One Woman's Gold Rush: Snapshots from Mollie Brackett's Lost Photo Album 1898-1899 [Paperback]

Cynthia Brackett Driscoll (Author), Mollie Brackett (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0881960071 | ISBN-13: 978-0881960075 | Publication Date: April 1996

The human side of the Klondike Gold Rush.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"One Woman's Gold Rush" not only connects readers to an instrumental time in Alaska's history, it also draws us into the lives of one family who lived it -- Juneau Empire July 18, 1996

Mary Brackett, a young bride when she made the journey, penned notes and dates beneath most of her snapshots, offering contemporary readers an interesting look at pictures of life in raw boomtowns. Mary was an adventurous woman who accompanied her husband on pack horse, somehow managing to keep up even though she wore the requisite long skirts. Her story shows that 19th-century women, far from being homebodies, were often by the sides of their men in dangerous and exciting landscapes -- St. Paul Dispatch, August 11, 1996

There is something wickedly fascinating ... about looking through the photo album of a stranger. It's as if we really shouldn't be peeking into the intimacies of the life of a family we don't even know, but we can't help looking because curiosity drives us on. That's what is delightful about "One Woman's Gold Rush ..." The text and pictures work together so that by the time you finish the book, you feel no longer a stranger, but a friend of the Brackett family -- Kalamazoo Gazette, December 21, 1996

From the Publisher

After nearly a century, Mollie Brackett's photo album mysteriously resurfaced in the trunk of a repossessed car in California. Her engaging amateur snapshots depict life in Skagway, Alaska, in the gold fields of Atlin, B.C., and on the infamous White Pass Trail at a time when her father-in-law, George A. Brackett, was attempting to recoup his lost fortune with ventures in transportation and mining. George's great-granddaughter, Cynthia Brackett Driscoll, pieces together Gold Rush history and family life in a compelling way that reveals the human side of this incredible 19th century enterprise.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Oak Woods Media (April 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881960071
• ISBN-13: 978-0881960075
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,607,356 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is what history can be, September 28, 2000

By 

maryannirwin "irwinator" (Oakland, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Woman's Gold Rush: Snapshots from Mollie Brackett's Lost Photo Album 1898-1899 (Paperback)

I picked up this engaging little book in Skagway, Alaska, this summer and read it in one sitting. I write and teach history, and I was very impressed with how much the author (Cynthia Brackett Driscoll) could do with one little photo-journal. Mollie Brackett's album was a wonderful discovery, of course. But what makes it really work as history is the excellent job Driscoll does in filling in the background. Driscoll puts the photos and their creator in context with material from contemporary newspaper articles, advertisements, and local history. She describes the kind of camera Brackett probably used and the sorts of clothes she might have taken with her. Local clippings and family legends are woven in, rounding out the edges of Brackett's life. Ultimately, the reader feels as though she knows this young woman, and through her, the community of Skagway and the riotous times in which Molie Brackett lived. Anyone interested in the American phase of Alaska's frontier, or women's history in general, will enjoy this book.