Century Magazine Correspondence: Finding Aid
Processed by The Huntington Library staff in May 1956; supplementary encoding and
revision supplied by Xiuzhi Zhou and Diann Benti.
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
© 2000
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
The Huntington Library. All rights reserved.
Title: Century Magazine Correspondence
Dates (inclusive): 1885-1914
Collection Number: mssCM 1-760
Creator:
Century magazine.
Extent:
760 pieces in 9 boxes
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection consists mainly of letters written by various contributors to the editors of The Century magazine between
1885 and 1914.
The collection also contains numerous editorial memorandums and notes written by Richard Watson Gilder to his editorial assistants
chiefly in 1904.
Language: English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department.
For more information, contact Reader Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Century Magazine Correspondence, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Purchased from Charles Hamilton, 1955.
The Century Magazine was the successor to Scribner's Monthly, founded by Roswell Smith and Dr.
Josiah Gilbert Holland in New York City, with its first issue published in November 1870. In
1881, due to a change in ownership, the name became
The Century
Illustrated Monthly Magazine.
At that time, Richard Watson Gilder became
editor-in-chief and his was the controlling influence in the magazine until his death in
1909. The magazine was an important periodical in its day, publishing numerous types and
genres of writing as well as pictorial works.
The collection consists mainly of letters written by various contributors to the editors
of The Century Magazine. Most of the correspondence is addressed either to Gilder or his
associate editor, Robert Underwood Johnson, who became editor upon Gilder's death. A few
letters are simply addressed to the Century Magazine or to Clarence Clough Buel, assistant
editor. The collection also contains numerous editorial memorandums and notes written by
Richard Watson Gilder to his editorial assistants. Most of these were written about 1904
when Gilder was frequently in Massachusetts to recover his health. He remained active in his
editorial duties, however, sending almost daily suggestions and directions to the editorial
office in New York.
Correspondents represented in the collection include: Irving Bacheller (22 pieces), John
Kendrick Bangs (11 pieces), John Joy Bell (9 pieces), Lewis Saul Benjamin (9 pieces), F. C.
Boggs, Robert Browning; Clarence Clough Buel, Francis Marion Crawford (30 pieces), Doty;
Helena deKay Gilder, Jeannette Leonard Gilder (6 pieces), Joseph Benson Gilder, Richard
Watson Gilder (319 pieces), Frederic Harrison (19 pieces), Thomas Wentworth Higginson (20
pieces), Emory R. Johnson, Robert Underwood Johnson (7 pieces), John La Farge (44 pieces),
Louise Chandler Moulton (18 pieces), Charles Eliot Norton (24 pieces), Sir Gilbert Parker (5
pieces), Elizabeth Robins Pennell (22 pieces), Bertha Runkle (5 pieces), Anne Douglas
Sedgwick (28 pieces), William Sharp (18 pieces), Frank Dempster Sherman (18 pieces), Roswell
Smith, Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford (8 pieces), Eleanor Tully, Elizabeth Sturat
Phelps Ward (35 pieces), Ward Herbert Dickinson, Mary Augusta (Arnold) Ward (Mrs. Humphry
Ward) (22 pieces), Charles Dudley Warner (27 pieces), and Richard Whiteing (11 pieces).
Note: piece counts have been included for correspondents represented by three or more
items.
Some notable items include:
- Crawford, Francis Marion. Synopsis of a story. [1894 April 28]
- Gilder, Richard Watson. To R. U. Johnson. Re: plans for Civil War articles. 1885 April 23
- Gilder, Richard Watson. To Johnson. 1904 July 16. Praising a story of Hawthorne; ... it will not be even a `pearl before swine' for the swine will drop off at the first sentence.
- Gilder, Richard Watson. To Century office. 1904 September 22. Telegram that a picture is upside down.
- Gilder, Richard Watson. To Johnson. 1905 September 18. Re: Maeterlinck's essay on immortality.
- Harrison, Frederic. 1901 October 29. Re: an historical romance he is writing.
- Johnson, Robert Underwood. To Gilder. 1889 July 24. Re: the way journalism is carried on in California.
- Norton, Charles Eliot. To Gilder. 1891 February 3. Regrets Ruskin has written so much in recent years about himself and his friends.
- Sharp, William. To Century editors. 1889 January 11. Offers American rights to a new novel.
- Ward, Mary Augusta (Arnold). To Gilder. 1902 February 15. Re: her father's letters.
- Ward, Mary Augusta (Arnold). To Johnson. 1905 October 13. Objects to alterations in her story.
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Century magazine.
Authors, American -- 19th century --
Correspondence.
Authors, American -- 20th century --
Correspondence.
Letters (correspondence) -- United States --
19th century.
Letters (correspondence) -- United States --
20th century.
Memorandums -- United States.
Notes -- United States.
Bacheller, Irving, 1859-1950.
Bangs, John Kendrick, 1862-1922.
Bell, J. J. (John Joy), 1871-1934.
Benjamin, Lewis Saul, 1874-1932.
Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion),
1854-1909.
Gilder, Jeannette L. (Jeannette Leonard),
1849-1916.
Gilder, Richard Watson, 1844-1909.
Harrison, Frederic, 1831-1923.
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth,
1823-1911.
Johnson, Robert Underwood,
1853-1937.
La Farge, John, 1835-1910.
Moulton, Louise Chandler,
1835-1908.
Norton, Charles Eliot, 1827-1908.
Parker, Gilbert, 1862-1932.
Pennell, Elizabeth Robins,
1855-1936.
Runckle, Bertha.
Sedgwick, Anne Douglas, 1873-1935.
Sharp, William, 1855-1905.
Sherman, Frank Dempster, 1860-1916.
Spofford, Harriet Elizabeth Prescott,
1835-1921.
Ward, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps,
1844-1911.
Ward, Humphry, Mrs., 1851-1920.
Warner, Charles Dudley, 1829-1900.
Whiteing, Richard, 1840-1928.
Box 1
Correspondence, 1885-1890
Box 2
Correspondence, 1891-1894
Box 3
Correspondence, 1895-1898 June
Box 4
Correspondence, 1898 July-1901
Box 5
Correspondence, 1902-1904 July
Box 6
Correspondence, 1904 August-December
Box 7
Correspondence, 1905-1906
Box 8
Correspondence, 1907-1910
Box 9
Correspondence, 191-1914; Miscellaneous ephemera/fragments [9 pieces]