I thought dozens of people would supply names of places with information
about Clara and Nina, so I didn't say anything.  I'll speak now, as it
has been several days and I haven't seen a mention of MARK TWAIN'S
CLARA, by Caroline Thomas Harnsberger, which tells it all (with
pictures, even!).  And, of course, much can be found in R. Kent
Rasmussen's masterpiece, MARK TWAIN A-Z.

Of course, all Mark Twain Circle members who have attended the ALA
conference at the Bahia Hotel in San Diego know by now that Clara lived
in an apartment in the hotel for years and died there in 1962.  In an
interview I did with Hal Holbrook when he came to this city with MARK
TWAIN TONIGHT he mentioned that he had met her when she was a resident
of the Bahia.  Clara is worth reading about if only to see the influence
she had in guarding her father's permanent image.   According to
accounts I've read, she was very highly regarded as a person, a mother,
and especially, a devoted wife to her two husbands.

Clara died at the age of 88; Nina died in 1966 at the age of 56.
The San Diego newspapers carried her obituary and stories during the
subsequent court battle over her estate (between Nina and Jacques
Samassoud, Clara's second husband).

Elinor Reiss
San Diego