Richard Watson Gilder papers

id
5256
origination
Gilder, Richard Watson, 1844-1909
date statement
1855-1916
key date
1855
identifier (local_mss)
1154
org unit
Manuscripts and Archives Division
call number
MssCol 1154
b-number
b12353197
total components
1950
total series
8
max depth
3
boost queries
(none)
component layout
Default Layout
Extended MARC Fields
false
Extended Navigation
false
created
2013-04-01 15:05:16 UTC
updated
2026-08-16 02:01:36 UTC
status note
(missing)
Display Aeon link
true

Description data TOP

unitid
{"value"=>"1154", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"MssCol 1154", "type"=>"local_call"}
unitdate
{"type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1855/1916", "value"=>"1855-1916"}
date_inclusive_start
1855
date_inclusive_end
1916
keydate
1855
date_start
1855
date_end
1916
unittitle
{"value"=>"Richard Watson Gilder papers"}
physdesc
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"22 linear feet (46 boxes)"}], "supress_display"=>true}
repository
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.</span> <div class=\"address\"> <span class=\"addressline\">Stephen A. Schwarzman Building</span> <span class=\"addressline\">Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788</span></div>"}
abstract
{"value"=>"Richard Watson Gilder (1844-1909), American poet and editor, served as editor-in-chief of Scribner's Monthly and its successor The Century Illustrated Monthly. He was active in many civic improvement and public service organizations. Collection consists of correspondence, 1861-1909; poetry and prose writings, 1856-1909; diaries, 1855-1909; contracts and royalty statements, 1896-1909; scrapbooks of clippings and ephemera, 1871-1913; and obituaries and other commemorative material. Correspondence includes 21 letter books, a small number of outgoing letters, and extensive incoming correspondence relating to Gilder's editorial work at Scribner's Monthly and Century and to his many public service and professional activities. Individual letter books contain Gilder's letters written for the New York Tenement House Commission, New York Kindergarten Association, the Washington Centennial Celebration, and the Committee for the Erection of the Washington Memorial Arch. Gilder's correspondents include his fellow editors as well as many of the most prominent figures in American literature, the arts, politics, and society. Writings include manuscripts, typescripts and published copies of his addresses, essays, poetry, editorials in the Century, and manuscripts and proofs of his biographies of Grover Cleveland and Abraham Lincoln. Scrapbooks contain articles about Gilder and clippings of his published poetry. Posthumous materials include letters of condolence and resolutions, 1909-1910, sent to his wife; items concerning memorial services and charitable funds established in Gilder's honor; poetic tributes; and scrapbooks of obituaries. Also, materials regarding efforts to publish his letters."}
langmaterial
{"value"=>"Materials in English"}
prefercite
{"value"=>"<p>Richard Watson Gilder papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library</p>"}
origination
{"value"=>"Gilder, Richard Watson, 1844-1909", "type"=>"persname"}
bioghist
{"value"=>"<p>Richard Watson Gilder (1844-1909), poet and editor of the Century magazine, was born in Bordentown, New Jersey. Нe worked as a reporter for the <em>Newark Daily Advertiser</em> and the <em>Newark Morning Register</em> before becoming editor of the magazine Hours At Home in 1869. When the latter was merged with the newly-founded Scribner's Monthly the following year, Gilder was made assistant editor under Josiah Gilbert Holland. Не succeeded Holland as editor-in-chief in 1881 and turned the publication, renamed <em>The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine</em>, into the most renowned and influential general interest magazine in the United States. His poetry and critical stance make him a representative of the \"genteel tradition\" whose adherents believed that exposure to the elevating influence of great art and literature would improve taste and morality and raise the cultural level of American society. His idealism also led him to become active in many civic improvement and public service activities, including the New York Tenement House Commission, New York Kindergarten Association, and New York Association for the Blind, and the Civil Service Reform League. Gilder married the artist Helena de Kay in 1874 and their home became a meeting place for many prominent figures in art, literature, theater, and social reform.</p>"}
scopecontent
{"value"=>"<p>The Richard Watson Gilder Papers contain his correspondence (1861-1909), poetry and prose writings (1856-1909), diaries (1855-1909), contracts and royalty statements (1896-1909), scrapbooks of clippings and ephemera (1871-1913), obituaries and other commemorative material. The correspondence includes 21 letter books, a small number of his outgoing letters, and extensive incoming correspondence relating to his editorial work at Scribner's Monthly and the Century, as well as his public service and other professional activities. There are separate letter books devoted to his correspondence on behalf of the Tenement House Commission (1894-98), the New York Kindergarten Association (1890-95), the Washington Centennial Celebration (1888-89) and the Committee for the Erection of the Washington Memorial Arch (1889-95). His most frequent correspondents were his follow editors and contributors to Scribner's and the Century, although there are letters from many of the most prominent figures in 19th and early 20th century art and literature and New York society and reform circles. A complete list of correspondents is available. Included are Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Josiah Gilbert Holland, Robert Underwood Johnson, Theodore Roosevelt, John Burroughs, Edmund C. Stedman, George Woodberry, Roswell Smith, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, William Dean Howells, Seth Low, Carl Schurz, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Edmund Gosse, John Hay, Henry C. Potter, Jacob Riis, Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer, Henry Van Dyke, Edward Arlington Robinson, and William Vaughn Moody.</p> <p>Gilder's writings include issues of two juvenile publications, St. Thomas's Register and The Leaflet; manuscripts, typescripts, and published copies of his addresses, essays, poetry, and editorials in the Century (Topics of the Time); and manuscripts and proofs of Grover Cleveland: A Record of Friendship and Lincoln the Leader. The seventeen scrapbooks are devoted chiefly to articles about Gilder and clippings of his published poetry. Two volumes contain clippings about the work of the Tenement House Commission (1894-97), one is devoted to his public feud with William Randolph Hearst (1906), and another concerns his confrontation with the Trinity Church Corporation (1908-09). Several of the scrapbooks may have been assembled by Gilder's son, Rodman. Posthumous material includes letters of condolence and resolutions, 1909-1910, sent to Mrs. Gilder from RWG's friends and associates; correspondence and ephemera relating to memorial services and charitable funds established in his honor, poetic tributes, and scrapbooks of obituaries. The collection also contains letters to Helena and Rosamund Gilder regarding their project to collect and publish Gilder's letters; and typescripts of The Letters of Richard Watson Gilder, edited by Rosamund Gilder, 1916.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Richard Watson Gilder papers are arranged in eight series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1154#c1156792'>I. Letters Received</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1154#c1158467'>Letters Sent</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1154#c1158468'>Letterbooks</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1154#c1158491'>Writings</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1154#c1158696'>Diaries</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1154#c1158703'>Contracts & Agreements</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1154#c1158704'>Royalty Statements</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1154#c1158705'>Clippings+Ephemera</a></div>\n</li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
acqinfo
{"value"=>"<p>1950-1983, Received from Rosamund Gilder, gift and Several purchases.</p>"}
processinfo
{"type"=>"processing", "value"=>"<p>Accessioned by MY, July 1987</p>"}
altformavail
{"value"=>"<p>Letter books 1-21 available on microfilm; New York Public Library; *ZL-330</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>Letters from Frances Hodgson Burnett available on microfilm; New York Public Library; *ZL-237</p>"}
extent_statement
22 linear feet (46 boxes)

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