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Buffalo & Erie County Public Library Mark Twain Room

Made possible by public and private funding, including a $50,000 grant from the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation, the Mark Twain Room officially opened to the public on May 12, 1995. Leaves from the original handwritten manuscript of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are on display in the climate-controlled room.

In the early 1930s, the Buffalo Public Library (a predecessor of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library,) began to build a unique collection of special English and foreign language editions of the novel, Twain ephemera, and other collectibles. Currently numbering more than five hundred, these items fill the bookcases lining the walls.

A portrait of Twain hangs prominently above the restored mantel from Olivia and Samuel Clemens' Buffalo home.

HHL Architects provided architectural design services for this special collection room located in the Central Branch of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Libraries.