Having been encouraged to do so, I am posting this general note
regarding the index I am creating of the MTP's Microfilm Edition. In
turn, it is my hope (and Taylor's too) that as Paul Machlis recently
did
and I'm doing now that others will step forward and post on their own
projects as a general thread to keep the membership informed.
My own project is a "volunteer" project with the MTP. It began something
like this: I said to Dahlia Armon, "Gee, don't you folks have a better
index
of the microfilm than this? (Meaning the "Guide to the Microfilm") And she
said "No. We don't. Why don't you do one?". That was in 1988 or so.
Dahlia helped things get started. When she left the MTP, Ken Sanderson
picked up as my guardian angle and cheerleader. At present, I am nearing
completion of the first pass through the entire 68 rolls of microfilm.
I've prepared a semi-official explanation and sample of my project:
MTP Microfilm Edition Index.
In 1978, the MTP microfilmed all of its collection of original manuscript
and
typescript materials by Clemens: letters, notebooks, personal notes and
literary manuscripts. The MTP did this to make a permanent record of these
fragile documents. To help navigate the sixty-eight rolls of microfilm that
resulted, there was created the "Guide to the Microfilm Edition". This
index
is limited. It lists a short descriptive remark of what is contained on each
of the sixty-eight rolls. For example:
45. DV 375 - DV 493
46. Paine 6 - Paine 88
47. Paine 89 - Paine 278
In addition to this brief index by roll number, the "Guide" has a companion
index of titles, principal words from titles and subjects.
Manuscript Roll Number
Legend of the Rev. Dr. Stone 45
Letter from the Comet 46
Letter from the Recording Angel 38
Letter from a Dog. To Another Dog 43
Letters from the Earth 37
What I am about is to expand this "Guide" to enhance the indexing of the of
the sixty-eight rolls of microfilm; I wanted to describe what was on the
film
in a way that someone could rapidly find what they were seeking. I list
below a short sample:
Roll:Position
The Legend of Rev. Dr. Stone 45:34
3 pgs MS ORIG CU-MARK DV 443
Anecdote involving Reverend Stone's farewell to his congregation.
Leopold II, King
SEE: Two MSS on Leopold II and the Congo 44:12
King Leopold's Soliloquy 44:13
A Thanksgiving Sentiment 44:14
Autobiographical Dictation (1906.04.03) APR 3, 1906 65:25
Autobiographical Dictation (1906.07.17) JULY 17, 1906 66:23
Autobiographical Dictation (1906.12.05) DEC 05, 1906 67:33
Leslie, Elsie
SEE: Poems and verse 39:40
Concerning the Scoundrel Edward H. House 42:1
Autobiographical Dictation (1906.09.05) SEP 05, 1906 67:6
A Letter from the Comet 46:32
7 pgs MS ORIG CU-MARK PAINE 072 (FOM, 437-439)
A comet (who passes the earth once every 71 years) inquires as to the where
abouts of Adam and Eve. "...When I first knew him, he was farming by
himself
and had no neighbors..." 1880's.
Letter from the Recording Angel 38:7
17 pgs MS ORIG CU-MARK DV 053 (WIM, 65-70)
Recording angel's official reply to self-serving prayers of coal dealer
Andrew
Langdon.
Letter from the Under-World
SEE: Fragment (Letter from the Under-World) 47:59
Letter to the Earth
SEE: CONNECTICUT YANKEE (Discards) 32:12
Letter to the Editor Hartford Courant 46:34
10 pgs MS ORIG CU-MARK PAINE 073
A complaint about the U.S. Postal service and its policy that an address be
completely correct and not abbreviated. "...it will compel 30,000,000 of
our
population to write a daily average of ten extra words a piece - 300,000,000
unnecessary words..."
Letter to the Queen 40:31
12 pgs MS ORIG CU-MARK DV 238
A digression within 40:30 (Issuing the Invitations) wherein SLC tells about
Mark Twain's letter to the Queen of England asking her to "personally"
attend to a tax matter. "...I don't know the people in the Internal
Revenue Office, your majesty, and it is embarrassing to me to
correspond with strangers..."
Letter to W.D. Howells 41:8
5 pgs TS ORIG CU-MARK DV 267A
TS of letter 15 Apr 1879. Includes a several pages of detailed and pointed
criticism of Bret Harte closing with "...P.S. If I should think of anything
more to say about Harte, I will telegraph."
Letter: Capt. Ned Wakeman to Rev. Joseph Twichell 20:34
3 pgs TS ORIG CU-MARK DV 202
TS copy of Wakeman's letter to Twichell. See autobiographical dictation,
29 Aug 1906.
Letter: Capt. Ned Wakeman to Rev. Joseph Twichell 20:35
3 pgs MS ORIG CU-MARK
SLC's handwritten copy of Wakeman letter to Twichell (20:34).
Letters [Joan of Arc] 35:6
9 pgs TS ORIG CU-MARK
Several letters and note cards to Chatto & Windus from SLC mostly relating
to
Joan of Arc. Includes printed acknowledgement card at the time of Olivia
Clemens' death with a hand written note by SLC: "Good-bye, dear Chatto
friends of these many years, we may meet no more. SLC."
Letters from a Dog to another Dog, accounting for man. 43:14
32 pgs MS ORIG CU-MARK DV 344
>From a dog's point of view mankind is described as the only animal to
practice slavery, malice, envy, ambition, cruelty, vengeance, immodesty and
murder. "...Our own philosophy has always taught that Man was on his tedious
and patient way upward toward the moral heights attained by other animals -
with a considerable distance to climb yet..." Digresses into a general
attack
on monarchy - "...there is not a monarch in the earth today but sits upon a
stolen throne and represents a thief..." 1889. Incomplete.
Letters from Earth 37:25
146 pgs MS ORIG CU-MARK DV 033 (WIM, 401-454)
The Archangels Satan, Gabriel and Michael witness the creation of a
universe with "automatic law" and an experiment in morals, namely animal and
human life.
----------------------
To date, I have completed Rolls 12-67. By year end, I hope to
finish Rolls 68-70. This will cover everything but the eleven rolls of
letters, 1-11. Paul Machlis' UCCL makes the further indexing of those
rolls, for the most part, unnecessary, beyond checking them for possible
stray pages that may been filmed out of order. At present, the index runs
nearly two hundred pages in its printed format.
Any comments or questions, private or public, will be very welcome.
Paul Berkowitz
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