St. Louis
St. Louis was the last city of any size before the American frontier, and Twain grew up a hundred miles upriver in Hannibal before working as a printer and pilot in St. Louis. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are set in a small town that is recognisably Hannibal, but the river that gives them their freedom is the one that runs past this city.
The public library's special collections include the Steedman Architectural Library and a large holding of Mississippi Valley material. For Twain specifically, the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum in Hannibal and the Mark Twain Papers in Berkeley hold the manuscripts and letters.
A library to check
- St. Louis Public Library — catalogues and digital collections, open to readers online
Books connected to St. Louis
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer — Mark Twain, 1876. The great American boyhood novel, and the easiest way into Twain.
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn — Mark Twain, 1884. The novel Hemingway said all modern American writing comes from, and still the funniest serious book in the language.
A note on accuracy
We describe literary connections and public collections, not street addresses, opening hours or ticket prices. Those change and we cannot verify them for every reader. Follow the institution's own site for current visiting information.