Joe, The Children's Theatre on the Lower East Side of New York is a possible point of contact between Twain and John Dewey. Alice Herts, its director, mentions Dewey's work in her book about the theater: "Our recent pedagogy has not been insensible of the great losses suffered by the child through the change in our civilization from one of rural type to one of urban type; but it has had its eye chiefly on the so- called manual activities of the child -- that side of the old life of the child on the farm or in the small semi-rural town, to which Professor Dewey and his disciples have drawn our attention. They have insisted upon the practical recognition of the principle of self-activity and the fundamental motor-nature of the child. The child learns by doing, by trying, and we must give back to him in new forms the old opportunity for instructive activity which he had by doing things about the home and the farm." http://www.boondocksnet.com/editions/herts/herts12.html Twain was president of the theater's board of directors and was quite active with it in 1907-1908. Was Dewey named as a guest at the benefit performance of "The Prince and the Pauper" Twain organized in November 1907? If not, he might have been there but wasn't prominent enough at the time to be mentioned in the newspaper reports. It is also possible that Twain had contact with John Dewey through their association with the People's Lobby. Twain was a member of its executive committee when it was formed around 1906. Among others involved at that time were Ben B. Lindsey, Vance C. McCormick, John Mitchell (AFL), Lincoln Steffens, and Brand Whitlock. Dewey was later president of the organization but I don't know if their involvements overlapped (I suspect Dewey's was later). Dewey was also involved with the Anti-Imperialist League. He was active in Chicago in the early 1900s while Twain was active in New York. Dewey moved to New York in 1904. The Anti-Imperialist League of New York was no longer active by that point. In 1910, Dewey succeeded Twain as one of the national Anti-Imperialist League's vice presidents from New York. Jim