1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:09,480 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:12,640 Speaker 1: show for those who can never know enough about history. 4 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:18,759 Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Lucier, and today we're talking about one of 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:22,440 Speaker 1: the lesser known works of the distinguished writer Mark Twain. 6 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:25,599 Speaker 1: This book may have borne his name on the cover, 7 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:28,440 Speaker 1: but if you were hoping to find his writing inside it, 8 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,360 Speaker 1: you would have been out of luck unless you've pasted 9 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:36,839 Speaker 1: it in there yourself. The day was June twenty fourth, 10 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:42,879 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy three. American author and inventor Mark Twain received 11 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:47,280 Speaker 1: a patent for a new kind of scrap book described 12 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:51,240 Speaker 1: as a self pasting scrap book. Its pages were coated 13 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 1: with a dried adhesive that could be activated with moisture, 14 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: like a lickable stamp or envelope. The idea was to 15 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 1: simplify the page process and to limit the chance of 16 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: photos or clippings being damaged by too much clue. Customers 17 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 1: appreciated the convenience, and having Mark Twain's name on the 18 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:14,760 Speaker 1: cover didn't hurt either. It was one of three inventions 19 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: that the writer patented in his lifetime, and thanks to 20 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:21,400 Speaker 1: the popularity of scrap booking. It was his most successful 21 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:26,679 Speaker 1: by far. In eighteen seventy one, Mark Twain moved his 22 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:30,600 Speaker 1: family from Buffalo, New York, to Hartford, Connecticut, a city 23 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: he developed a fondness for. While visiting his publisher, they 24 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: rented a house in the Nook Farm community of Hartford's 25 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: West End, and three years later they built the House 26 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: of their Dreams in the same neighborhood. During the twenty 27 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: years he lived in Hartford, Twain wrote many of his 28 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: most beloved works, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the Prince 29 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: and the Pauper, and a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. 30 00:01:56,800 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: He also took a crack at inventing and eventually secured 31 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: three patents for potential products. One was an elastic garment strap, 32 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: which could be used to tighten men's waistbands or women's corsets. 33 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 1: It also later found new life as a key component 34 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 1: of modern bras. Another invention was a historical trivia game 35 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: designed to help improve the player's memory, But the idea 36 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: that really took off was Mark Twain's patent scrap book. 37 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 1: In the late nineteenth century, scrap booking was a popular 38 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:34,400 Speaker 1: pastime for many American families, especially those who resided in 39 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:38,680 Speaker 1: cities where there were multiple daily newspapers and weekly magazines 40 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: to clip from. The hobby served a function that's not 41 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:45,360 Speaker 1: far off from how some people use social media today, 42 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: namely as a way to gather, curate, and share information 43 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: that might be useful or entertaining later on. Whether it 44 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: was a homemaker cataloging recipes, a newshound tracking a murder case, 45 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:03,280 Speaker 1: or an artist collecting color ads for inspiration, scrapbooking helped 46 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,960 Speaker 1: people sift through the dizzying stream of news and preserve 47 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: their favorite parts. It didn't take long for companies to 48 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: capitalize on the trend by selling purpose made scrapbook albums 49 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:19,880 Speaker 1: with blank, sturdy pages suitable for gluing. Mark Twain bought 50 00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:22,239 Speaker 1: a few of those himself, as he liked to save 51 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:26,359 Speaker 1: newspaper clippings related to his career, but he was frustrated 52 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:29,800 Speaker 1: by the messy, drawn out process of preparing the glue 53 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:33,080 Speaker 1: and spreading it on the pages. In a later ad 54 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 1: for his own self pasting scrapbook, Twain used his signature 55 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: humor to describe this common struggle. The copy read quote. 56 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: You know when the average man wants to put something 57 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: in his scrap book. He can't find his paste, then 58 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: he swears, or if he finds it, it is dried 59 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: so hard that it is only fit to eat. Then 60 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: he swears. If he uses mucilage, it mingles with the ink, 61 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 1: and next year he can't read it scrap. The result 62 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:07,880 Speaker 1: is barrels and barrels of profanity. Twain's new spin on 63 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 1: the scrap book sought to prevent this needless swearing by 64 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: having dried adhesive already applied to the pages. The glue 65 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: was arranged in a grid pattern all over each one, 66 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: so that the final placement of photos and clippings would 67 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 1: still be up to the user. As Twain's patent specified, quote, 68 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:30,279 Speaker 1: the scrap book is so to say self pasting, as 69 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:32,919 Speaker 1: it is only necessary to moisten so much of the 70 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: leaf as will contain the piece to be pasted in, 71 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:39,000 Speaker 1: and place such piece thereon when it will stick to 72 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:43,119 Speaker 1: the leaf. Twain applied for a patent for his scrap 73 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: book in eighteen seventy two and received it on June 74 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: twenty fourth of the following year. And yes, for all 75 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:53,039 Speaker 1: you sticklers out there, the patent was technically issued under 76 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: the author's birth name, Samuel Langhorne Clements. Longtime listeners will 77 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:01,719 Speaker 1: remember that Mark Twain was a pen name and actually 78 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: refers to a measure of water depth used by steamboat 79 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: pilots on the Mississippi River. When the water was two 80 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: fathoms deep, they'd call out Mark Twain. After receiving his 81 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: patent for the self adhesive scrap book, Twain partnered with 82 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:21,479 Speaker 1: his friend Dan Sloat, who owned a stationary supply company, 83 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:24,919 Speaker 1: to produce and distribute the product. They went on to 84 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:29,040 Speaker 1: release a whole range of albums in a variety of sizes, shapes, 85 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 1: and styles, making use of Twain's famous name. The book 86 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: sold exceptionally well and remained in production from about eighteen 87 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:42,680 Speaker 1: seventy seven until nineteen o two. Twain's clever advertisements likely 88 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:46,600 Speaker 1: contributed to the line's success, as did the humorous designs 89 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: used for some of the covers. For instance, a one 90 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 1: surviving copy shows a cherub kicking over a glue pot 91 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:57,400 Speaker 1: while proudly holding up one of Twain's self pasting scrap books. 92 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: Selling blank books was an unexpected side hustle for a writer, 93 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: but in Twain's case, it proved to be a lucrative one. 94 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: According to an eighteen eighty five report in the Saint 95 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:12,560 Speaker 1: Louis Dispatch, the author had made two hundred thousand dollars 96 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:16,560 Speaker 1: in combined profit from everything he'd written to date, but 97 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:19,239 Speaker 1: from his scrap books, which had been on the market 98 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:22,479 Speaker 1: less than a decade. At that point, he'd already earned 99 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,880 Speaker 1: a profit of fifty thousand dollars, the equivalent of more 100 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: than a million and a half today. It turned out 101 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:33,359 Speaker 1: that Mark Twain's books sold almost as well without the 102 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:41,320 Speaker 1: writing go figure, I'm gay, blues Yay, and hopefully you 103 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:44,479 Speaker 1: now know a little more about history today than you 104 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:47,679 Speaker 1: did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up with the show, 105 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:51,159 Speaker 1: you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at 106 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:55,800 Speaker 1: TDI HC Show, and if you have any comments or suggestions, 107 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:58,279 Speaker 1: feel free to send them my way by writing to 108 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:02,839 Speaker 1: this day at iheartme dot com. Thanks to kas By 109 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: Bias for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening. 110 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:09,200 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day 111 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:10,560 Speaker 1: in History Class.