“We are perched on a hill top that overlooks a little world of green valleys, shining rivers, sumptuous forests and billowy uplands veiled in the haze of distance. We have no neighbors. It is the quietest of all quiet places, and we are hermits that eschew caves and live in the sun.” – Mark Twain
Elmira College Seal

“We are perched on a hill top that overlooks a little world of green valleys, shining rivers, sumptuous forests and billowy uplands veiled in the haze of distance. We have no neighbors. It is the quietest of all quiet places, and we are hermits that eschew caves and live in the sun.”

~ Mark Twain

ABOUT THE CENTER FOR MARK TWAIN STUDIES

Mark Twain wrote his most famous works in an octagonal study overlooking Elmira, NY, the hometown of his wife, Olivia. For more than two decades the Clemens family summered with Olivia’s siblings at Quarry Farm. All are buried at the nearby Woodlawn Cemetery. In 1983, both Quarry Farm and the study, since relocated to the Elmira College campus, became part of the Center for Mark Twain Studies. CMTS is dedicated to serving an international community of scholars interested in a approaching Mark Twain Studies from a variety of different approaches and disciplines.

RECENT ARTICLES

2027 QUARRY FARM FELLOWSHIP GUIDELINES 

VISITING THE MARK TWAIN STUDY

ALL CMTS 2025 LECTURES

 

All CFPs for Elmira 2026: The Tenth International Conference
on the State of Mark Twain Studies & Graduate Student Workshop

MARK TWAIN DAY BY DAY

TROUBLE BEGINS
LECTURE ARCHIVES

ONLINE RESOURCES
FOR MARK TWAIN STUDIES

THE MARK TWAIN ARCHIVE

PHOTO GALLERY

RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS & STUDENTS

QUARRY FARM TESTIMONIALS

“FROM THE STUDY”
CMTS POST INDEX

PAST CONFERENCES & SYMPOSIA

KEEP MARK TWAIN’S LEGACY ALIVE

SUPPORT THE CENTER FOR MARK TWAIN STUDIES

Upcoming Events & Calls for Papers

First Book Institute
Center for American Literary Studies (CALS) at Pennsylvania State University

Application Deadline: February 9, 2026

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J19 Online Forum on “Big Jim and the White Boy”
by David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson

February 10, 2026

Registration Information Available

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CFP: American Humor Studies Association at Elmira 2026: The Tenth International Conference on the State of Mark Twain Studies (Paper Panel and Roundtable)

July 30 – August 1 – Elmira, New York

CFP Deadline: February 13, 2026

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CFP: Mark Twain Circle at Elmira 2026: The Tenth International Conference on the State of Mark Twain Studies (Two Paper Panels and Roundtable)

July 30 – August 1 – Elmira, New York

CFP Deadline: February 15, 2026

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CFP: Elmira 2026: The Tenth International Conference on the State of Mark Twain Studies

July 30 – August 1 – Elmira, New York

CFP Deadline: February 20, 2026

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CFP: The Second Quarry Farm Graduate Student Workshop: From Seminar Paper to Academic Article”

August 3 – August 7 – Elmira, New York

CFP Deadline: February 20, 2026

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“Twainian Regeneration: Adaptations of the Works, Life, and Legacy of Mark Twain” at NEMLA

2026 Northeast Modern Language Association Conference

Pittsburgh, PA – March 5-8, 2026

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Mark Twain Circle at 2026 ALA Conference

May 20-23, 2026 – Chicago, Illinois

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CFP: The Thirteenth Quarry Farm Symposium – 
“Black Childhood and Children’s Literature in the Nineteenth Century”

October 16 and October 17 – Elmira, New York

Accepting applictions until roster is filled

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