2020: The Year In Review

Posted on by Center for Mark Twain Studies

Just as it was for individuals and institutions around the world, 2020 was a challenging year at the Center for Mark Twain Studies. But there is a lot we’re excited about as well, including, most recently, the incoming class of Quarry Farm Fellows. To reflect upon those fellowships, as well as the recent past and near future of CMTS, Director Joe Lemak, Caretaker Steve Webb, and Scholar-in-Residence Matt Seybold gathered for a socially-distanced staff meeting in the library at Quarry Farm. You can hear what they discussed on a bonus episode of The American Vandal Podcast.

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The Library at Quarry Farm

These were the most popular posts and resources launched from MarkTwainStudies.org in 2020:

“Take A Virtual Tour of Woodlawn Cemetery, Resting Place of Mark Twain & Many Other Notable Figures of 19th-Century America” by CMTS (January 6)

“A Tale of Today: Mark Twain on Impeachment” by John Muller (January 16)

“Wild To Move: Mark Twain in Cleveland” by Laura DeMarco (January 28)

“Elmira Girl Marries Hannibal Boy (And The Rest Is Literary History)” by Susan K. Harris (January 31)

“Getting Innocent” by Hilton Obenzinger (February 5)

“Silent Work in Elmira: Letters from The Wilbur H. Siebert Underground Railroad Collection” by Matt Seybold (February 13)

“Life, In Arbitrage (A Twainiac Quarantine Diary)” by Matt Seybold (March 30)

“Life, In Pugatory (A Twainiac Quarantine Diary)” by Matt Seybold (April 11)

“Black Lives Matter at Quarry Farm” by Larry Howe (June 18)

“2020 Mark Twain Summer Institute For Teachers: The New Normal (Resources)” by Jocelyn Chadwick & Matt Seybold (July 14)

“The Apocryphal Twain: ‘Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.” by Matt Seybold (August 7)

“Who Tells The Story?: The Scrapbook of Warner McGuinn, A Civil Rights Activist in Mark Twain’s Shadow” by Ellen Gruber Garvey (October 28)

“Buried In The Rose Garden, And The Coroner Notified: Bill Clinton, Gore Vidal, & The Electoral Burlesque” by Matt Seybold (October 28)

“The New Black Gothic & Lovecraft Country” with Sheri-Marie Harrison & Matt Seybold (November 11)

“Death at Christmastime: Mark Twain & The Music of Merciful Release” by Matt Seybold (December 23)