In December and April of every year since 1997, I have run appeals for
donations to the Mark Twain Project at my Twain site
(http://www.boondocksnet.com/twainwww/).  The site gets very heavy traffic
and these have been relatively successful in the past (at least they've been
read by a lot of people).  With the increased attention that will be paid to
Twain in the next few months, I'd like to organize a more concerted effort
that will be prominently featured at the site from December through April,
and then kept online indefinitely as a year-round resource tied to a page
with information about how to make donations.

What I'd like to do is put together a collection of short (1000-1500 words,
but longer would also be fine) experience-based articles on the value of the
Mark Twain Papers and Project to researchers and teachers that will get
across why it is important to support preservation and publication of the
Mark Twain Papers.  They might highlight some aspect of what we wouldn't
have without access to the resources there and the editions they've
published.

At least initially, they will be housed in a special site at
BoondocksNet.com
that will not have any advertising except perhaps Amazon.com links done
like the Forum's so the proceeds will go to the Project.  If Bancroft
decides
down the road that it would like to host the collection or do something else
with it, I would certainly be happy to let them but participation in that
would
be up to individual contributors.  All contributors will retain copyright in
their
articles and those will be indicated at the top of the page under the title
and
author's name.

I think a series of articles by scholars who have worked in the Mark Twain
Papers will help to educate the public about the nature of the collection
and
why it should be supported.  Beyond that, I expect that these will also be
interesting as articles on the experience of doing archival research in the
collection and how that research is used or made public.  For my part, I'm
thinking of writing something on the value of having both original
manuscripts and photocopies of materials held elsewhere in one place,
using the photocopies from the E. D. Morel Papers (originals in England)
and the typescript of "A Defence of General Funston" (original in
Philadelphia) as examples.  I'm sure just about everyone who has spent time
using the collection will have examples from their own research that could
be
used to highlight some aspect of the collection and how it has contributed
to
our knowledge of Mark Twain.

Articles on the editions might highlight the value and uses of a specific
book
or series (e.g. Letters, Notebooks, The Mark Twain Libary), or perhaps
something we're still waiting for that we wont see without continued
funding.

If you would like to contribute an article to this site, please drop me a
note
so I'll have an idea of how many articles to expect as I get started on site
design.  Articles can follow through December or January, but the sooner
the better.  Once I have some in hand, I'll probably start to post them as
they
come in.

I can probably convert just about any word processor format, but the
standards I work with all the time are WordPerfect and MS Word format.  If
you can send articles as email attachments in either of those formats it
would be easiest.  Illustrations can also be included with articles and can
be
sent as email attachments as well.

Thanks in advance.

Jim Zwick