Friends on the Forum,

Today I am very pleased to tell you the Center for Mark Twain Studies at
Elmira College has just received back from the printer the latest Mark Twain Study Review.  This particular issue is important for several reasons.
The first reason is the people that wrote the articles;
  a.. Dr. Michael Kiskis, our Twain Scholar here at Elmira College;
  b.. Dr. Louis Budd of Duke University;
  c.. Dr. Alan Gribben of Auburn University, Montgomery;
  d.. Dr. Joe Fulton of Baylor University;
  e.. Mark Woodhouse, our Mark Twain Archivist here at Elmira College.
Each article is full of information, enjoyable reading, and emits the verve
of the writer for his topic.

The articles discuss and display the books of Quarry Farm and the Mark Twain Archives in a way particular to the writer. They make you yearn
to set in the library up there in the hills and select the oh so right
book, to while away the day, reading - reading - reading. They are all
up there, all the great literary scholars, and travel writers, and
scientists, and gazetteers, and, well, I leave it to your imagination,
or next visit.

In recent months I have spent long afternoons cataloging the Library
collection at Quarry Farm. Each book is added to the data base along
with information like the publisher, dates, and so forth, but also I add
the owner, and notes of markings and inscriptions, or inserts (items
stuffed in the pages by long departed Langdons). Most of the Twain
marginalia has been removed to the College archives, but the books still
pour forth information. I am entering them into an Access database and
am finding it very interesting to sort by owner - personalities jump out
as you see the books different family members owned. So far I have made
it down the South wall of the Library, over 500 books entered. When the
data entry is complete we will arrange the books by owners. So, maybe I
should have a "work week-end" and you could come and help me. Would
that be interesting!

The Scholar's Library at Quarry Farm (research library upstairs) is
greatly expanded. We have approximately 250 books at hand about Twain
written by many of you. In the Scholar's Library we also have the
collections of Robert Jerome, Herb Wisbey, and James Wilson. All
collections are cataloged, marked and arranged by author for scholarly
use. The Staff at the Center for Mark Twain Studies reshelf daily for
scholars. We have compiled a large notebook of Book Reviews for
scholars to use while researching at Quarry Farm. We have added a
computer in the Scholar's Library and hope to have it on-line by late
autumn.

If you are not a Member of the Center For Mark Twain Studies and would
like to receive this latest Mark Twain Study Review, just email me your
snail mail address. I will send you a copy and a membership
application. It is through the help of our members that we are able to
continue this page-turning work from which so many of you have
benefited. We certainly appreciate you all and trust you will encourage
young scholars to apply for a Quarry Farm Fellowship. And mark your
calendars - the next Elmira Conference will be August 4,5,6 of 2005.
To you from me,
Folding over a corner,

Jane McCone

Director
Center for Mark Twain Studies