Having been encouraged to do so, I am posting this general note regarding the index I am creating of the MTP's Microfilm Edition. In turn, it is my hope (and Taylor's too) that as Paul Machlis recently did and I'm doing now that others will step forward and post on their own projects as a general thread to keep the membership informed. My own project is a "volunteer" project with the MTP. It began something like this: I said to Dahlia Armon, "Gee, don't you folks have a better index of the microfilm than this? (Meaning the "Guide to the Microfilm") And she said "No. We don't. Why don't you do one?". That was in 1988 or so. Dahlia helped things get started. When she left the MTP, Ken Sanderson picked up as my guardian angle and cheerleader. At present, I am nearing completion of the first pass through the entire 68 rolls of microfilm. I've prepared a semi-official explanation and sample of my project: MTP Microfilm Edition Index. In 1978, the MTP microfilmed all of its collection of original manuscript and typescript materials by Clemens: letters, notebooks, personal notes and literary manuscripts. The MTP did this to make a permanent record of these fragile documents. To help navigate the sixty-eight rolls of microfilm that resulted, there was created the "Guide to the Microfilm Edition". This index is limited. It lists a short descriptive remark of what is contained on each of the sixty-eight rolls. For example: 45. DV 375 - DV 493 46. Paine 6 - Paine 88 47. Paine 89 - Paine 278 In addition to this brief index by roll number, the "Guide" has a companion index of titles, principal words from titles and subjects. Manuscript Roll Number Legend of the Rev. Dr. Stone 45 Letter from the Comet 46 Letter from the Recording Angel 38 Letter from a Dog. To Another Dog 43 Letters from the Earth 37 What I am about is to expand this "Guide" to enhance the indexing of the of the sixty-eight rolls of microfilm; I wanted to describe what was on the film in a way that someone could rapidly find what they were seeking. I list below a short sample: Roll:Position The Legend of Rev. Dr. Stone 45:34 3 pgs MS ORIG CU-MARK DV 443 Anecdote involving Reverend Stone's farewell to his congregation. Leopold II, King SEE: Two MSS on Leopold II and the Congo 44:12 King Leopold's Soliloquy 44:13 A Thanksgiving Sentiment 44:14 Autobiographical Dictation (1906.04.03) APR 3, 1906 65:25 Autobiographical Dictation (1906.07.17) JULY 17, 1906 66:23 Autobiographical Dictation (1906.12.05) DEC 05, 1906 67:33 Leslie, Elsie SEE: Poems and verse 39:40 Concerning the Scoundrel Edward H. House 42:1 Autobiographical Dictation (1906.09.05) SEP 05, 1906 67:6 A Letter from the Comet 46:32 7 pgs MS ORIG CU-MARK PAINE 072 (FOM, 437-439) A comet (who passes the earth once every 71 years) inquires as to the where abouts of Adam and Eve. "...When I first knew him, he was farming by himself and had no neighbors..." 1880's. Letter from the Recording Angel 38:7 17 pgs MS ORIG CU-MARK DV 053 (WIM, 65-70) Recording angel's official reply to self-serving prayers of coal dealer Andrew Langdon. Letter from the Under-World SEE: Fragment (Letter from the Under-World) 47:59 Letter to the Earth SEE: CONNECTICUT YANKEE (Discards) 32:12 Letter to the Editor Hartford Courant 46:34 10 pgs MS ORIG CU-MARK PAINE 073 A complaint about the U.S. Postal service and its policy that an address be completely correct and not abbreviated. "...it will compel 30,000,000 of our population to write a daily average of ten extra words a piece - 300,000,000 unnecessary words..." Letter to the Queen 40:31 12 pgs MS ORIG CU-MARK DV 238 A digression within 40:30 (Issuing the Invitations) wherein SLC tells about Mark Twain's letter to the Queen of England asking her to "personally" attend to a tax matter. "...I don't know the people in the Internal Revenue Office, your majesty, and it is embarrassing to me to correspond with strangers..." Letter to W.D. Howells 41:8 5 pgs TS ORIG CU-MARK DV 267A TS of letter 15 Apr 1879. Includes a several pages of detailed and pointed criticism of Bret Harte closing with "...P.S. If I should think of anything more to say about Harte, I will telegraph." Letter: Capt. Ned Wakeman to Rev. Joseph Twichell 20:34 3 pgs TS ORIG CU-MARK DV 202 TS copy of Wakeman's letter to Twichell. See autobiographical dictation, 29 Aug 1906. Letter: Capt. Ned Wakeman to Rev. Joseph Twichell 20:35 3 pgs MS ORIG CU-MARK SLC's handwritten copy of Wakeman letter to Twichell (20:34). Letters [Joan of Arc] 35:6 9 pgs TS ORIG CU-MARK Several letters and note cards to Chatto & Windus from SLC mostly relating to Joan of Arc. Includes printed acknowledgement card at the time of Olivia Clemens' death with a hand written note by SLC: "Good-bye, dear Chatto friends of these many years, we may meet no more. SLC." Letters from a Dog to another Dog, accounting for man. 43:14 32 pgs MS ORIG CU-MARK DV 344 >From a dog's point of view mankind is described as the only animal to practice slavery, malice, envy, ambition, cruelty, vengeance, immodesty and murder. "...Our own philosophy has always taught that Man was on his tedious and patient way upward toward the moral heights attained by other animals - with a considerable distance to climb yet..." Digresses into a general attack on monarchy - "...there is not a monarch in the earth today but sits upon a stolen throne and represents a thief..." 1889. Incomplete. Letters from Earth 37:25 146 pgs MS ORIG CU-MARK DV 033 (WIM, 401-454) The Archangels Satan, Gabriel and Michael witness the creation of a universe with "automatic law" and an experiment in morals, namely animal and human life. ---------------------- To date, I have completed Rolls 12-67. By year end, I hope to finish Rolls 68-70. This will cover everything but the eleven rolls of letters, 1-11. Paul Machlis' UCCL makes the further indexing of those rolls, for the most part, unnecessary, beyond checking them for possible stray pages that may been filmed out of order. At present, the index runs nearly two hundred pages in its printed format. Any comments or questions, private or public, will be very welcome. Paul Berkowitz