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The Edgar Marquess Branch Papers span the years from 1939 to 2003, with the majority of the materials dating from 1960 to 1990. Through correspondence and writings, they document Branch's lifelong research on nineteenth-century American author Mark Twain. Important correspondents include such Twain scholars as Fred Anderson, Louis Budd, Cyril Clemens, Robert Hirst, and Henry Nash Smith. Topics chiefly focus on issues concerning academic writers, and Twain's life and literary output. Although the bulk of this collection concerns Branch's work on Twain, it should be noted that Professor Branch was also an eminent scholar of James T. Farrell, a twentieth-century American novelist best known for his "Studs Lonigan" series (1932-1935). Branch's papers are organized into three series: Correspondence, Special Projects Files, and Writings. Although Branch taught for many years as a Professor of English, there are no teaching materials in the collection. However, the correspondence may contain some references to teaching American literature and to activities as a faculty member at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.