“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

 

“ENERGY STUDIES”
TWELFTH QUARRY FARM SYMPOSIUM

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

CFP: “Periodicals, Period: Humor and Nineteenth-Century American Newspapers and Magazines”

Special Issue of Studies in American Humor

CFP Deadline: January 1, 2026

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Upcoming Fellowship Opportunities at
American Antiquarian Society

Application Deadline: January 15, 2026

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CFP: American Humor Studies Association
at 2026 ALA Conference

May 20-23, 2026 – Chicago, Illinois

CFP Deadline: January 15, 2026

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CFP: W.D. Howells Society Panels at
2026 ALA Conference

May 20-23, 2026 – Chicago, Illinois

CFP Deadline: January 19, 2026

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

Application Deadline: February 9, 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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