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His contributions to Concord life and letters are not widely known today, but during his own time George Bradford Bartlett (1832-1896) enjoyed a considerable reputation in Concord -- his native town -- and beyond. He was appreciated as a font of local information and lore, a hospitable entertainer of visitors, and the author of the first full-scale guide to the town (see here for an excerpt from this guide about the Concord Fight). He was a published writer of stories, poems and books, his efforts affirmed by a community that embraced the modestly talented as well as the major authors whose work now figures prominently in the history of American literature. Moreover, he was a popular organizer of amateur theatricals here and elsewhere. Bartlett was born in Concord on July 24, 1832, the fifth of nine children of Josiah and Martha Tilden Bradford Bartlett. The Bartletts occupied a central place in Concord life. Josiah Bartlett, a temperance and antislavery advocate, cared for both the rich and poor of the town as a physician here for close to sixty years, from 1820 until his death early in 1878. His wife, a daughter of Gamaliel and Elizabeth Hickling Bradford, was a younger sister of Sarah Alden Bradford Ripley, the wife of Samuel Ripley (minister in Waltham) and daughter-in-law of Ezra Ripley (long-time minister of the First Parish in Concord). There was thus a direct connection between the Bartlett household and the Old Manse, residence of Ezra Ripley and eventually of Samuel and Sarah Ripley. The Bartletts lived first in the house now numbered 50 Monument Street and later, from the early 1830s, in the present 35 Lowell Road.
George Bradford Bartlett filled the role of unofficial host of Concord. He was renowned for the Fourth of July river celebrations and "floats" that he and his companions (including Daniel Chester French) organized from the 1870s for the enjoyment of local residents and out-of-towners (see another excerpt on this subject in his guide here). He presided over the stone boathouse on the Concord River behind the Old Manse, where he greeted visitors from across the country and abroad, taking them by canoe to places of natural beauty and historical significance. (His manuscript boathouse logbook for 1895 forms part of the Concord Free Public Library Special Collections.) Like Louisa May Alcott, he welcomed groups of underprivileged urban children tranported by train through Boston philanthropy to the amusement park at Walden Pond. He guided visiting groups like the Reading Club of Marlborough. And he promoted Concord tourism on a larger scale through the compilation of his Concord Guide Book -- the first in-depth guidebook of Concord, containing much valuable historical as well as descriptive information. First published by D. Lothrop and Company in 1880, Bartlett's guidebook was later revised, expanded, and reissued under several titles. It provided a comprehensive interpretation of sites some were inclined to see as sacred. Contemporary reviewers of the first edition referred to its value to pilgrims visiting the historical and literary Mecca of Concord -- a metaphor still much-used today to suggest the deep meaning that Concord holds for visitors. An effective writer of narrative prose, Bartlett also penned young people's stories, which were printed mainly in popular periodicals. He contributed to St. Nicholas, Wide Awake, the Young Folks' Magazine, and Youth's Companion. Likewise, much of his poetry also appeared in relatively ephemeral form. Bartlett's obituary in the Rochester (New York) Post Express revealed, "Many lines were given by him impressing valued lessons which have never been published outside the columns of newspapers." Bartlett's stories and poems -- tending toward the sentimental rather than the powerful -- appealed to Victorian sensibilities. In accepting one of his pieces for publication, a Youth's Companion editor wrote him that his work was "just what we want and treated just in the manner that we like: not too much and not too little." (The original letter is found in a collection of Bartlett family papers held by the Concord Free Public Library.) Concord recognized Bartlett as a poet by including his work (an ode) in the dedication ceremonies for the Soldiers' Monument in 1867. Sung to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne," the ode was printed (with music) in handbill form for distribution to the crowd at the dedication, and also (without music) as part of Ceremonies at the Dedication of the Soldiers' Monument, in Concord, Mass., 19th April, 1867, a commemorative program booklet issued by the town. Ralph Waldo Emerson, a poet as well as an essayist and lecturer, paid Bartlett the compliment of including his poem "Mignonette" in Parnassus (1875), an anthology edited by Emerson with the assistance of his daughter Ellen and his literary executor James Elliot Cabot. In the late 1880s, Bartlett published a pamphlet titled Verses Written for the Home for the Aged, Concord, Mass., in celebration of the Fourth of July. His poems also appeared scattered throughout some of his published prose works -- for example, in Parlor Amusements for the Young Folks.
Mrs. Jarley's Waxworks -- a combination of monologue and tableaux vivants -- was a favorite production piece for benefit purposes. Like Louisa Alcott, Bartlett arranged a version of it, published under the title Mrs. Jarley's Far-Famed Collection of Waxworks ...As Arranged by G.B. Bartlett, of Concord, Mass., and Performed by Amateurs Under His Direction for Charitable Purposes in Most of the Cities of the United States. (The CFPL Special Collections boasts a copy of this rare item.) Bartlett's reputation as a theatrical producer was enhanced by several how-to books on presenting "backyard" performances. His Parlor Amusements for the Young Folks was published in 1875, New Games for Parlor and Lawn in 1882. He also lectured widely on "Amusements for the People" and on more specifically Concord-related topics as well.
 
 
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