James B. Pond 1895 Collection
James Burton Pond was born in upstate New York in 1838, but his family moved to Illinois, and then Wisconsin before he was ten years old. As he reached adulthood, he became a staunch abolitionist and helped the efforts of the Underground Railroad, reportedly assisting John Brown in raids that assuredly posed the threat of violence, if not actual violence against slave holders.
In 1861, he was commissioned as an officer for the Union Army during the American Civil War. His most lauded act during this time was during the Battle of Baxter Springs (October 6, 1863) in Kansas, when he fought against William Quantrill and his raiders, sometimes known as the “bushwhackers,” a notoriously violent, pro-Confederacy guerrilla outfit, whose numbers included Frank and Jesse James. During the engagement Pond showed exceptional bravery and leadership abilities. For his actions during the battle, he would eventually be awarded the Medal of Freedom. He was honorably discharged in 1865 with the rank of major.
In 1874 Pond began a career as a lecture manager and eventually joined James Redpath’s Lyceum Bureau, the management firm of Mark Twain’s lectures. Pond and his partner bought out Redpath in 1875 and formed their own separate lecture agencies.
After the financial panic of 1893 and a number of key unsuccessful business decisions, Mark Twain was facing bankruptcy. In order to pay off his financial debts, Twain took on a massive lecture tour of the global spanning British Empire. This lecture tour would span from July 1895 to July 1896. Pond managed the first leg of the lecture tour and accompanied Twain through 22 stops in the United States and British Columbia. This lecture tour would eventually result in Mark Twain’s fifth and last travel book, Following the Equator, published in 1897.
Pond recorded the North American section of the historic tour with photographs and text. The camera recording the journey was a box-shaped relatively new invention introduced by George Eastman of Rochester, New York with the slogan – “You press the button, we do the rest.”
For more information on the photographs, texts, and Twain’s North American lecture tour, see Overland with Mark Twain: James B. Pond’s Photographs and Journal of the North American Lecture Tour of 1895. Edited by Alan Gribben and Nick Karanovich, Center for Mark Twain Studies, 1992. A Quarry Farm Volume.
Mark Twain sitting near fireplace with Clara Clemens standing behind him.
Mark Twain seated near fireplace smoking a cigar.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 075.
Olivia Clemens (holding umbrella), James B. Pond, and Martha Pond.
Olivia Clemens, Mark Twain, and Martha Pond en route to the S. S. Northland.
Olivia Clemens urging Mark Twain to wear his overcoat.
Mark Twain aboard the S. S. Northland.
Clara Clemens and Mark Twain standing on train platform, location unknown.
Olivia Clemens and Mrs. Pond aboard a train.
Clara Clemens and Martha Pond aboard a train.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 018.
Clara Clemens petting dog at train station.
Mark Twain and Olivia Clemens seated in background. In the foreground, Martha Pond looks on as Clara Clemens pets a dog.
View of Mark Twain’s back as he sits on train platform and looks out towards a train.
Clara Clemens, Martha Pond and James B. Pond on the roof of the Hotel Manitoba, July 26, 1895.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 033.
Clara Clemens, Martha Pond and Olivia Clemens seated with two Englishmen standing behind, July 27, 1895.
Mark Twain, Olivia Clemens, Clara Clemens, Martha Pond with several other travelers standing on platform in front of a train, preparing to depart Winnipeg.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 045.
Clara Clemens, Mark Twain, Martha Pond, Gibson, and Olivia Clemens.
Mark Twain holding kittens with three children and their mother standing close by in a Norwegian shanty town.
Mark Twain leaving girl and her family in a nearby Norwegian shanty town.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 060.
Mark Twain and Dr. C. K. Cole sitting in the lobby of the Helena Hotel, Helena, Montana, August 4, 1895.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 062.
Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher, Senator Wilbur Sanders and MarkTwain in front of a train, Missoula, Montana, August 5, 1895.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 068.
Mark Twain and officer seated outdoors, with another officer standing behind Twain, Fort Missoula, Montana, August 6, 1895.
Mark Twain sitting aboard the steamboat, Flyer, near the dock in Seattle, August 8, 1895.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 083.
Martha Pond, Clara Clemens, and Olivia Clemens standing beside a taxidermy mount of a buffalo, Tacoma, Washington, undated.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 088.
Mr. Pearce of the PORTLAND OREGONIAN and Mark Twain standing in front of a train, Portland, Oregon, August 9, 1895.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 089.
Mark Twain at breakfast table in hotel room, Olympia, Washington, August 11, 1895.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 093.
Mark Twain aboard the U. S. S. MOHICAN, Seattle, Washington, August 13, 1895.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 096.
Mark Twain in bed talking to reporters, Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia, August 17, 1895.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 001.
James B. Pond, Olivia Clemens, Mark Twain, Clara Clemens, and Martha Pond.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 100.
Mark Twain, Clara Clemens, and Clemens.
Mark Twain aboard the S. S. Warimoo smoking a pipe.
Carriage on the driveway at Quarry Farm. L to R: Unidentified person (possibly Katie Leary), Susy Clemens, Bim Pond, Susan Crane, James B. Pond and Martha Pond.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 104.
On the porch at Quarry Farm. Left to right: Susan Crane, Mrs. James B. Pond, Bim Pond, Susy Clemens. Dog at left: Bruce. Dog in center: Osmon.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 108.
In the parlor at Quarry Farm. Left to right: Martha Pond, Charles Langdon, unidentified woman, Susan Crane, unidentified woman. Charles Langdon is reading a note telling them of Samuel and Olivia Clemens and their daughter Clara’s safe arrival in Australia.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 112.
In the dining room at Quarry Farm. Left to right: Susan Crane, Bim Pond, Susy Clemens, Martha Pond.
Dogs Osmon (left) and Bruce (center). Bim Pond behind Osmon, Jean Clemens on the roof, Susan Crane with the ball.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 121.
Bim Pond outdoors at Quarry Farm.
James B. Pond Photograph Series, 122.
Susan Crane, Martha Pond, and Bim Pond walking near Quarry Farm.
At the tent above Quarry Farm. Left to right: Bim Pond; Susy Clemens; Osmon; Susan Crane; Martha Pond.