''The Golden Era'' was a 19th-century

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. The publication featured the writing of f.e.g.

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

Bret Harte Bret Harte (; born Francis Brett Hart; August 25, 1836 – May 5, 1902) was an American short story writer and poet best remembered for short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a caree ...

Charles Warren Stoddard Charles Warren Stoddard (August 7, 1843 April 23, 1909) was an American author and editor best known for his travel books about Polynesian life. Biography Charles Warren Stoddard was born in Rochester, New York on August 7, 1843. He was desce ...

(writing at first as "Pip Pepperpod"),

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, Ada Clare, Prentice Mulford, Dan De Quille, J. S. Hittell and some women such as

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. Stoddard recalled the newspaper as "the chief literary organ west of the Rocky Mountains".Tarnoff, Ben. ''The Bohemians: Mark Twain and the San Francisco Writers Who Reinvented American Literature''. New York: The Penguin Press, 2014: 40.

History

Golden Era building - 732 Montgomery Street

''The Golden Era'' began in 1852 as a weekly founded by Rollin M. Daggett and J. Macdonough Foard. In 1860 it was sold to James Brooks and Joseph E. Lawrence. In the spring of 1860, they hired Bret Harte as editor and he focused on making it a more literary publication. He had previously published his first poem in the ''Golden Era'' in 1857 and, in October of that same year, his first prose piece on "A Trip Up the Coast". Twain later recalled that, as an editor, Harte struck "a new and fresh and spirited note" which "rose above that orchestra's mumbling confusion and was recognizable as music". In the 1860s, New Yorker Charles Henry Webb became the highest paid contributor to the magazine. In his regular column at the end of 1863, he announced that he and Harte "determined to start a paper" of their own. The result was the '' Californian'', begun in May 1864, with Webb as publisher and Harte as star contributor and occasional editor. For the rest of the decade, ''The Golden Era'' and ''The Californian'' were significant rivals. Harr Wagner bought the weekly in 1882. In January 1886, Wagner changed to monthly publication, and hired

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as editor. Wagner married poet Madge Morris who was already a contributor, and her contributions became more numerous. In 1887, Wagner moved the periodical to

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—city officials enticed him with a $5,000 subsidy. The office for ''The Golden Era'' was located initially in the Golden Era Building on 742 Montgomery Street from 1852 until 1854; and later on Clay Street.

References

* Gleen E. Humpreys, The Golden Era, American Literary Magazines, 1986

External links

* Links to articles and quotes by Mark Twain published in
the Golden Era
'. * Short radio episode of Twain's ''

published in the ''Golden Era'' magazine in 1865 from

California Legacy Project California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Golden Era, The Newspapers published in the San Francisco Bay Area Defunct newspapers published in California Publications established in 1852 1852 establishments in California