Twain invented a clasp that's still used for bras

Twain didn’t start wearing his iconic white suit until later in life

The writer first wore the white suit in 1906, at the Library of Congress. “I have reached the age where dark clothes have a depressing effect on me,” Twain told the Washington Post. “I prefer light clothing, colors, like those worn by the ladies at the opera.”

Twain was a notoriously bad investor

After becoming a famous writer, Twain invested in railroad stocks, a magnetic telegraph, and a printing press that weighed four tons. Eventually, he founded his own publishing company, which ultimately led to his bankruptcy. “He is, in business,” one lawyer said, “just a big overgrown boy.”

Clemens' pen name 'Mark Twain' is a nautical reference

Samuel Clemens became a steamboat pilot’s apprentice in 1857 while writing a travelogue for a small newspaper, and earned his pilot’s license two years later. During that time, he learned the term “mark twain,” which meant 12 feet, something shipworkers would yell when they were approaching shallow waters. In 1861, he signed a travel letter under the pseudonym “Mark Twain” and used it for the rest of his career.

A Connecticut man claims he invented the wrap

Bobby Valentine, a Connecticut-based restaurateur, claims that the burrito-inspired item was invented because someone requested a club sandwich on a day when his toaster was broken. Improvising, Valentine threw all the ingredients into a tortilla and put it on a $4 grill.

Mark Twain was an early influence on stand-up

The writer’s live lectures looked a lot like modern stand-up comedy specials. Twain’s world tour in the 1890s featured 90-minute performances in which he stood alone on the stage, delivering long, comedic monologues with his hand perched on his chin.

Many consider Twain 'the father of American literature'

In "Green Hills of Africa," Ernest Hemingway declared that all modern American literature sprang from Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." That's a sentiment shared by many scholars, who assert that Twain's book changed American fiction by challenging the country's racist history and incorporating a more realistic vernacular.

As a child, Twain worked as a 'printer's devil'

Twain’s father died in 1847, forcing the 12-year-old Twain to leave school to earn money for the family. He took up work in a print shop as a “printer’s devil,” or an apprentice. He became fascinated with the technology, an experience he’d pursue further when he became a journalist several years later.

Thomas Edison captured the only known footage of Mark Twain

The inventor was a pioneer in the early film industry and made his own motion pictures. In 1909, he shot a short film featuring Twain at Stormfield, his property in Connecticut. In it, Twain wears his iconic white suit and drinks tea with his daughters.

Mark Twain abhorred Jane Austen's writing

Twain was no fan of the novelist, calling her work "impossible." In an 1898 letter to a friend, Twain wrote, "Everytime I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone."

Twain claimed to possess 'mental telegraphy'

In an 1891 essay, the writer claimed to possess psychic powers. It’s something that seemingly supported by his mother and his own death: Twain predicted he would die the day after Halley’s Comet returned in 1910, which did indeed happen.

The treadmill was invented as a machine for prison labor

William Cubitt invented the machine in the early 1800s, imagining prisoners, usually two at a time, would use it to grind grain or pump water.

He made a name with a short story about jumping frogs

Twain’s first big break came with “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog,” a fictitious story that appeared in a 1865 edition of the New York Saturday Press. (When it was republished elsewhere, the title was changed to “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”) That year, American poet James Russell Lowe called it “the finest piece of humorous literature yet produced in America.”

Breaking down 'clinch covers,' a defining characteristic of '80s romance novels

As romance novels became more popular in the 1980s, publishers leaned into the books' steamier content by advertising it on their covers. Eventually, one specific kind of portrait emerged: the clinch cover, which featured a muscly man, usually shirtless, holding a woman against his chest. This episode from 99% Invisible explores the history of the trend and why it's largely disappeared from modern romance novels.

Twain grew up in Missouri near the Mississippi River

When Twain (then known as Samuel Clemens) was 4 years old, his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, a port town along the Mississippi River. Hannibal would eventually be the setting for two of his most famous works: "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer."

Twain served in a Confederate militia for two weeks

In 1861, a 25-year-old Twain joined the Marion Rangers, a pro-Confederate militia. The group disbanded after two weeks upon hearing that Ulysses S. Grant, General of the Union Army, was headed their way. Twain moved to Nevada, where he eventually took a job at a newspaper.

