TopicsOverview

All pages with additional information on people, places, and topics are collected here. There are additional Overview Pages collectiong entries on people and places respectively. Entries are sorted alphabetically.

There are 60 entries in this collection.

Agricultural Paper

Mark Twain's sketch “How I Edited an Agricultural Paper Once" originally appeared in the "Memoranda" section of The Galaxy ...continue reading

Almira Russel Hancock

Almira Russell Hancock's book Reminiscences of Winfield Scott Hancock (1887) was published by Mark Twain’s publishing firm, ...continue reading

Anecdotes

There were many anecdotes about Mark Twain - some inspired by his own writing or interviews he gave, some entirely made up or resulting out of misunderstandings in the press. Some of these stories ...continue reading

Anna Kirchstein

Anna Kirchstein was a writer, poet, and translator from Germany who later moved to the US. On the occasion of Kirchstein's 70th birthday in 1918, a newspaper article praises the poet for her work as ...continue reading

Anti-Imperialist League

The Anti-Imperialist League was formed in 1898 in response to the increasingly expansionist foreign policies of the United States. Its membership was diverse, including Republicans, Democrats, ...continue reading

Association of American Physicians

Towards the End of the 20th century, there was an increasing number of American doctors staying in Germany to further their study of medicine and some of them founded the Association of American ...continue reading

August Siemering

August Siemering (1830–1883) was a writer, editor, judge, political leader, and publisher of the San Antonio Freie Presse für Texas. Born and educated in Germany, Siemering emigrated to the ...continue reading

Awful German Language

"The Awful German Language" was originally published as "Appendix D" of A Tramp Abroad in 1880 (601-619). The text was widely ...continue reading

Berlin

During their extensive stay in Europe, Mark Twain, his wife, and their daughters Clara and Jean took up residence in ...continue reading

Bermuda

Clemens visited Bermuda several times throughout his life and twice in 1908. The trip that fits the time frame of the article is his stay at the Princess Hotel from 27 Jan.-3 March. He was ...continue reading

Chapters Autobiography

Mark Twain's "Chapters from My Autobiography" was originally a series of 25 articles in the North American Review which ran initially from September 1906 to December 1907. The first installment ...continue reading

Charles Brookheim

Charles. L. Brookheim was a New York lawyer who worked on bankruptcy cases, usually as official receiver/trustee. He was responsible for assessing the bankrupt company’s assets and income and for ...continue reading

Charles Jervis Langdon

Charles Langdon was born on 13 August 1849. He was Olivia Langdon's younger brother and Samuel Clemens' brother-in-law. Samuel Clemens and Charles Langdon met during the ...continue reading

Clara Langdon Clemens

Clara Clemens was born on 8 June 1874 on Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y., and the second daughter of Samuel L. Clemens and his wife Olivia Langdon Clemens. Compared to her sisters, ...continue reading

Concerning Jews

"Concerning the Jews" was first published in Harper's Magazine (99:592, 527–535). The text was not as widely discussed in the ...continue reading

Diplomatic Pay

"Diplomatic Pay and Clothes", a critical discussion of US diplomats' financial situation in Europe, was first published in The Forum ...continue reading

Edward Warren Ordway

Edward Warren Ordway was a lawyer and political activist who served as secretary for the Anti-Imperialist League of New York from 1899 until 1904. He was also a part of the Filipino Progress ...continue reading

Elmira

Elmira, N.Y., was the home of Olivia Langdon Clemens' family and the Langdon family home was the place where Olivia and Samuel Clemens got married in 1870. During the summers, the Clemens family ...continue reading

Encounter Interviewer

The sketch "An Encounter with an Interviewer" was first published in the collection Punch, Brothers, Punch! And Other Sketches ...continue reading

Ernst Otto Hopp

Ernst Otto Hopp (1841-1910) was a German-born educator, journalist, editor, translator, and author with a keen interest in the United States. He was born and raised in Germany and received his ...continue reading

First Lie

"My First Lie, and How I Got Out of It" was first published in New York World, 10 Dec. 1899. It was later collected in The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg, and Other Stories and Essays ...continue reading

Friedrich Maehliss

Friedrich Mähliss (alternative spelling: Mähliß) was a German language teacher and writer who - in 1892 - published a 23-page brochure entitled Die Schrecken der deutschen Sprache ...continue reading

Funeral

After his death on 21 April 1910, Samuel Clemens’ body was transported by railway from his home in Redding, Ct., to New York City. On 23 April, a funeral procession and a memorial service at ...continue reading

German Chicago

In 1891, Clemens agreed with the New York Sun to write six travel letters during his stay in Europe (Rasmussen et al. 2:813). ...continue reading

Gertraut Chales de Beaulieu

Gertraut Chales de Beaulieu (1847-1902) worked as a translator and correspondent for various national and international newspapers and used her travels through Southern Europe as material for ...continue reading

Grandfather's Ram

The story of Jim Blaine attempting to tell a story while repeatedly getting off track was originally included as an episode of Roughing It ...continue reading

Hans Blum

Hans Blum was born on 8th June 1841 in Leipzig. He worked as a lawyer, journalist and writer, and wrote for (among others) the literary magazines Daheim and Grenzboten. He died on 1st Feb. ...continue reading

Heidelberg

Samuel Clemens arrived in Heidelberg on April 22, 1878. It was the first extended stay on his trip through Europe during the years 1878-1879. He was accompanied by his wife, Olivia Langdon Clemens ...continue reading

Henry Van Dyke

Henry Van Dyke was born on 10 November 1852 in Germantown, Pa.. After graduating from Princeton Theological Seminary, he spent a few years in Europe, studying and travelling (see ...continue reading

Hermann Theodor Schmid

Schmid’s novel Der Habermeister was reprinted in serialized form in the German American newspaper Der Westbote (Columbus, Ohio), beginning on ...continue reading

