Dear Forum Members,

Any notice of Ed Branch's contributions to our field would probably seem
incomplete, but the recently published A COMPANION TO MARK TWAIN (Blackwell,
2005), p. 548 had this to say about his work:  "The earliest years of
Twain's life and writings were most thoroughly charted by Edgar M. Branch in
a series of monographs and articles:  THE LITERARY APPRENTICESHIP OF MARK
TWAIN (Urbana:  U of Illinois P, 1950); CLEMENS OF THE CALL:  MARK TWAIN IN
SAN FRANCISCO (Berkeley:  U of California P, 1969); "'My Voice Is Still for
Setchell':  A Background Study of 'Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog'," PMLA
82 (December 1967), 591-601; "'The Babes in the Wood':  Artemus Ward's
'Double Health' to Mark Twain," PMLA 93 (October 1978), 955-972); "Mark
Twain:  The Pilot and the Writer," MARK TWAIN JOURNAL 23: 2 (Fall 1985),
28-43; "A Proposed Calendar of Samuel Clemens's Steamboats, 15 April 1857 to
8 May 1861, with Commentary," MARK TWAIN JOURNAL 24 (Fall 1986), 2-27; and
MARK TWAIN AND THE STAR
CHY BOYS, Quarry Farm Volume Series (Elmira:  Center for Mark Twain Studies,
Elmira College, 1992), a study of the Mississippi River pilots'
associations."

My own notes on Ed's publications also include "Bixby vs. Carroll:  New
Light on Sam Clemens's Early River Career," MARK TWAIN JOURNAL 30 (Fall
1992): 2-22; MEN CALL ME LUCKY:  MARK TWAIN AND THE "PENNSYLVANIA," Miami,
Ohio:  Friends of the Library Society, 1985; "'Old Times on the
Mississippi':  Biography and Crafsmanship," NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE 45
(1990): 73-87; "A New Clemens Footprint:  Soleleather Steps Forward,"
AMERICAN LITERATURE 54 (1982): 497-510;  and "Sam Clemens, Steersman on the
JOHN H. DICKEY," AMERICAN LITERARY REALISM 15 (1982):  195-208.

There were numerous others, I'm sure.  Clearly we have lost a wonderfully
inquiring mind and (as Terrell noted) a generous and supportive colleague.

Alan Gribben
Auburn University Montgomery