Cyril Clemens was an eccentric but a canny one.  There were dozens and
dozens of vice presidents in the Society.  So far as I can tell their only
duty was to write a letter complimenting or celebrating Mark Twain.  Among
those who wrote such letters were F. Scott Fitzgerald, Willa Cather,every
U.S. President from FDR to Nixon, and he even got one from Mussolini.
Quarry Farm has the largest set of the journals I have seen, but I don't
know if it is complete.  I don't recall seeing one from Chesterton but that
doesn't mean anything; it is a safe bet that the letter would be reprinted
(sometimes in facsimile) in a prominent place, such as the back cover.
Perhaps someone in Elmira could go through their issues and look.  At any
rate, it would be nice to have a list of those notables who wrote "tributes"
(to use Huck's term) to Twain.

Tom Quirk


On 11/18/13 10:48 AM, "John Bird" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I am posting this message on behalf of a researcher in England who said she
> had trouble posting to the list. Replies should be sent to her, but I am
> sure we would all like to see them, too. Beginning message:
> 
> Dear Mark Twain Forum,
> 
> I'm an academic in England attempting to put together a Collected Letters of
> G. K. Chesterton.
> 
> I've discovered that Chesterton was a Vice President of the International
> Mark Twain Society when it was founded. It seems possible that he therefore
> wrote them at least a couple of letters.
> 
> However, the International Mark Twain Society is now very hard to find any
> trace of: I have already discovered that it is NOT the American Mark Twain
> Circle. But I can't believe that the International Mark Twain Society simply
> disappeared with the death of Cyril Clemens (who founded it),  in 1999  -
> and that all its records were then destroyed.
> 
> So - do any of you know what became of the International Mark Twain Society
> and whether it has any archives that I could search?
> 
> With thanks and best wishes,
> 
> Dr. Emma Wilson
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> John Bird
> [log in to unmask]