Gamaliel Bradford (biographer)

American writer

For other people with this name, see Gamaliel Bradford.

Gamaliel Bradford VI

Born| (1863-10-09)October 9, 1863

Boston, Massachusetts, US

Died| April 11, 1932(1932-04-11) (aged 68)

Wellesley, Massachusetts, US

Nationality|  American
Occupation| biographer
Spouse| Helen Hubbard Ford
Children| 2
Signature

Gamaliel Bradford VI (October 9, 1863 – April 11, 1932)[1] was an American biographer, critic, poet, and dramatist. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, the sixth of seven men called Gamaliel Bradford in unbroken succession, of whom the first, Gamaliel Bradford, was a great-grandson of Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony. His grandfather, Dr. Gamaliel Bradford of Boston, was a noted abolitionist.[2]

## Early life

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In 1886, Bradford married Helen Hubbard Ford. The couple would go on to have two children: Gamaliel Bradford VII (18 June 1888 – 8 August 1910), a Harvard graduate and Boston banker for Norman Wait Harris who died at 22 from suicide at the Kendall Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, shooting himself after a young woman who was engaged refused to marry him instead;[3] and Sarah Rice Bradford (1 July 1892–September 1972).[4]

Bradford attended Harvard University briefly with the class of 1886, then continued his education with a private tutor, but is said to have been educated "mainly by ill-health and a vagrant imagination."[5] As an adult, Bradford lived in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

The building and student newspaper[6] for the Wellesley High School (where Sylvia Plath received her secondary school education[7]) were named after Gamaliel Bradford. The town changed the name of the building to Wellesley High School, but the newspaper maintains Bradford's name.

## Career

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In his day Bradford was regarded as the "Dean of American Biographers."[8] He is acknowledged as the American pioneer of the psychographic form of written biographies, after the style developed by Lytton Strachey.[9] Despite suffering poor health during most of his life, Bradford wrote 114 biographies over a period of 20 years.

c. 1925

He was friends with fellow Harvard University graduate and poet, George Faunce Whitcomb, as he inscribed the book, Jewels of Romance with the words: "To Gamaliel Bradford with deepest gratitude, George Faunce Whitcomb, Easter 1930, Brookline, Massachusetts".[10]

## Death

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Bradford died on April 11, 1932, in Wellesley, Massachusetts.[11]

## Bibliography

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* A Pageant of Life (poetry)
* A Prophet of Joy (poetry)
* Shadow Verses (poetry)
* Unmade in Heaven (drama), 1917.
* Lee, the American, 1912.
* American Portraits, 1875-1900
* Union Portraits, 1916.
* Confederate Portraits, 1914.
* Portraits of Women
* Portraits of American Women, 1919.
* Wives, 1925.
* Darwin, 1926.
* The Quick and the Dead, 1931.
* Saints and Sinners, 1932.
* A Naturalist of Souls: Studies in Psychography (reprinted in part from various periodicals), 1917.
* Life and I (autobiography)
* Elizabethan Women, 1936.

### Articles

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* "Government in the United States," The Contemporary Review, Vol. XLVIII, July/December 1885.
* "Municipal Government," Scribners, October 1887.
* "A Hero's Conscience: A Study of Robert E. Lee," The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. CVI, December 1910, pp. 730–39.
* "Journalism and Permanence," The North American Review, August 1915.
* "A Confederate Pepys," The American Mercury, December 1925.

## References

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1. ^ "Gamaliel Bradford" Encyclopædia Britannica: History & Society:
2. ^ Mathews, James W. (1991). "Dr. Gamaliel Bradford (1795-1839), Early Abolitionist" (PDF). Historical Journal of Massachusetts. 19 (1). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 19, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
3. ^ "YOUNG BRADFORD A SUICIDE.; Gamaliel, 3d, Shoots Himself In Hotel -- Young Woman Refused to Wed Him". The New York Times. August 9, 1910. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
4. ^ Bradford, Gamaliel VI. "Gamaliel Bradford VI Papers" (PDF). The Wellesley Historical Society. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
5. ^ Braithwaite, William Stanley, ed.. Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1919: and Year Book of American Poetry. Small, Maynard & Company. 1919. p.301.
6. ^ The Bradford Archived October 12, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
7. ^ Alexander, Paul. Rough Magic: A Biography of Sylvia Plath.
8. ^ "Bradford, Gamaliel". (2009). In Student Encyclopædia. Retrieved November 24, 2009, from Britannica Online for Kids. [1]
9. ^ Colby, Frank Moore; Sandeman, George. Nelson's Encyclopaedia. p. 341.
10. ^ Whitcomb, George Faunce (1922). Jewels of Romance. Boston: The G. R. Willis & Co., Inc. p. 3.
11. ^ "Gamaliel Bradford Dies in Wellesley". The Boston Globe. Wellesley (published April 12, 1932). April 11, 1932. p. 17. Retrieved March 27, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

* "Gamaliel Bradford" Encyclopædia Britannica: Online, student article; on-line source, accessed: May 4, 2007.
* Bradford, Gamaliel, 1863-1932. Correspondence: Guide; Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University; on-line source, accessed: May 4, 2007.

## External links

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* Works by or about Gamaliel Bradford at the Internet Archive
* Works by Gamaliel Bradford at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
* Gamaliel Bradford letters at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gamaliel Bradford (biographer).

English Wikisource has original works by or about:

Gamaliel Bradford

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