Famous New Yorker Bret Harte In the 19th century, a new type of American emerged from the “wild west” to capture the world’s imagination. Born in New York State, Bret Harte was one of the fi rst writers to introduce this archetypal American to the world. Francis Brett Hart was born far from the West, in Albany on August 25, 1836. Not long afterward, his family added an extra ‘e’ to their last name. Later, preferring to use his middle name, Harte spelled it with only one “t.” He took an early interest in writing and fi rst published a poem in 1847. Despite an interest in writing, he left school for good at age 13, but would fi nd many opportunities to live by his pen. When Harte’s widowed mother remarried and moved to California, he followed a few months later. Arriving during the great California Gold Rush, he dabbled in Bret Harte in 1871 mining, but spent more time -- ironically, given his Source: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and limited education -- as a schoolteacher and private Photographs: Print Collection, The tutor. He wanted to make his name as a writer, both as a New York Public Library. journalist for the Northern Californian newspaper and as a poet and fi ction writer. Journalism could be dangerous work; death threats forced him to quit his newspaper job after his report on a massacre of Native Americans. Literature was safer than journalism. As an editor and contributor to The Golden Era, The Californian and Overland Monthly magazines, Bret Harte made his name describing life in the mining camps while helping other writers like Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) get their start. Literary success helped Harte make important social and political connections. During the 1860s he served as secretary of the U.S. Branch Mint and a Professor of Recent Literature at the University of California. In the late 1860s Bret Harte became a national literary celebrity with stories like “The Luck of Roaring Camp” and “The Outcasts of Poker Flat.” His tales of mining camps gave many Americans their fi rst taste of life in the far west and their fi rst hints of how westerners talked and behaved. Harte was a pioneer of the western genre, and his best stories continue to appear in anthologies of American literature. In 1871 the most prestigious American literary magazine of the time, The Atlantic Monthly, signed Harte to the most lucrative exclusive contract with an American writer to date. By the time he signed the Atlantic contract, however, Harte was already past his prime. Later stories weren’t as popular, and Ah Sin, a play written in collaboration with Mark Twain, was a fl op that destroyed their friendship. Like Twain, Harte hit the lecture circuit to earn easy money, but he was growing tired of America. His political connections helped him land minor diplomatic posts – despite Twain’s eff orts to sabotage him – in Germany and Scotland. They required little work and gave him ample time to write. Hailed as an authentic voice of America, Bret Harte spent the last 24 years of his life in Europe. He continued to write prolifi cally, often parodying other writers, but never matched his early successes. Harte died in England on May 5, 1902. Few remember the work of his later years, but a handful of early stories were enough to secure his place in the history of American literature. New York State’s Capital city, Albany is the oldest continuous settlement in To read The Project Gutenberg EBook of Selected Stories, by Bret the original 13 English Harte go to https://www.gutenberg.org/fi les/1312/1312-h/1312-h. colonies; a fort was built htm. This is one of a series of Famous New Yorker profi les written there prior to 1614. by Kevin Gilbert for the NYNPA News Media Literacy/NIE Program. All rights reserved 2018. For a teaching guide go to www.nynpa.com/nie/niefamousny.html.