Tuesday:Virtual

"That’s the thing about Irby: She takes readers in winding, surprising, emotionally vulnerable and strange directions, but you can ultimately see what she’s driving at. It all rings true — and it’s riotously funny, too." - Washington Post

Tuesday, June 13 at 7pm ET - Samantha Irby on Quietly Hostile: Essays by Kenice Mobely (Virtual) 

A hilarious new essay collection from #1 New York Times bestselling fan-favorite Samantha Irby invites us to share in the gory particulars of her real life, all that festers behind the glitter and glam. 

 Virtual: Choose your own price for non-members. Free for members. Learn More & Register Here. 

Wednesday at 12pm

Virtual

Wednesday, June 14 at 12pm ET - Clemens Conversations: The Character Of The Place (Virtual) 

When Sam Clemens first visited Hartford in 1868, he deemed it “the best built and the handsomest town I have ever seen.” But Hartford was more than just a pretty place–it was one of the richest cities in the United States at the time. “Hartford dollars have a place in half the great moneyed enterprises of the Union,” Clemens noted, and his neighbor Harriet Beecher Stowe called it “fat, rich, and cosy.” This 60-minute program explores the social, cultural, and economic dynamics of the Gilded Age through the city where Clemens helped coin the term itself, as well as the ways the city shaped his career and personal life. 

$6.50 per virtual connection, free for museum members. Learn More & Register Here.

Wednesday, June 14 at 7pm ET - The Trouble Begins Lecture Series presents Imagining Indian Maidens in Pure Springs: Race and Nation in Nineteenth Century Spa Towns with Will Mackintosh (IP & V) 

This lecture traces the origin stories that nineteenth-century Americans told themselves about the mineral springs and spa towns where they took their vacations. Elite Europeans had traveled to mineral and hot springs for pleasure and health since the 17th century. In the late colonial period, elite Americans began to imitate this practice, establishing nascent American spa towns, often named after their British forbears. But after independence, the explicit anglophilia of places like Bath, Virginia became problematic. As a result, Americans began to tell themselves that their mineral springs had Native American origins, rather than British origins, despite the fact that their architecture, medical discourse, and social rituals remained far closer to British examples than to any actual Native American practice. It turned elite leisure into a strategy for cementing the cultural appropriation of Indian lands and Indian social practices.

This is a FREE HYBRID event sponsored by CT Humanities and the Center for Mark Twain Studies in Elmira, New York.

 In-Person Event: FREE. Register Here.

Livestream: FREE. Register Here.

Thursday: Virtual

“Aisha Harris is one of our smartest, most entertaining modern cultural critics. The nine pieces offer insight on Stevie Wonder, the Spice Girls, Pen15, and New Girl—among many other pop artifacts, of course—which might as well be parlance for, ‘Read me immediately.’” — ELLE

Thursday, June 15 at 7pm ET- Aisha Harris on WANNABE: Reckoning with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me with Mercy Quaye (Virtual)

 Aisha Harris has made a name for herself as someone you can turn to for a razor-sharp take on whatever show or movie everyone is talking about. Now, in Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture, she turns her talents inward, mining the benchmarks of her nineties childhood and beyond to analyze the tropes that are shaping all of us, and our ability to shape them right back. She examines the overlap of taste and identity in this era, rejecting the patriarchal ethos that you are what you like. It will feel like hanging out with your smart, hilarious, pop culture–obsessed friend—and it will be a delight. 

Virtual: Free for members. Choose your own price for non-members. Learn More & Register Here. 

Score a Hole-in-One for The Mark Twain House & Museum

Contribute today to The Mark Twain House & Museum through the Birdies for Charity program! We receive an additional 15% of each dollar you give, thanks to Webster Bank's support of the Bonus Bucks Pool.  

Tee up your donation by Clicking Here.

Next Week

Tuesday, June 20 at 12pm ET - A Lunchtime Conversation with Kate Strasdin on THE DRESS DIARY: Secrets from a Victorian Woman's Wardrobe with Emma Gerstein (Virtual) 

In 1838, a young woman was given a diary on her wedding day. Collecting snippets of fabric from a range of garments – some her own, others donated by family and friends – she carefully annotated each one, creating a unique record of their lives. Her name was Mrs. Anne Sykes. Nearly two hundred years later, the diary fell into the hands of Kate Strasdin, a fashion historian and museum curator. Using her expertise, Strasdin spent the next six years unravelling the secrets contained within the album’s pages, and the lives of the people within. Piece by piece, she charts Anne’s journey from the mills of Lancashire to the port of Singapore before tracing her return to England in later years. 