Introducing General Hawley

Mark Twain gave a speech introducing Genral Hawley at the Republican Meeting in Elmira, New York, on 16th October, 1879 ...continue reading

Jane Lampton Clemens

Jane Lampton (Jean) Clemens was Samuel Clemens and Olivia Langdon Clemens’ third and youngest daughter. She was born on 26 July 1880 on Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y., and named after ...continue reading

Joseph Twichell

Joseph Hopkins Twichell was born on 27 May 1838 in Southington, CT. He was a chaplain in the New York State Infantry during the Civil War, an experience that shaped his views and his work as a pastor ...continue reading

Letter Postal Service

Mark Twain’s letter was dated July 22, 1876. A transcribed and annotated version is available from the Mark Twain Project (UCCL01350). The ...continue reading

Letter Treasury

On October 3rd 1902, Mark Twain sent a letter to the secretary of the treasury in which Twain requested to be send winter fuel - in the form of treasury bonds, bank notes, etc.. The letter soon ...continue reading

Lucy Webb Hayes

Lucy Hayes was born Lucy Ware Webb on 28th August 1831 in Chillicothe, OH. She married Rutherford B. Hayes in December 1852 who was elected US president in 1877. Lucy Hayes was the first woman to be ...continue reading

Making Fortune

This short sketch by Mark Twain appeared in several American daily newspapers beginning in February 1873. Most newspapers printed the sketch under the heading "Making a Fortune"; however, the ...continue reading

McWilliams Lightning

“Mrs. McWilliams and the Lightning” (1880) is the second of three McWilliams family stories which appeared between 1875 and 1882. It first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in September 1880 ...continue reading

Million Bank Note

Mark Twain’s short story “The £1,000,000 Bank-Note,” was first published in 1893 in the Century Magazine (45:3, 338-346). ...continue reading

North American Review

The North American Review - founded in 1815 - is the oldest literary magazine in the USA and is still published today (see ...continue reading

Notice Burglars

A report on the burglary was published in the New York Times ("Burglars Invade Mark Twain Villa," 19 Sept. 1908) and Barbara Schmidt provides a ...continue reading

Olivia Langdon Clemens

Olivia (Livy) Louise Langdon was born on 27 Nov. 1845 in Elmira, N.Y., as the second child of Jervis and Olivia Lewis Langdon. Her father was a wealthy man who owned a flourishing coal business ...continue reading

Olivia Susan Clemens

Olivia Susan (Susy) Clemens was born 19 March 1872 in Elmira, N.Y., and Samuel and Olivia Langdon Clemens’ oldest daughter. She was called Susy by her family. As a child, she began writing ...continue reading

Ossip Gabrilowitsch

Ossip Gabrilowitsch was born on 7 Feb. 1878 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Aged ten and considered a child prodigy, he was admitted to the St. Petersburg Conservatory to study piano and later took ...continue reading

Otto Lecher

Otto Lecher was an Austrian politician and member of the Austrian "Abgeordnetenhaus". During Mark Twain's visit to the Austrian Parliament on 28th October 1897, ...continue reading

Pen Name

Samuel L. Clemens started using the pen name "Mark Twain" in 1863 (see Rasmussen et al. 2:774). Its first known appearance was in a ...continue reading

Plasmon

The main product sold by the Plasmon Company was also called “Plasmon”, a skim milk powder that was supposed to restore general health and which Samuel L. Clemens encountered first during his ...continue reading

Quaker City Excursion

The Quaker City Excursion was an American pleasure cruise and educational excursion to the Mediterranean and back that took place in 1867. “Quaker City” was the name of the steamship used for the ...continue reading

Redding

In 1906, Samuel Clemens bought land in the vicinity of the town Redding in Connecticut. The purchase was made without Clemens having seen the property beforehand as he was eager to strike an apparent ...continue reading

Running for Governor

The sketch “Running for Governor” was originally published in the Buffalo Express in November 1870 and in The Galaxy in December 1870 ...continue reading

Salutation Speech

Mark Twain's text "Salutation-Speech from the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth", a sarcastic and critical welcome to the new millenium, was origianlly published in the New York Herald, 30 Dec. ...continue reading

Samuel Eastman

Samuel Eastman was pastor at Elmira's Park Church. His wife, Annis Ford Eastman, shared his position and was one of the first female ministers in the US (see ...continue reading

Savage Club Speech

On 15th November 1895, Mark Twain held a speech at the Savage Club in Christchurch, New Zealand. A version of the speech can be found in Mark Twain Speaking ...continue reading

Sitting in Darkness

Mark Twain’s “To the Person Sitting in Darkness” is a polemical article which appeared in the North American Review in 1901 ...continue reading

Switzerland Cradle of Liberty

A series of six letters Mark Twain wrote for American newspapers (Paine 2:923) and which appeared as “Switzerland, The Cradle of ...continue reading

The Babies

Mark Twain's speech on "The Babies" was delivered on 13th November 1879 during a Reunion Banquet of the Army of the Tennessee in Chicago. For the full text see Mark Twain Speaking ...continue reading

Vienna

Mark Twain, accompanied by his wife Olivia and his daughters Jean and Clara, stayed in Vienna from 27th September 1897 ...continue reading

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft was the 27th president of the United States, serving office from 1909 to 1913. He was born 15th Sep. 1857 and died 8th March 1930. ...continue reading

William Walter Phelps

William Walter Phelps was an American politician who was appointed by President Harrison to represent the United States in Germany at the International Congress on the Samoan Question in 1889. He was ...continue reading

Woman

Mark Twain delivered this speech on 22nd December 1882 at the annual dinner of the New England Society of New York. The text of the speech can be found in Mark Twain Speaking ...continue reading