Mary Brecht Pulver ( Brecht; 1882 â July 16, 1926), was an American writer known for poems and short stories. Some of her work was adapted to film.
Mary Agnes Brecht was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1882. Her parents were Mary M. (née Wolfe) and Milton J. Brecht. Her father was a teacher, principal, school superintendent, and public service commissioner in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
She graduated from the Pennsylvania State Normal School at Millersville. In 1906, she attended the School of Applied Art in Philadelphia, graduating with a bachelor's and master's desgrees.
She wrote poetry and short stories for various anthologies and publications, inlcuding The Saturday Evening Post. During World War I, her verses were used for Liberty Loan drives. Her story "Western Stuff" is included in The Only Two Ways to Write a Story by John Gallishaw published in 1928.
In The Spring Lady she wrote about a woman in New York City who retreats from her business focused husband to an anonymous life on the countryside. Her writing was included in Short Stories of the New America. Her book Tales That Nimko Told was described as, "Amusing stories and clever verses told to a little boy by the fairy Nimko. Mary Sherwood Wright illustrated it. The book includes the story "The Dwarf and the Cobbler's Sons" that was republished in 1929 in More Story-Hour Favorites.
Pulver was a member of the Authors' Guild, Authors' League of America, Penwomen of America, and the Press Club of Lancaster.
Ida Lublenski Ehrlich adapted one of her short stories into the play Helena's Boys. Mrs. Fiske portrayed the "reactionary" mother in the comedy.
She married Dr. George Winfield Pulver in Lancaster in 1906. They lived in Deposit, New York, where her husband practice medicine. The had a son, Gordon Winfield Pulver (1912âÂÂ1983). Her husband died in 1922 from drowning.
She was a member of the Monday Afternoon Club and the Parent-Teacher Association of Bimghamton.
She died in the hosptial in Philadelphia on July 16, 1926, after being sick for several weeks.