Richard Watson Gilder Correspondence mssHM 45005-45048
Gina C Giang
The Huntington Library
April 2020
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
reference@huntington.org
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Richard Watson Gilder correspondence
Creator:
Gilder, Richard Watson, 1844-1909
Identifier/Call Number: mssHM 45005-45048
Physical Description:
1.50 Linear Feet
(1 box)
Date (inclusive): 1887-1931
Abstract: Richard Watson Gilder was an American poet and editor of Century magazine. This collection consists of letters mainly from
Gilder to Brigham Johnson from 1887 to 1931.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
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[Identification of item]. Richard Watson Gilder correspondence, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from N.A. Kovach, 1949.
Richard Watson Gilder was an American poet and editor of Century magazine from 1881 until his death in 1909. Gilder was born
in Belle Vue, Bordentown, New Jersey on February 8, 1844; his parents were William Henry Gilder, a Methodist minister and
sometime editor, and Jane Nutt, the daughter of a major. Barely twenty years old, Richard secured a position as paymaster
on the Camden and Amboy Railroad, but soon tired of the work and left the railroad to become a reporter for the Newark Daily
Advertiser. When R. Newton Crane, a colleague of Gilder's on the Advertiser, proposed that the two men start their own newspaper,
Gilder agreed, and the Newark Morning Register was formed. In order to supplement his income, Gilder wrote for the New York
based Hours at Home Magazine; an exhausting combination which he continued to perform until the financial failure of the Register
in 1870. Shortly after the failure of the Register, House at Home merged with Scribner's Monthly, and Gilder joined the new
magazine as managing editor. In 1881, after the death of J.G. Holland, editor-in-chief of Scribner's, Gilder assumed the vacant
post. The magazine changed its name to Century. Gilder maintained that position until his death on November 18, 1909.
The Richard Watson Gilder correspondence consists of letters mainly from Richard Gilder addressed to Brigham Johnson, editor
of the Cedar Rapids Republican and later Iowa State Librarian, from 1887 to 1931. Subjects discussed in the letters include
literary matters, political issues (particularly Grover Cleveland and the Republican Party), David Bennett Hill, the Gilder
family and Gilder's wife, Helena de Kay Gilder. After Richard Gilder's death in 1909, Brigham continued to correspond with
Helena de Kay Gilder and the Gilders' daughter, Rosamond Gilder.
Processed by Huntington staff, circa mid-1970s. In 2020, Gina C Giang created a finding aid derived from a legacy summary
report.
Arranged alphabetically.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Periodical editors -- Correspondence
Poets, American -- 19th century -- Correspondence
United States -- Politics and Government -- 1865-1900
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 19th century
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 20th century
Cleveland, Grover, 1837-1908
Brigham, Johnson, 1846-1936
Gilder, Rosamond
Gilder, Helena de Kay, -1916
Hill, David B. (David Bennett), 1843-1910
Century Magazine (Firm)
Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )
Box 1
Correspondence mssHM 45005-45048 1887-1931