Friends, Wanted to pass this along: Frank and Donna Salter have loaned (for as long as Regina Faden is associated with the museum) their copy of the justice of the peace records of John Marshall Clemens. I understand they are being transcribed and will be available to the public. (Lots of sleepy collections cases as well as minor infractions and the case of Henry the slave getting his lashes.) They are partial records from JMC's tenure as JP. There was a nice ceremony for the presentation. Frank and Donna Salter are a couple of generous, community-minded people here in Hannibal. You can find a warm editorial in yesterday's Hannibal Courier Post about them. Bruce Michelson was the speaker for the birthday celebration for Sam. He gave an outstanding talk drawn from his new book Printer's Devil, Mark Twain and the American Publishing Revolution. He did a great job of linking Twain to the communications revolution that is still reverberating throughout society As long as I'm posting, Doug Brinkley's op-ed piece in the Washington Post has a reference to Twain as leader of the anti-imperialists. I found it particularly interesting as I am wading through Charles Maier's essay, Among Empires, American Ascendancy and its Predecessors. (please note: though I haven't finished it, I checked the index and Maier wrote an entire book purportedly about America and history and failed to cite to Twain once! Obviously Maier lacks the gravitas I expect of an American historian. I'll finish it anyway.) Terrell