Virtual: Free for members. Choose your own price for non-members. Learn More & Register Here. 

Thursday, June 22 at 7pm ET - Chris Wimmer on THE SUMMER OF 1876: Outlaws, Lawmen, and Legends in the Season That Defined the American West with MTH&M's Mallory Howard (Virtual) 

From the creator of the “Legends of the Old West” podcast, The Summer of 1876 weaves together the timelines of major events and legends of that pivotal year. It demonstrates the overlapping context of their stories and illustrates the historical importance of that summer, all layered with highlights of significant milestones in 1876, including the release of Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Considered a “lively survey of a watershed historical period and some of its defining figures” by Kirkus Reviews. 

Virtual: Free for members. Choose your own price for non-members. Learn More & Register Here.

Saturday, June 24 beginning at 7pm ET - GET A CLUE Murder Mystery Tours of The Mark Twain House (In-Person) 

GET A CLUE Tours are offered on special nights at The Mark Twain House & Museum, using the various rooms (secret passageway, conservatory, billiards room, and more) of the Twain house — and some of the author’s favorite literary characters — as part of the game. Who killed that varmint Pap Finn? Was it Tom Sawyer in the Library with the Wrench? Come find out; it is different every time! 

Reservations are required, Learn More & Register Here.

Explore The Mark Twain House & Museum's historic gardens and others throughout the state on Connecticut's Historic Garden Day on Sunday, June 25 from 12pm to 4pm!

Learn More

A Special Offer from The Bushnell in Hartford

All rise for Academy Award® winner Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork. The New York Times Critic’s Pick To Kill A Mockingbird is “the most successful American play in Broadway history” (60 Minutes). New York Magazine calls it “a real phenomenon. Majestic and incandescent, it’s filled with breath and nuance and soul.” With direction by Tony Award® winner Bartlett Sher, To Kill A Mockingbird — “the greatest novel of all time” (Chicago Tribune) — has quickly become “one of the greatest plays in history” (NPR). Emmy Award®-winning actor Richard Thomas plays the role of Atticus Finch in the National Tour. 

Use code Harperlee to access $20 off* select seats to Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird at The Bushnell, June 27 - July 2. To access tickets with your code, Click Here. 

*Offer does not include Saturday matinee, Saturday evening or Sunday matinee performances. Plus applicable fees. No refunds or exchanges on previously purchased tickets.

Upcoming Events

V = Virtual Event; IP = In-Person Event 

June 13 at 7pm - Quietly Hostile: Essays with Samantha Irby (V) 

June 14 at 12pm - Clemens Conversations: The Character of the Place (V) 

June 14 at 7pm - The Trouble Begins - Imagining Indian Maidens in Pure Springs: Race and Nation in Nineteenth Century Spa Towns with Will Mackintosh (IP & V) 

June 15 at 7pm - Wannabe: Reckonings With the Pop Culture That Shapes Me with Aisha Harris (V) 

June 20 at 12pm - The Dress Diary: Secrets from a Victorian Woman's Wardrobe with Kate Strasdin (V) 

June 22 at 7pm - The Summer of 1876: Outlaws, Lawmen, and Legends of The Season That Defined the American West with Chris Wimmer (V) 

Saturday, June 24 - Get a CLUE Tours of The Mark Twain House (IP) 

Sunday, June 25, 12pm to 4pm - Connecticut Historic Gardens Day (IP) 

Tuesday, June 27 at 7pm - King: A Life with Jonathan Eig (V) 

Wednesday, June 28 at 12pm - Clemens Conversations: Seventeen Summers in a Garden (V) 

September 23 - The Bark Twain Bash...It's the Cat's Meow fundraiser with Kenway's Cause (IP) 

More to be announced soon! 

To see all event information and registration, Click Here. 

To preorder books for our upcoming events, Click Here. Signed books will be mailed after the event. Please note that we cannot ship outside of the U.S. at this time.

Your donation to The Mark Twain House & Museum helps us meet our mission to preserve the home and legacy of Mark Twain. Thank you for your generosity!

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