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Finding Aid of the Mark Twain Letter C057762
C057762  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Conditions Governing Access note
  • Conditions Governing Use note
  • Preferred Citation note
  • Donor
  • Biographical/Historical note
  • Scope and Contents note
  • Existence and Location of Originals note
  • Related Archival Materials note

  • Title: Twain, Mark Letter
    Identifier/Call Number: C057762
    Contributing Institution: Society of California Pioneers
    Language of Material: English
    Physical Description: 1.0 folder (1 letter)
    Date: August 20, 1877
    Abstract: Letter (Elmira, New York, August 20, 1877): from Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) to Francis D. Clark sending his regrets that he cannot accept the invitation from the Society of California Pioneers (in New York), due to other engagements.
    creator: Clemens, Samuel, 1835-1910
    creator: Twain, Mark, 1835-1910

    Conditions Governing Access note

    Collection open for research.

    Conditions Governing Use note

    There are no restrictions on access.

    Preferred Citation note

    Mark Twain Letter. The Society of California Pioneers.

    Donor

    Donor and date of acquisition unknown.

    Biographical/Historical note

    Mark Twain is very well known, and further biographical information can be found through other resources. Information on Mark Twain's time in California taken from A Companion to California by James D. Hart:
    Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) was a native of Missouri. In 1861, he quit the volunteer service in which he participated in the American Civil War to travel with his brother Orion to Carson City, Nevada. Orion was the secretary of the territorial governor of Nevada, and Samuel worked as Orion's secretary before he got into the mining business.
    Shortly after he arrived in Nevada, Samuel began sending sketch stories to the newspaper, Territorial Enterprise, of Virginia City. He signed these sketches "Josh." In August of 1862, the editor hired him. For this paper, Samuel wrote stories about the goings-on on the Comstock Lode.
    Samuel used the pseudonym Mark Twain for the first time in one of his stories for Territorial Enterprise, written on February 3, 1863.
    Due to his style of writing, Mark Twain became widely known, and he went to San Francisco in May of 1864. There, he worked sending sketches to newspapers such as the Golden Era and the Californian, reporting for the Call, and representing Territorial Enterprise in the San Francisco area. In the summer of 1867, Alta California, another California newspaper, asked him to write a series of tales about a trip he would take to the "Holyland."
    Mark Twain left California in June of 1868. However, his experiences there can be seen in many of his later works. His third book, Roughing It (1872), for example, recalls his experience in the West and the influence that California had on him.

    Scope and Contents note

    Letter (Elmira, New York, August 20, 1877): from Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) to Francis D. Clark sending his regrets that he cannot accept the invitation from the Society of California Pioneers (in New York), due to other engagements. The letter is signed Samuel L. Clemens and is written on Samuel Clemens stationary. However, "Mark Twain" is also written at the bottom of the page, appearing to be also in his handwriting.

    Existence and Location of Originals note

    The Society of California Pioneers, 300 Fourth Street, San Francisco, CA, 94107.

    Related Archival Materials note

    The Society also has:
    4 postcards: three with images of Mark Twain's cabin, and one in honor of the centennial of his birth (1935). 15 photographs: images of Mark Twain, his cabin, and sites where he worked/traded.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Clark, Francis D.
    Elmira (N.Y.)
    New York Society of California Pioneers
    Pioneers--California