Mark Twain and the Culture of Progress

FAIN: ES-50330-10

Mark Twain Memorial (Hartford, CT 06105-6400)
Craig Hotchkiss (Project Director: March 2010 to June 2012)
Kerry Driscoll (Co Project Director: March 2010 to June 2012)

A three-week institute for thirty school teachers using Mark Twain to explore a transformative era in American history.

The Mark Twain House & Museum will present an educational institute for teachers, "Mark Twain and the Culture of Progress," that will use the life and works of Mark Twain as a means of exploring a transformative era in American history. The institute will offer an in-depth examination of two seminal texts by Twain - Roughing It and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - not only in relation to the author's creative development, but also with respect to the themes of industrialization, technological innovation, territorial expansion and imperialism. Over the course of three weeks, participants will have the opportunity to study these works in the actual environs that inspired them - Virginia City and Carson City, Nevada; and Hartford, Connecticut. The institute will be held from July 10-29, 2011.