Twain ruthlessly criticized other writers

The writer was known for lambasting popular writers of his time, including Jane Austen and Robert Louis Stevenson. One of his most famous takedowns is “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offences,” an essay that simultaneously mocks Cooper’s popular adventure tales and satirizes the pretentiousness of literary criticism. Remarking on Cooper’s novel “The Deerslayer,” Twain wrote, “its conversations are—oh! Indescribable; its love-scenes odious; its English a crime against the language.”

Mark Twain had many gripes with the US Postal Service

Twain often complained about the cost of postage and the service's inefficiencies, often sharing these criticisms in newspaper opinion pieces. Still, in 1907, the USPS issued a commemorative stamp featuring his face.

The first recorded worker strike in the United States predates the American Revolution.

Mark Twain started writing 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' to distract himself.

Twain read (and lampooned) classic literature

Ever the ironist, Twain claimed to have “ no liking for novels or stories.” Obviously, that was untrue: He read widely, devouring books by Charles Dickens, slave narratives, and texts on astronomy. He also loved John Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” which he called “something everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.”

Thomas and Anne Rogers were famous counterfeiters in 17th-century England

The pair used a practice called “coin clipping,” shaving the edges off silver coins to decrease their weight before sending them back into circulation. When banknotes rather than coins gained popularity, counterfeiting methods evolved—in the 1700s, an early banknote counterfeiter named Mary Butterworth created counterfeit paper money using starched cloth and a hot iron to transfer the pattern of a banknote onto paper.

Why Men's Legs Were Everything

From codpieces to cotton hose, here's the surprisingly loaded history of men's legs, and why 18th-century Europe couldn't stop staring at them.

Bow ties became a Bill Nye wardrobe staple after he took part in an athletic banquet

In high school, boys served as waiters during a ceremony where girls would receive awards for gymnastics, lacrosse, and other sporting events. Wanting to fit the role, Nye's father helped him dress like a waiter, and he continued wearing bow ties upon seeing their practicality in the lab.

Biographer Ron Chernow believes Twain's legacy embodies 'the best and worst of our culture'

Twain’s childhood hometown of Hannibal, Missouri, attracts countless tourists seeking Twain-themed reenactors and museums. Ron Chernow, author of a 2025 about the writer, argues that the ongoing interest in Hannibal and in Twain’s writing is because his work and life typify the American experience.

How nylon was created

Nylon, one of the most ubiquitous materials in the world, was invented in 1935. Chemist Wallace Carothers was hired by American conglomerate DuPont to perform research. After seven years of work he produced nylon, the first wholly synthetic fabric. Carothers’ life ended tragically, but his contributions revolutionized everything from military equipment to women’s fashion.

Mark Twain coined the phrase 'The Gilded Age'

The writer's 1873 book "The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today" (cowritten with newspaper editor Charles Dudley Warner) satirized the speculative investing and greed that took place following the Civil War. That era is now known as the Gilded Age, a term derived from the novel. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

One prankster started a movement to clothe animals in the mid-20th century

G. Clifford Prout founded the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, saying that animal nudity was rude and immoral. The campaign continued for years until CBS employees realized Prout was actually a comedian named Buck Henry.

'Huckleberry Finn' has a long history of book bans

Twain’s most famous novel was first banned in March 1885. Librarians in Concord, Massachusetts, called it “suitable only for the slums.” Since then, it’s been banned many more times, mostly because of how it deals with race. In recent decades, its use of the N-word, has led to its removal.

Mark Twain was one of the first writers to cover surfing.

The first 3D printing patent was filed in 1967

Wyn Swainson, an English literature graduate student, filed a patent in Denmark for a system that scans an object and uses the scanning data to rebuild it using lasers that harden light-sensitive plastic. However, he never developed a working prototype. The idea originated from wanting to produce recreations of sculptures.

Salvador Dalí’s collaborations with fashion designers

Dalí was known to dabble in the world of fashion and formed a bond with the bold Italian designer Elsa Schiaparelli. Their collaborations birthed iconic designs like a bureau-drawer suit and a lobster dress.

