to create new poems, from haiku suites to free verse and concrete poetry.
A digital graphic for the Christmas Ekphrastic Poetry Workshop at the Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT. It features indoor photographs from the house.
Step into Mark Twain’s Gilded Age home and spend an afternoon writing by the glow of a Victorian Christmas. 🎄✍️
On Sunday, December 14, 2025, poet and master teaching artist Victoria Nordlund will lead a cozy, generative Ekphrastic Poetry Workshop in the Twain Library, decorated for the season.
The Mark Twain House staff sitting on the front porch of the house in Hartford, CT. George Griffin is wearing a dark suit and sitting in the middle.
Join us in funding a proper headstone for George Griffin, a man Twain himself praised for his wisdom, wit, and loyalty.
Learn more or donate: www.marktwainhouse.org/support/geor...
#MarkTwain #HappyBirthdaySam #MarkTwainHouse #Hartford #Connecticut #MarkTwain190 #MuseumStoreSunday
Griffin helped keep the Clemens household running during its most creative years, yet his gravesite in New York went unmarked for more than a century.
We’re working to change that.
