“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
Hanging The Crane In Hartford: Mark Twain’s 39th Birthday
Originally posted by: Matt Seybold on November 29, 2017Sam Clemens celebrated his 39th birthday on November 30, 1874 with his wife, Livy, and their two young daughters. Both Sam and Livy’s birthdays fell in close proximity to the Thanksgiving holiday. It was naturally...
Even If He Weren’t My Friend: Frederick Douglass & Mark Twain
Originally posted by: Matt Seybold on August 2, 2021The following essay is published as part of Emancipation Week, alongside Frederick Douglass’s 1880 speech, “The Lessons of Emancipation to a New Generation,” delivered as part of Emancipation Day celebrations in...
Drinking With Twain: A Rare Manuscript
Originally posted by: Matt Seybold on September 16, 2019In her recent salute to Mad Magazine, Barbara Schmidt alluded to the rare pamphlet, Drinking With Twain, self-published by Frank E. Kelsey. The Center for Mark Twain Studies is in possession of one of the five...
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
Upcoming Events & Calls for Papers
First Book Institute
Center for American Literary Studies (CALS) at Pennsylvania State University
Application Deadline: February 9, 2026
J19 Online Forum on “Big Jim and the White Boy”
by David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson
February 10, 2026
Registration Information Available
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
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
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
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
“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
Mark Twain Circle at 2026 ALA Conference
May 20-23, 2026 – Chicago, Illinois
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