The Overland Monthly was a monthly literary and cultural magazine, based in California, United States. It was founded in 1868 and published between the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.
History
The Overland Monthly was founded in 1868 by Anton Roman, a Bavarian-born bookseller who moved to California during the Gold Rush. He had recently published the poems of Charles Warren Stoddard and a collection of verse by California writers called Outcroppings.Tarnoff, Ben. The Bohemians: Mark Twain and the San Francisco Writers Who Reinvented American Literature. New York: The Penguin Press, 2014: 148. The magazine's first issue was published in July 1868, edited by Bret Harte in San Francisco, and continued until late 1875. Roman, who hoped his magazine would "help the material development of this Coast", was originally concerned that Harte would "lean too much toward the purely literary". Harte, who had been editor of both The Golden Era and The Californian,Stoddard, Charles Warren. Early Recollections of Bret Harte. The Atlantic, November 1896. was in turn skeptical at first that there would be enough quality content provided from local authors.Tarnoff, Ben. The Bohemians: Mark Twain and the San Francisco Writers Who Reinvented American Literature. New York: The Penguin Press, 2014: 149. The first issue included contributions from the "Golden State Trinity": Harte, Stoddard, and Ina Coolbrith.Nissen, Axel. Bret Harte: Prince and Pauper. University Press of Mississippi, 2000: 31.
Despite the positive response from critics and the magazine's profitability, publisher Anton Roman sold the Overland Monthly in June 1869 for $7,500 to John Carmany.Scharnhorst, Gary. Bret Harte: Opening the American Literary West. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000: 50. Harte immediately offered the new owner a list of demands, including a raise to $200 a month and a guarantee of his complete editorial control of each issue.Tarnoff, Ben. The Bohemians: Mark Twain and the San Francisco Writers Who Reinvented American Literature. New York: The Penguin Press, 2014: 173. Carmany agreed to his terms, and Harte was able to leave his job at the San Francisco Mint to devote his full attention to the Overland Monthly.Scharnhorst, Gary. Bret Harte: Opening the American Literary West. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000: 51. The publication continued to thrive in this period; Mark Twain reported that he had "heard it handsomely praised by some of the most ponderous of America's literary chiefs."
In the September 1870 issue, Harte published what became his most well-known work, "Plain Language from Truthful James", later known as "The Heathen Chinee". That year, with his popularity soaring, Harte considered a professorship at the University of California, Berkeley or an offer to purchase the Overland Monthly, but declined both. Instead, he left California and traveled east to seek broader literary fame.Nissen, Axel. Bret Harte: Prince and Pauper. University Press of Mississippi, 2000: 59–60.
The original publishers, in 1880, started The Californian, which became The Californian and Overland Monthly in October 1882. In January 1883, the effort reverted to The Overland Monthly (starting again with Volume I, number 1). The 1884 volume contained a commitment to present content "free of advertising taint," explaining that no article would appear that was not "in good faith what it appears to be." Milicent Shinn wrote about her years as editor from 1883 to 1894.
The Overland Monthly was based in San Francisco until at least 1921. In 1923 the magazine merged with Out West to become Overland Monthly and the Out West magazine, and ended publication in July 1935.
Contributors
Noted writers, editors, and artists associated with the magazine included: Robert Ingersoll Aitken Ambrose Bierce Noah Brooks Alice Cary Willa Cather Charles W. Chesnutt Frona Eunice Wait Colburn Bret Harte Ina Coolbrith Maynard Dixon Edgar Fawcett Henry George Robinson Jeffers John Brayshaw Kaye Charmian Kittredge Netta Eames Clarence King Kinahan Cornwallis Jack London Lannie Haynes Martin Josephine Clifford McCracken Joaquin Miller John Muir Hugo Wilhelm Arthur Nahl Lola Ridge Charles Taze Russell Stephen Powers William Saroyan Herman George Scheffauer Charles Howard Shinn Milicent Shinn Edward Rowland Sill Clark Ashton Smith Josephine Spencer George Sterling Charles Warren Stoddard Augustus Gabriel de Vivier Tassin Douglas Tilden Mark Twain Frances Fuller Victor Laura Lyon White Joseph Widney Editors include: Milicent Shinn 1883-1894 Rounsevelle Wildman, editor 1894-1897 James Howard Bridge, editor 1897-1900
References
External links
Archive 1868-1900: University of Michigan, Making of America Journals collection online More issues, into the 1900s: Archive.org Persistent Serial Archives at The Online Books Page, University of Pennsylvania Guide to the Overland Monthly Records, at The Bancroft Library Overland Monthly from Encyclopedia.com