“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
CFP: “Stowe in Context & Conversation: Understanding Harriet Beecher Stowe in her historical context and ours”
Stowe Center Call for Papers The Stowe Center for Literary Activism, in partnership with the New England Quarterly invites papers for the 2026 “Stowe in Context & Conversation: Understanding Harriet Beecher Stowe in her historical context and ours” symposium. We...
Theis Continues the 2025 Park Church Lecture Series
The 2025 Park Church Summer Lecture Series presented by the Center for Mark Twain Studies (CMTS) begins at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 9 at the historic Park Church, known for its architecture and connection to Mark Twain and his close family and friends. Located at...
CFP: Mark Twain and Adaptation at PAMLA
Call for Papers "Mark Twain and Adaptation" CFP Deadline: "First Come, First Serve" basis (Co-sponsored by the Mark Twain Circle) 122nd PAMLA Conference Thursday, November 20 – Sunday, November 23, 2025 San Francisco, California Percival Everett’s Pulitzer...
2026 QUARRY FARM FELLOWSHIP GUIDELINES
VISITING THE MARK TWAIN STUDY
2025 PARK CHURCH SUMMER LECTURES
“ENERGY STUDIES”
TWELFTH QUARRY FARM SYMPOSIUM
OCTOBER 2025 – CFP TO FOLLOW SOON
TROUBLE BEGINS
LECTURE ARCHIVES
ONLINE RESOURCES
AND INFORMATION PAGES
FOR MARK TWAIN STUDIES
THE MARK TWAIN ARCHIVE
PHOTO GALLERY
RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS & STUDENTS
PAST QUARRY FARM FELLOWSHIPS
“FROM THE STUDY”
CMTS POST INDEX
PAST CONFERENCES & SYMPOSIA
KEEP MARK TWAIN’S LEGACY ALIVE
Upcoming Events & Calls for Papers
18th International “Connotations” Symposium: Humor and Its Borders
July 29-31, 2025 – Bochum, Germany
CFP: “Gothic Blackness: Exploring Ethnogothic, New Black Gothic, and Afro-Gothic Themes in Literature, Film, and Culture”
Special Issue of American Gothic Studies
CFP Deadline: August 15, 2025
CFP: “Underground” The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists Biennial Conference
March 12-14, 2026 – Cincinnati, Ohio
CFP Deadline: September 5, 2025
CFP: “Stowe in Context & Conversation: Understanding Harriet Beecher Stowe in her historical context and ours”
Stowe Center for Litarary Activism and Special Issue of New England Quarterly
CFP Deadline: October 17, 2025
CFP: “Mark Twain and Adaptation” Paper Panel at PAMLA
November 20-23, 2026 – San Francisco, California
CFP Deadline: “First Come, First Serve” Basis