“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 approaching Mark Twain Studies from a variety of different approaches and disciplines.
RECENT ARTICLES
CMTS Announces The 2026 Quarry Farm Fireplace Writing Contest Winners
Every year the Center for Mark Twain Studies hosts the "Quarry Farm Fireplace Writing Contest." The contest is based on decorative tiles situated in the Quarry Farm Parlor fireplace. Originally owned by Susan and Theodore Crane, Mark Twain's in-laws, the tiles are...
CMTS Announces the 2026 Park Church Summer Lectures
All Trouble Begins and Park Church Lectures are open to the general public at no charge. A videorecording of all Trouble Begins and Park Church Lectures will be posted and archived in the Trouble Begins Lecture Archive. The 2026 Trouble Begins and Park Church Lecture...
Morris Davis’s Trouble Begins Lecture Now Available
The Center for Mark Twain Studies (CMTS) at Elmira College held its final lecture in the 2026 Spring Trouble Begins Lecture Series, on May 27 at the historic Barn at Quarry Farm. The final lecture featured Maggie E. Morris Davis, author of Reading the Classed Child:...
2027 QUARRY FARM FELLOWSHIP GUIDELINES
VISITING THE MARK TWAIN STUDY
2026 FALL TROUBLE BEGINS LECTURES
2026 QUARRY FARM SYMPOSIUM: “BLACK CHILDHOOD AND CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN THE 19th CENTURY”
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
The Thirteenth Quarry Farm Symposium –
“Black Childhood and Children’s Literature in the Nineteenth Century”
October 16 and October 17, 2026 – Elmira, New York
CFP: “Speculative Souths” Symposium
Denbo Center for the Humaniteis and Arts
CFP Deadline: November 2, 2026
June 10-12, 2026 – Knoxville, Tennessee
Mark Twain Circle at South Atlantic Modern Langages Association 2026 Conference
November 5-7, 2026 – Atlanta, Georgia
Mark Twain Circle at Pacific Ancient and Modern Langages Association 2026 Conference
November 12-15, 2026 – Seattle, Washington