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Clemens Family Papers
mssClemens
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Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Clemens family papers
Creator:
Clemens family
Identifier/Call Number: mssClemens
Physical Description:
5 Linear Feet
(139 items in 4 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1872-1908
Abstract: This collection contains papers of the
family of American author Samuel Langhorne Clemens (also known as Mark Twain), including 7
diaries of Jane Clampton Clemens (1880-1909), which detail her struggle with epilepsy, as
well as medical treatments, ca. 1900, and correspondence and records of the family,
including letters from all three Clemens daughters to their parents.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department.
For more information, contact Reader Services.
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]. Clemens family papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Purchased from the Phyllis Harrington estate on March 24, 1987 (accession number 1335).
On February 2, 1870, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) married Olivia Langdon
(1845-1904), the daughter of Jervis Langdon, a wealthy coal mine magnate. In the first year
of their marriage, Olivia gave birth to their son, Langdon Clemens. The baby was premature,
and died in 1872. Clemens and Olivia had three more children: Olivia Susan (1872-1896),
Clara (1874-1962), and Jane Lampton (1880-1909). The girls spent most of their childhood
years at the Clemens home in Hartford, Connecticut, although they often traveled to Europe
with their parents. Summers were spent at Quarry Farm, in Elmira, New York, with Olivia
Clemens' sister, Susan Langdon Crane (1836-1924), and her husband Theodore Crane, who
managed the Langdon coal company with Olivia's brother, Charles Jervis Langdon (1849-1916).
The Clemens family also had a close relationship with Olivia's brother, his wife Ida Clark,
and their children Jervis, Julia (1871-1948), and Ida (1881-1964).
As children, the Clemens girls enjoyed music and play-acting, and Clara studied piano and
singing as an adult, and eventually appeared on the legitimate stage. In 1909, Clara married
Russian pianist Ossip Gabrilowitsch (1878-1936) and continued concert work. In 1944, she
married Jacques Samossoud, a Russian friend of Gabrilowitsch. Olivia Susan (Susy) Clemens
attended Bryn Mawr College for several years, but depression and ill-health inhibited her
progress, and she left without receiving a degree. Susy died of spinal meningitis at the age
of twenty-four, much to the dismay of her father, who had considered her the prodigy of the
family. Jane Lampton (Jean) Clemens also died young, at the age of twenty-nine. She was
diagnosed as epileptic in 1896, and traveled with her family to European spas for treatment.
For a number of years she was confined to a sanatorium in Katonah, New York. On Christmas
Eve of 1909, she drowned in the bathtub during an epileptic seizure.
Individual call numbers included in the collection: mssHM 53346-53483
Family relationships to Samuel and Olivia Clemens
- Clemens, Clara (second daughter)
- Clemens, Jane (Jean) Lampton (third daughter)
- Clemens, Susy (first daughter)
- Crane, Susan (Langdon) (Samuel's sister-in-law; Olivia's sister)
- Crane, Theodore (Susan Crane's husband; brother-in-law to Samuel and Olivia)
- Langdon, Charles Jervis (Samuel's brother-in-law; Olivia's brother)
- Langdon, Ida Clark (Charles Langdon's wife; sister-in-law to Samuel and Olivia)
- Langdon, Olivia Lewis (Samuel's mother-in-law; Olivia's mother)
- Loomis, Julia Langdon (daughter of Charles and Ida; niece to Samuel and Olivia)
Processed by Gayle M. Richardson and completed July 11, 1997. (The biographical note was
compiled by Kay Peterson, April 1990). Machine-readable finding aid created by Xiuzhi Zhou
in 1998; supplementary encoding and revision by Diann Benti in July 2017. In March 2024,
Mari Khasmanyan transferred materials from an envelope into box 1, folder 1 and updated the
finding aid's linear feet, containers, and note fields.
This collection contains papers of the family of American writer Samuel Langhorne Clemens
including 7 diaries of his daughter Jane Clampton Clemens and correspondence and records of
the family, including letters from all three Clemens daughters to their parents. The
following individuals are represented in the collection: Clara Clemens, Jane Lampton Clemens
(1880-1909), Susy Clemens (1872-1896), Mary Mason Fairbanks, Grace Elizabeth King
(1852-1932), and Elizabeth Gillette Warner (1838-1915). Note: the collection does not
contain letters by Samuel Clemens; he is only represented as an addressee.
The collection includes 7 diaries of Jane Lampton Clemens, spanning the years 1900-1907.
HM 53346 also contains 12 photographs that were inserted in the diary's opening for 1900,
Nov. 11-12. The photos are not annotated in any way but several appear to have been taken in
Europe, possibly Italy. The diaries, for the most part, cover the last years of her life,
while she lived in Dublin, New Hampshire and a sanitarium in Katonah, New York. The diaries
detail Jean Clemens struggle with epilepsy, as well as the medical treatments for the
disease, circa the turn of the century.
There are also letters and records including letters from all three Clemens daughters to
their father, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, and to their mother, Olivia Langdon Clemens. There
are letters from various extended family members and friends to Olivia Langdon Clemens, as
well as, financial records from various companies.
Arranged in the following manner:
- Diaries of Jane Lampton Clemens (Box 1). The diaries are filed chronologically.
- Correspondence and financial records (Box 1, 2-4). Filed alphabetically by author or company.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Epilepsy.
Mental illness -- Treatment -- United States.
Sanatoriums -- United States.
Diaries -- United States.
Financial Records -- United States.
Letters (correspondence) -- United States.
Photographs -- United States.
Clemens, Clara.
Clemens, Jane Lampton, 1880-1909.
Clemens, Olivia Langdon, 1845-1904.
Clemens, Susy, 1872-1896.
Fairbanks, Mary Mason.
King, Grace Elizabeth, 1851 or 1852-1932.
Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 -- Family --
Archives.
Warner, Elisabeth Gillette, 1838-1915.
Clemens, Clara.
Clemens, Jane Lampton, 1880-1909.
Clemens, Olivia Langdon, 1845-1904.
Clemens, Susy, 1872-1896.
Fairbanks, Mary Mason.
King, Grace Elizabeth, 1851 or 1852-1932.
Warner, Elisabeth Gillette, 1838-1915.