Isabel Lyon on Judd's visit to Stormfield in 1905:

This afternoon a Mrs. Judd came to read the story of Joseph to Mr. Clemens.
She plans to use it for public presentation. She has very intense
admiration for Mr. Clemens, so intense that she bubbles with it. The
reading was a failure, for she filled the simple Bible speech with
elocutionary effects and blasted it. But she kissed Mr. Clemens’s hand at
leaving and while I was showing her the Spiridon portrait she showered very
sweet speech upon me and kissed my forehead in homage for the man who
stands as my complete master. She said that I will not need a heaven when I
die for I have it here. She doesn’t half suspect the truth of her words.
She wondered how I “managed it” to become his secretary. Those things
aren’t managed they just come to one and you mustn’t try to “manage” them
into existence.

*Matt Seybold, PhD*
Associate Professor of American Literature & Mark Twain Studies
Scholar-in-Residence, Center for Mark Twain Studies
Editor, MarkTwainStudies.org
Host, The American Vandal Podcast
<https://marktwainstudies.com/the-american-vandal-podcast/>

Peterson Chapel Vestry, Cowles Hall
[log in to unmask]
MattSeybold.com
<https://www.elmira.edu/>


On Thu, Jun 8, 2023 at 2:32 PM <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> That sounds like a letter that should be in her NYPL papers if she
> didn't leave it to a family member or frame it and hang it on the wall
> to fade away.
>
> I've had time to browse through the complete file of minutes of the
> annual meetings of the MT Assoc. from 1942 to 1949 and Judd is nowhere
> to be found. I'll double-check, but the annual meetings were usually in
> Chicago and were attended by local members. The entire membership
> appears to have been about 85-100 subscribers in those years, and WW2
> travel restrictions are mentioned as suppressing attendance in the early
> years. Men were in charge (George Ade, Frank Meine, and George Brownell)
> but several women are listed among the attendees at those meetings. They
> listed members who donated money to their fund-raisers from time to time
> and Judd does not appear on those lists. But I'll reread those files
> more closely when time allows to see if I overlooked her.
>
> No time yet to look through Brownell's extensive correspondence file,
> which I have not read in years. She may show up there. That file is full
> of chatter and gossip re Isabel Lyon, Merle Johnson, Clara Clemens, et
> al.
>
> Kevin
> @
> Mac Donnell Rare Books
> 9307 Glenlake Drive
> Austin TX 78730
> 512-345-4139
>
> You can browse our books at:
> www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
>
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> From: "Barbara Schmidt" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: 6/8/2023 12:40:43 PM
> Subject: Re: Ida Benfey Judd
>
> >MTP lists one 1907 letter from Judd to Clemens.  I have not seen it.  If
> >Clemens replied, it is not listed in the database.
> >
> >Barb
> >
> >On Thu, Jun 8, 2023 at 11:26 AM <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> >>  I have only two printed items that shed light on her activities, both
> of
> >>  which are also probably found in her NYPL archive:
> >>
> >>  1. 4pp leaflet announcing the winners of the first Mark Twain Best
> Quote
> >>  contest for 1935 and soliciting entries for 1936. The judges include
> >>  Clara Clemens, Cyril Clemens, Stephen Leacock, and William Lyon Phelps,
> >>  among others, so I assume her NYPL papers will yield some interesting
> >>  correspondence.
> >>
> >>  2. 4pp leaflet founding the MT Assoc. in 1941 at the home of George
> Ade,
> >>  with a "statement of purpose."
> >>
> >>  I will check my ms archives (mostly correspondence files) of  George
> >>  Hiram Brownell (his MTA files) , Edward Earl Moore, Clara Clemens, and
> >>  some early Twain collectors, and see if her name pops up. Brownell (d
> >>  1950) ran the MTA from 1942 to 1949 when it was absorbed into the the
> MT
> >>  Research Foundation (aka Chester Davis). Earl Moore was a founding
> >>  member of the MTA, along with Judd, Ade, et al. I assume most of what I
> >>  have will be duplicated in Judd's 2.2 linear feet of papers at NYPL, so
> >>  I'll look for things not likely kept or seen by her.
> >>
> >>  Kevin
> >>  @
> >>  Mac Donnell Rare Books
> >>  9307 Glenlake Drive
> >>  Austin TX 78730
> >>  512-345-4139
> >>
> >>  You can browse our books at:
> >>www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
> >>
> >>
> >>  ------ Original Message ------
> >>  From: "Joseph Csicsila" <[log in to unmask]>
> >>  To: [log in to unmask]
> >>  Sent: 6/8/2023 9:56:29 AM
> >>  Subject: Ida Benfey Judd
> >>
> >>  >Good morning,
> >>  >
> >>  >Anyone know anything about this person or the history here?
> >>  >
> >>  >https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Benfey_Judd
> >>  >https://archives.nypl.org/the/18899
> >>  >
> >>  >Turns out she's an alum of my university.
> >>  >
> >>  >Joe
> >>
>