Papers (1889) including framed letter and copy.
Samuel Clemens was born in Missouri on November 30, 1835 and died in Connecticut on April 21, 1910 at the age of 74. Samuel Clemens was a humorist, novelist, and a travel writer that wrote under the pen name Mark Twain. He began his writing career at the Missouri Courier until his brother bought the Hannibal Journal where Samuel Clemens "Mark Twain" became a typist. He is most known for his books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
On April 10, 1889, Samuel Langhorne Clemens wrote this one-page letter in response to an invitation to speak at the University of Missouri. Walter Williams, founder of the university's journalism school, had attempted to arrange an appearance by Clemens and Henry Watterson, editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal. Clemens, who was living in Hartford, Connecticut, and engaged in several pursuits, declined. Using characteristic humor and knowledge gained during a recent visit to Thomas A. Edison's laboratory in New Jersey, Clemens quipped: "While Watterson, by himself, is a useless carbon loop, & I, by myself, am a useless wire, we are an electric light when we combine."
Loaned by Ronald W. Hoag
Loaned by George W. and Ruth N. Hoag
Processed by S. Morgan, May 1983
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Description updated by Ashlyn Racine, July 2023
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