The Mark
Twain House & Museum is proud to present the new exhibition in the Museum
Center: The Gilded Age of Hartford!
The exhibit opened Friday March 15th
and features artifacts and rare items from the museum’s collections revolving
around Hartford Connecticut’s period of wealth, poverty, dynamism, oppression,
plutocracy, populism, corruption, and reform. Twain was an active member of the
community and his own ideas and life helped to depict the varying dimensions of
the time.
The Gilded Age spanned from the
middle to the late 19th century. During that time, Hartford
underwent many reforms and prosperous endeavors. Gas lighting was a major
breakthrough for citizens; Mark Twain often felt annoyed about it and in 1891
complained to the Hartford City Gas Light Company about randomly shutting off
lights without informing citizens ahead of time. Also, the telephone had been
invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, and in 1877-1878, Mark Twain had a
telephone line in his home connecting to the Hartford Courant and two of their
editors. He was not the best, however, at operating the telephone and regularly
recorded his troubles on a homemade chart. Another reform of this period was
with sanitation. People began realizing the need for better sanitation to stop
the spread of diseases and to make life better, in general, especially for the
lower classes. The railway at Union Depot was introduced in 1843, fixing the
problem carriages had previously run into of having to lower the gates every
time they crossed the tracks, which was daily. The Union Depot has been on the
National Registrar of Historic Places since 1975. The Hartford and Wethersfield
Horse Railroad allowed people to move outside the city but still keep their
city jobs.
A
popular leisure time activity for people during this period was the social
club. Between 1873-1874, there were more than 90 active clubs and societies in
Hartford. Mark Twain belonged to many of these clubs and societies, including
The Hartford Club, the Monday Evening Club, and the Saturday Morning Club.
Twain felt that belonging to a club created a sense of belonging for himself in
the community.
In 1872,
Hartford began making some form of education mandatory. Because of this, by the
end of the 19th century more than 10,000 children were enrolled in
public school. Hartford Public High School was a popular school, but to attend,
children had to pass an exam in reading, writing, math, and other subjects,
plus be able to pay the $1.50 weekly tuition. Mark Twain’s children, Susy and
Clara, briefly attended this school, but were mainly homeschooled by their
mother, Olivia. Trinity College was also established in 1823 for men who wanted
to receive higher education.
Another
great aspect of The Gilded Age was the establishment of the headquarters in
Hartford for The Chinese Educational Mission, headed by Yung Wing. The Chinese
Empire would send 120 boys ages 12-15 to New England to study between
1872-1874. Mark Twain held a reception during this period of time for Yung Wing
at his home. This program ended in 1881. Many students went on to become
railroad builders, naval officers, or diplomats. One student in his old age
said, “I used to dance with Mark Twain’s daughters.”
Mark Twain wrote a book about his
experiences during this period of his life called The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, and it was published by Elisha
Bliss and the American Publishing Company in 1873.
The exhibit runs through September 2nd,
and is open during regular museum hours. The exhibit is free with a purchase of
a tour of The Mark Twain House or $5.00 for a museum-only pass.
“…&
again Hartford is becoming the pleasantest city, to the eye, that America can
show.”—Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) to Olivia Langdon, May 12th, 1869
-- Catie Calo, Communications Intern
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