author
Charles J. (Charles Jacobs) Peterson
1819–1887
A lively force in 19th-century American publishing, this Philadelphia editor and writer helped shape popular magazine culture while also turning out fiction and historical works of his own. He is especially remembered for founding Peterson's Magazine, a major women's periodical of its day.
1 Audiobook
Kate Aylesford: A Story of the Refugees
by Charles J. (Charles Jacobs) Peterson
About the author
Born in Philadelphia in 1819, he studied law at the University of Pennsylvania but moved instead into journalism and publishing. Early in his career he worked at Graham's Magazine and also became an owner and partner in The Saturday Evening Post, building a strong place for himself in the literary world of Philadelphia.
In 1842, he launched what became Peterson's Magazine, a successful and widely read magazine for women, and he remained its editor for decades. Alongside his editorial work, he wrote fiction and historical books under his own name and under pen names including J. Thornton Randolph, Harry Cavendish, and Harry Danforth.
His career shows how closely writing, editing, and publishing were connected in 19th-century America. Today he is remembered less for a single classic than for the breadth of his work and for the influence of the magazine he built and guided until his death in 1887.