Decorated Utility Box: Mark Twain in His Study - Elmira, MY

Mark Twain In His Study

Elmira, NY

N 42° 05.243 W 076° 48.429

Short Description: 

A painted utility box featuring Mark Twain is located in a small park at the corner of West Water Streeet and North Main Street in Elmira, NY

Long Description:

This utility box is painted on two sides to show Mark Twain reading a book while sitting in a rocking chair. The scene takes place in the Mark Twain Study, a small building that was built as for use by Mark Twain when he spent his summers in Elmira, NY. The lower right corner of the painting is signed by B. Smith and N. Moffe. It is undated.

Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, married an Elmira resident Olivia Langdon. They spent many summers with Olivia's sister, Susan Crane, at her mansion at Quarry Farm in Elmira, NY. In 1874, Susan and Theodore Crane gave this study to Samuel Clemens as a gift. The one-room octagonal building, equipped with a fireplace, was placed about 100 yards from the main house at Quarry Farm.

Here Mark Twain wrote major portions of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, The Prince and the Pauper, A Tramp Abroad, and several shorter works. In 1952, the Mark Twain Study was moved from Quarry Farm to the Elmira College campus where it is staffed by student docents and open to the public.