Matt, Of course, I should have realized that, at least you, were aware that Twain was in Elmira at the time of Douglas's speech. I didn't have time now to read your entire post on the CMTS website. I can't imagine how many hours you spent to compile all of that ! Great job even though you were unable to solve/answer the question of Twain's presence at the actual event. On 8/2/2021 1:38 PM, Matthew Seybold wrote: > We are running a series of posts this week in honor of the anniversary of > the 1880 Emancipation Day celebration in Elmira, which was highlighted by a > speech from Frederick Douglass that Twain (possibly) attended. > > Foremost, we have reconstructed the speech itself from a combination of > Douglass's manuscript at Library of Congress and newspaper transcriptions > which were likely based on the missing portion of that manuscript. You can > view all the documents yourself, as well as read the speech, at > MarkTwainStudies.com/LessonsOfEmancipation > > With help from numerous colleagues, including Bob Hirst of MTP and Mallory > Howard of MTH&M, I have also compiled much of what we do (and do not) know > about the Douglass-Twain relationship. This is a pretty common question we > get from scholars and teachers, so I wanted to put all the evidence in one > place. I do this partially under the guise of answering the question, "Was > Twain there in 1880?" But the post draws upon documentation of their > relationship from 1869 to 1884: MarkTwainStudies.com/FredDouglassMarkTwain > > We will also be sharing some additional resources later in the week, > including a podcast episode with Jill Spivey Caddell and Shirley Samuels, > the recording of Dr. Caddell's recent Park Church Lecture on John W. Jones, > and an overview of the newspaper coverage of the Emancipation Day > celebrations. > > We hope you'll find these, and all the resources at MarkTwainStudies.org, > useful! > > *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/>