Greetings!

This week the Hartford house provides a real virtual treat for Twainians – a tour of Kevin Mac Donnell’s famed Austin, Texas, collection of Twainiana. It’s this Wednesday, May 19th, at 5:30 EDT. You can register here<https://www.crowdcast.io/e/trouble-macdonnell21> for the free program.

Kevin has a collection of over 9,000 Twain-related objects and loves to share their tales. His books include first editions of Twain’s writings and books owned by Samuel Clemens and his family. Personal photographs and letters documenting the Clemenses’ lives are accompanied by personal artifacts such as a Chippendale desk, silverware, and opera glasses.. Kevin will show us some of the highlights from his collection, share how he cares for his collection, and talk about how his collection is used for research.

Kevin’s bio: A leading Mark Twain scholar and collector of books and memorabilia; co-edited (with Alan Gribben) Mark Twain’s Rubaiyat (1983); contributed articles to the Mark Twain Encyclopedia (1993); co-edited (with R. Kent Rasmussen) Mark Twain and Youth (2016).  He has reviewed more than 50 books for the Mark Twain Forum. His work on a new  source for Twain’s nom de plume went viral on Salon.com and The Huffington Post, and was cited as “research of note” by The Chronicle of Higher Education. He was chosen as a Mark Twain Legacy Scholar by the Mark Twain Journal in 2016. His collection is the largest in private hands,and is frequently shared with other scholars and museums.

Cheers,

Steve

Steve Courtney, Curatorial Volunteer
The Mark Twain House & Museum
351 Farmington Avenue
Hartford, Connecticut 06105
860-302-8969