"The secret of getting ahead is getting started." Perhaps those words by Mark Twain or similar inspired one of Connecticut's largest Yale communities 140 years ago.
In 1885, what was then still known as The Hartford Daily Courant (now The Hartford Courant, the US's oldest continuously published newspaper) reported on a "Very Large Meeting" of "The Yale Alumni" on April 8th at Hartford's Seminary Hall, adding that "An Association Formed." The 75 Yalies who joined that night presented articles for a group initially called the "Yale Alumni Association of Hartford," sharing a vision in doing so for an organization they believed would become "a good thing for Hartford and for Yale." After adopting a Constitution at the very first meeting, this group started what would become today's Yale Club and Scholarship Foundation of Hartford, or Yale Club of Hartford for short.
Exactly 140 years later to the day ‒ April 8, 2025 ‒ over a hundred Yale alumni of Hartford and their guests gathered once more, this time at The Mark Twain House & Museum to celebrate the stories, the moments, and the people who have been part of the vibrant, century-plus history of the Yale Club of Hartford on the occasion of the Club's latest milestone.
The Yale Club of Hartford is one of more than 160 Yale Regional Clubs worldwide, each regionally based, independent, volunteer-led associations. These clubs help alumni, parents, and friends connect locally. The Yale Club of Hartford ‒ one of the ten oldest Yale Regional Clubs ‒ serves over 2,000 Yale alumni in a region encompassing most of Northern Connecticut.
Yale Club of Hartford leaders Eric Fleischmann ’83 (President) and Bradford Galiette ’08, ’11 MBA, ’12 MS (Executive Officer and Board Member) spearheaded the 140th Anniversary Celebration, starting with a challenge to one another in fall 2024 to determine the exact date their Club began. Working at Sterling Memorial Library under the alumni access provisions afforded to all alumni by Yale Library, they searched the Yale Manuscripts & Archives and numerous online databases offered through Yale Library for material about their Club’s past. This search led not only to finding the original article in the Courant that reported on the Club’s founding, but to finding over a thousand articles about the Yale Club of Hartford along with a rich assortment of raw notes, speeches, recordings, and more held in the collections of both Yale’s Lewis Walpole Library and Yale Manuscripts and Archives.
What emerged from this work is a striking illustration of how deeply the Yale Club of Hartford is intertwined with the histories of Yale and Connecticut. In the 1920s, the Club committed itself to helping Yale invest in its early science and engineering programs and helped Yale establish the First World War memorial to Yale war heroes on Beinecke Plaza. In the 1930s, the Club helped Yale raise significant funds to offset the effects of the depression. In the decades both before and after World War II, the Club frequently hosted concerts with the Yale Glee Club and the Whiffenpoofs at The Bushnell Performing Arts Center and elsewhere to help fund much-needed scholarships for deserving Yale students from Connecticut in a largely pre-financial-aid world. Leaders of the Yale Club of Hartford have been responsible for founding some of Connecticut’s most recognizable law practices and have founded or led some of Connecticut’s most iconic organizations. Its events have featured more than ten of Connecticut’s Governors and Lieutenant Governors, many of them Club members themselves, and most Yale Presidents inaugurated since it was founded in 1885 have spoken at its events. Very early on, Samuel Clemens ‒ better-known as Mark Twain, and a very good friend of the Club’s co-founder and initial Vice President, Rev. Joseph H. Twichell ’59 ‒ often came to meetings of the group, then known as the Yale Alumni Association of Hartford, to engage with others about his ideas and writing. Mark Twain even gave presentations to the Club several times before being named a Yale honorary degree recipient in 1888.
In tribute to Mark Twain’s involvement with the Yale Club of Hartford, the Club chose The Mark Twain House & Museum as the venue for the 140th Anniversary Celebration. Among the Club members and guests who joined the celebration on April 8th were representatives from each of Yale’s peer Ivy regional alumni clubs from Hartford and Northern Connecticut, who have collaborated with the Yale Club of Hartford through the decades, and who currently partner closely with it for the new “Hartford ‘All-Ivy’” event series that started in 2024. In addition to plenty of food and drink (including a Yale Club of Hartford-themed 140th anniversary cake and a Mory’s Cup), the night featured a jazz quartet and ample articles and memorabilia from throughout the Club’s history. A highlight was a reading by Mark Twain’s great, great, great-grandnephew, Samuel Clemens ’97, of a speech that Mark Twain intended to present to the Yale Alumni Association of Hartford in 1889, but which his wife convinced him was too irreverent or impolitic to be delivered when it was written! (Click here to read this previously-undelivered speech.)
In marking the date it was founded, the Yale Club of Hartford eagerly looks forward to continuing its 140th celebration throughout the coming year. Much of the memorabilia and material about the Club’s history will also be shared at the Club’s annual meeting on May 14th, featuring a keynote by University Provost Scott Strobel on “Sowing the Seeds for Yale's Future.” A slideshow featuring a timeline and photos from the Club’s history is available for viewing online.
The Yale Club of Hartford is fast at work on a few other projects to be shared in the months ahead that are intended to help preserve and celebrate the University’s history more broadly.
