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Mark Twain letters to Mary J. Mason Fairbanks: Finding
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mssHM 14219-14325
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Title: Mark Twain letters to Mary J. Mason Fairbanks
Dates (inclusive): 1867-1895
Collection Number: mssHM 14219-14325
Creator:
Clemens, Samuel Langhorne, 1835-1910.
Extent:
107 pieces in 2 boxes.
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection contains 105 letters from American author Samuel Clemens (also known as Mark Twain) to his friend and confidante
Mary J. Mason Fairbanks, written
between 1867 and 1895.
Language: English.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities.
The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the
researcher.
[Identification of item]. Mark Twain letters to Mary J. Mason Fairbanks, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Purchased from William H. Bixby, 1918.
Items are available with curatorial approval. Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services
Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.
American author Samuel Clemens met Mary Mason Fairbanks (1828-1898) in 1867 on board the
steamship the
Quaker City, going to Europe and the Near East, and they became friends.
Fairbanks was married to Abel Fairbanks, an owner of the Cleveland
Herald, and she was traveling in the role of a correspondent for
the
Herald under the pen name, "Myra." Following the trip, Clemens and Fairbanks corresponded regularly, most notably during the time
Clemens was courting his future wife Olivia Langdon.
This collection contains 104 letters from American author Samuel Clemens (also known as Mark Twain) to his friend and confidante
Mary J. Mason Fairbanks. In addition,
there are also single letters from Clemens to Fairbanks's husband Abel Whitmore Fairbanks (HM 14232) and the Fairbanks's children
Charles Mason Fairbanks (HM 14317), and Mary Paine Fairbanks Robinson (HM 14292). The collection
also includes one letter to Mrs. Fairbanks from Olivia Langdon Clemens (HM 14262). The letters from Samuel Clemens to Mary
Fairbanks are often addressed to "Dear mother," and signed
"Mark," or, occasionally, "Your son."
Related materials in the Huntington Library
- Samuel Langhorne Clemens Collection (mssHM 453, etc.)
- Samuel Clemens Family Papers (mssHM 53346-53483)
The letters are arranged chronologically.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Clemens, Olivia Langdon, 1845-1904.
Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 -- Archives.
Authors, American -- Archives.
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 20th century.
Bixby, William K. (William Keeney), 1857-1931, former owner.
Clemens, Olivia Langdon, 1845-1904, correspondent.
Fairbanks, Abel, -1894, addressee.
Fairbanks, Charles Mason, 1855- addressee.
Fairbanks, Mary Mason, addressee.
Robinson, Mary Paine Fairbanks, 1856- addressee.