The Apocryphal Twain: “Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.”

A new installment of Matt Seybold’s “Apocryphal Twain” series focuses on an aphorism often attribued to Mark Twain and George Carlin, but with actual orgins in midcentury cinema.

Life, In Purgatory (A Twainiac Quarantine Diary)

Our resident scholar discusses the resonance of Mark Twain’s “Was it Heaven? Or Hell?” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Apocryphal Twain: “If voting made any difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.”

An anti-democratic dismissal circulates during election season, falsely attributed to Mark Twain. Where did it actually come from?

Silent Work in Elmira: Letters from the Wilbur H. Siebert Underground Railroad Collection

In our effort to preserve the history of the Underground Railroad in Elmira, and Mark Twain’s familial connection to that history, we are grateful to the Ohio History Connection for allowing us to reproduced relevant letters written by Susan Crane and John W. Jones.

CFP: Panel on “Afterlives of Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” at NeMLA 2020 in Boston, MA (March 5-8, 2020)

Consider submitting a proposal for the NeMLA Convention in Boston in March.