2010 Hannibal NAACP Martin Luther King, Jr. Award, 2011 Hannibal Area Chamber of Commerce Civic Contributor Award, 2012 Missouri Governor's Tourism Ambassador Award, 2012 Hannibal Area Chamber of Commerce Community Betterment Award, 2013 Awarded Key to the City of Hannibal,[1][2] 2021 and 2023 University of South Florida College of Education Excellence in Undergraduate Education Award[3]
Lovell has taught elementary school and has held tenured positions at Stetson University and
Quincy University. She is the only person to have served as executive director for both the
Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum in
Hannibal, Missouri and the
Mark Twain House and Museum in
Hartford,
Connecticut.[6][7] In Hannibal, Lovell oversaw the restoration of the
Becky Thatcher House, established the quadrennial Clemens Conference, and facilitated numerous other projects.[8][9][10] In Hartford, she oversaw the restoration of the famed mahogany suite guest quarters in the Clemens home, established the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award with trustee and author
David Baldacci,[11] and promoted the Mark Twain Commemorative Coin Act sales, which she worked to have enacted into law during her time in Hannibal.[12][13][14][15][16][17] Currently, Lovell is the director of education at
Epic Flight Academy in
New Smyrna Beach,
Florida. She is an adjunct professor teaching education courses for the
University of South Florida[18][19] and a Mark Twain course for Quincy University.[20] Lovell also served as events coordinator for the city of Hannibal during its
bicentennial year in 2019[21][22] and is a member of the
steering committee for the
American Writers Museum.[23]
Lovell has been a contributor to HuffPost[31] and other publications, such as Mensa Research Journal[32] and Florida Reading Quarterly.[33][34] She contributed chapters to Reading in 2010: A Comprehensive Review of a Changing Field,[35]Mark Twain and Youth: Studies in His Life and Writings,[36] and Critical Insights: The Adventures of Tom Sayer. [37][38] She is a co-editor and author of Preparing the Way: Teaching ELs in the PreK-12 Classroom.[39] She also co-authored Linguistics for K-12 Classroom Application with
Jane Govoni.[40][41] Lovell has also authored two children's novel, Rachel Mason Hears the Sound[42] and Not This Sunday.[43] She co-authored Down the Mississippi with
CNN iReporter
Neal Moore.[44][45][46]
Lovell wrote the foreword for Mark Twain's Hartford[47] and Hannibal: Bluff City Memories, 1819–2019.[48] She also wrote the afterword for 101 Trailblazing Women of Air and Space.[49]
Discovery of Clemens' signature in Mark Twain Cave
Lovell made news around the world when she discovered the long-sought boyhood signature of
Samuel Langhorne Clemens on July 26, 2019 inside the
Mark Twain Cave in Hannibal, Missouri, where Clemens lived from the age of 4 to 17.[68] She had looked for the signature for decades and discovered it during a special tour with fellow Twain scholars during the quadrennial Clemens Conference hosted by the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum.[69][70][71][72][73] Lovell and cave owner Linda Coleberd did not announce the discovery until experts had the opportunity to examine it.[74][75] The signature was authenticated as belonging to Samuel Clemens by Twain scholars
Alan Gribben and Kevin Mac Donnell after comparing signatures of Sam Clemens and his siblings from the time period the Clemens family lived in Hannibal.[76]
Lovell's first significant Twain discovery came during a visit to the
Bermuda National Trust when she found an unsigned manuscript detailing the first time Clemens witnessed a cricket match tucked inside a scrapbook. The essay had been published in The Strand after Twain's death, but the whereabouts of the original manuscript were unknown. The manuscript was later exhibited at
Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art.[77][78]
References
^Mark Twain Museum.
"Awards and Honors". Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
^Jane M. Govoni and Cindy Lovell (2021). Preparing the Way: Teaching English Learners in the Pre-K – 12 Classroom (4th Ed.). Kendall Hunt.
ISBN9781792440830.
^Jane M. Govoni and Cindy Lovell (2020). Linguistics for K-12 Classroom Application. Kendall Hunt.
ISBN9781792412950.
^Office of Community Relations (2021-02-04). "QU Adjunct English Professor Co-Authors Book". Quincy University.
^Cindy Lovell Oliver (2005-07-30). Rachel Mason Hears the Sound. N.L. Associates, Inc.
ISBN9781878347619.
^Cindy Lovell (2007). Not This Sunday. N.L. Associates, Inc.
ISBN9781878347725.
^Neal Moore and Cindy Lovell (2012). Down the Mississippi. Mark Twain Museum Press.
ISBN9780983716921.