1879
Thomas Edison invents the lightbulb.
Butler travels to Europe on a Cunard steamer from New York to Liverpool.
Transcript:
“Every Ship in those days smelt, just as every street in New York was dirty. To find a ship without smells or a New York street without dirt was not to be expected . . . but I enjoyed the journey and was hardly sick at all. There was a fine crowd aboard and I believe we made Liverpool in nine days.” –Howard Russell Butler
In London, he sees paintings by J. M. W. Turner: “I did not then realize what an influence he was to have over me. Year by year I’ve come to realize that he was the great pioneer of impressionism, the great analyser of color and light.”
