Bradford, Gamaliel, 1863-1932

Epithet: American man of letters

Virginia Taylor McCormick (1873-1957), of Norfolk, Virginia was a poet, literary critic, essayist, lecturer, and the editor of The Lyric, 1921-1929.

Gamaliel Bradford, Jr. was an American biographer, especially noted for his Lee, the American (1912). He also wrote on other Confederate and Northern generals and army officers and published many articles in journals during his writing career. In addition, he also published a memoir and his journals and letters were published after his death.

Bradford was an American biographer, critic, poet, and dramatist. He was born in Boston, the sixth of seven Gamaliel Bradfords in unbroken succession, of whom the first was a great-grandson of Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony. He perfected the method of writing "psychographs," or short portraits of historical figures.

Gamaliel Bradford (1863-1932) was an American biographical essayist, poet, dramatist, and critic of Wellesley, Mass. He was the sixth of seven Gamaliel Bradfords in unbroken succession, of whom the first was a great-grandson of Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony. He entered Harvard College with the Class of 1886, but withdrew after a few weeks due to fragile health, a problem that was to plague him his entire life. He married Helen Hubbard Ford. Bradford attempted virtually every type of creative writing known in his time though his published writings were mostly unsuccessful until the publication of Lee the American (1912). He is best known for his development of the "psychograph," a type of biography that focuses on analyzing personality rather than providing a chronological account of a subject's life. He produced 13 biographical-sketch volumes between 1917 and 1932, as well as numerous single-person biographies. In his later years, Bradford had a habit of typing one page per day of about 350 words in a personal journal. About one-seventh of these journal entries and much of his correspondence was published in the volumes: The journal of Gamaliel Bradford, 1883-1932, edited by Van Wyck Brooks. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1933; and The letters of Gamaliel Bradford, 1918-1931, edited by Van Wyck Brooks. Boston: Houghton Mifflin company, 1934.

Bradford was a biographical essayist, poet, dramatist, and critic of Wellesley, Mass. He was the sixth of seven Gamaliel Bradfords in an unbroken succession, of whom the first was a great-grandson of Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony. He is best known for the development of the "psychograph," a type of biography that focuses on personality.

Author, biographer; member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

American historian.