Maine's Capital Area

In “A Pioneering Mainer’s Wife Who Landed in the Klondike Gold Rush,” Brackbill discusses how she came to research and write The Queen of Heartbreak Trail: The Life and Times of Harriet Smith Pullen, Pioneering Woman. Pullen was both the subject and the source of myriad crazy tales about her years in Alaska during and after the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush, which muddied the author's journey of discovery in uncovering her story. But as a historian, her goal was to separate fact from fiction and ferret out the real story.

The Queen of Heartbreak Trail is a finalist for a 2017 WILLA Literary Award, which honors the best in literature featuring women’s stories set in the West. The award is named in honor of Pulitzer Prize winner Willa Cather. Women Writing the West (WWW), a non-profit association of writers and other professionals, underwrites and presents the nationally recognized award annually. A Fairbanks newspaper named The Queen of Heartbreak Trail one of the six best Alaska books of 2016, and Frank Freeman reviewed it in the Maine Sunday Telegram in April of this year.

Our speaker, Eleanor Phillips Brackbill, earned an MA in art history at Boston University and studied in the art history doctoral program at City University of New York. Following twenty-five years as a curator at the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, she embarked on a second career writing about history. She lives in Westbrook.

The Kennebec Historical Society October Presentation is co-sponsored by the Maine State Library and free to the public (donations gladly accepted). The presentation will take place on Wednesday, October 18, 2017, at 6:30 p.m. at the Maine State Library, located at 230 State Street in Augusta.