6 union history facts

Founded in 1794, the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers (who were leather workers and cobblers) is considered to be the first union in the United States.

Mark Twain invented an unsuccessful board game

“Memory Builder” was based on pinning historical events in their correct chronological order. It was test-marketed in 1891, but never took off. One critic said, “The game looked like a cross between an income tax form and a table of logarithms.”

One actor made a career out of playing Mark Twain

Hal Holbrook toured in the one-man show “Mark Twain Tonight!” for over six decades. In the performances, Holbrook wore Twain’s iconic white suit and offered witticisms similar to Twain’s famous lectures. Holbrook won a Tony Award in 1966 for a Broadway run of the show.

Take a virtual tour of Mark Twain's Connecticut mansion.

The bond market dates back to the 1100s in Venice

In the early 1800s, bonds were used to fund US railroads and canals in Great Britain. “Liberty Bonds” were sold during both World Wars in the 20th century. Learning about the early and modern history of bonds can offer a glimpse into how the modern bond market came to be.

Truth is best known for her 1851 speech in Akron linking abolition and women's rights

At the 1851 Women's Rights Convention, Truth gave a speech that cemented her legacy, weaving together abolition and women's rights in remarks that became among the most quoted of the 19th century.

Tattoos were once used to identify status

Around 450 BCE, Scythians inhabiting what is now southern Siberia were recorded as wearing tattoos of swirling mythical beasts to signify nobility. At the same time, tattoos have identified lower-status and enslaved people.

Modern Champagne owes much of its existence to one woman: Widow Clicquot

Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, better known as the Widow Clicquot, might not have actually invented Champagne, but her innovative approach to winemaking yielded many techniques still used today. Taking over her husband’s failing business after his death, the Widow Clicquot combined business savvy and innovative thinking to make the process easier, more efficient, and, most important, more profitable.

Read the works of Mark Twain

Twain's books are in the public domain, meaning they can be freely distributed. Digital versions of his classic novels—including "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"—as well as many of his short stories and satirical essays can be accessed through Project Gutenberg.

In 1924, the department store Marshall Field's invented the first modern 'wedding registry'

However, there were many traditions around wedding gifts before the wedding registry was invented, too—from dowries to marriage chests. Read about the history of the wedding registry in this article.

The Civil War introduced many technological advances to both society and warfare.

The first commercially successful calculating machine—the arithmometer—was patented in 1820 but not mass-produced for over three decades, likely because its inventor was focused on his insurance business.

The first tattoo gun was based on an electric pen invented by Thomas Edison.

The US Mint was among the first federal agencies to hire women

In 1795, the US Mint hired two women, named Sarah Waldrake and Rachael Summers, as adjusters. At the time, adjusters weighed blank coins and “adjusted” those weighing too much by filing them down.

Before the invention of transistors, vacuum tubes made radio possible

Discovered by Thomas Edison, vacuum tubes allow electrical currents to travel through empty space. Later modified into a diode—keeping current flowing in only one direction—vacuum tubes allowed electronics to turn alternating current into direct current.

The first smartwatch was made by Microsoft in 1994

Coproduced by Timex, the Timex DataLink 150 featured a small LCD screen and could transfer data to and from a Windows PC. Like the Windows XP Tablet that launched in 2002, the smartwatch did not sell well, and both products are considered to have been released before their time.

The US apparel and textile industry was long set up to limit competition from nations in the developing world—but shifts in international trade regulation in the 1990s changed that, paving the way for the fast fashion industry to develop.

Mark Twain once challenged a rival newspaper editor to a duel

While writing for a newspaper in Virginia City, Nevada, Twain published a story about a local fundraiser, accusing the paper’s rival of rescinding their donation. The problem was that the story was untrue: It was a hoax that he had concocted while drunk. The affair led to a protracted, public back-and-forth, with Twain challenging the editor of the rival paper to a duel; likewise, two other men challenged Twain to a duel. Twain ultimately left town, but wrote about the episode later on in an essay titled “How I Escaped Being Killed in a Duel.”

How the Inca used threads to communicate

One of the great mysteries of ancient Peru is that the Inca did not have a system of writing, but communicated with a system of strings tied with knots. This 4-minute video explores its possible uses.