ELMIRA COLLEGE AND MARK TWAIN
This proud tradition began with Jervis Langdon, Mark Twain’s future father-in-law. A prominent Elmira businessman, Jervis Langdon was one of the seven progressive civic leaders, who in 1853 began to formulate the plans and the design for Elmira College – the first college in the nation founded for women to offer a course of study and a degree equal to that earned by men. He was later appointed to the first Elmira College Board of Trustees, a position he held until his death in 1870.
Langdon’s youngest daughter, Olivia enrolled into Elmira College as a member of the Class of 1864. After an unusual courtship (need to build page), Olivia became the wife of Samuel Langhorne Clemens on February 2, 1870. They were married in the Langdon family parlor in Elmira. Officiating were the family’s friend and minister, the Rev. Thomas K. Beecher (need to build page), minister of Elmira’s Congregational Church (and brother to Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher), and the Rev. Joseph Twichell, pastor of the Asylum Hill Congregationalist Church in Hartford, Connecticut. Both men became close friends of Mark Twain. At the time of her death, Olivia belonged to the Elmira College Club of New York City.
In 1874, after Twain had already successfully published several books, Susan and Theodore Crane surprised him with a small octagonal study built on a secluded high knoll, one hundred yards from the Quarry Farm main house. In this small structure Twain wrote many of his best works, such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), A Tramp Abroad (1880), The Prince and The Pauper (1881), Life on the Mississippi (1883), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889).
The Clemens family spent its last summer at Quarry Farm in 1903. Mark Twain spent the rest of his life abroad and in various places in the United States until his death on April 21, 1910. He was buried in the Langdon plot in Elmira’s Woodlawn Cemetery, alongside his wife and four children.
Mark Twain on steps leading to study.
Susan Crane, owner of Quarry Farm, Jervis Landon’s daughter, and Mark Twain’s sister in-law.
In 1983, Jervis Langdon, Jr., the great-grandnephew of Twain, donated Quarry Farm to Elmira College, with the stipulation that the property be used as a temporary home for scholars and graduate students interested in Mark Twain, his literature, and the environment in which he lived. This intention created the Elmira College Center for Mark Twain Studies (need to build page) and to this day, the Center offers fellowships-in-residence (need to build page) to scholars from around the world pursuing research or writing in the field of Mark Twain Studies.
Professor Ida Langdon presenting the Mark Twain Study to Elmira College in 1952.
Elmira College continues its proud tradition with Mark Twain and the Langdon family into the 21st century. EC students participate in internships with CMTS and work as Mark Twain Ambassadors, sharing the history of Twain in Elmira with visitors from around the world. However, the strongest Elmira College tradition associated with Mark Twain and Quarry Farm is Mountain Day. In 1918, Dean Anstice Harris instituted the Mountain Day tradition – a day in which classes are cancelled allowing students, faculty, and administrators to connect with each other in memorable and less formal ways. Students, faculty, and administrators enjoyed a picnic lunch and hiked to Quarry Farm on East Hill. They also participated in games, planting projects, relaxing, and enjoying the colorful fall foliage. Mountain Day continues to this day and the hike or run up to Quarry Farm still continues, along with a number of campus activities, followed by campus-wide games and outdoor events.
Elmira Mountain Day participants before the Mark Twain Study at Quarry Farm in the 1930s.
View from the Quarry Farm Front Porch in the present day. Quarry Farm is the home of the Elmira College Center for Mark Twain Studies.