Who was Jeannette Leonard Gilder?

Jeannette Leonard Gilder (1849–1916) was a U.S. editor and writer prominent in the late 19th century arts and journalism. To support her family after her father's death in the Civil War, she worked for the New Jersey adjutant general in 1864. Later, she joined the Newark Morning Register , edited by her brother Richard Watson Gilder, and became the Newark correspondent for the New York Tribune . In 1875, she became the literary editor for the New York Herald . With her brother Joseph, she established the Critic , a journal of criticism and review, in 1881 and became sole editor in 1901. Gilder also edited the Reader and contributed to Harper’s Bazaar , the New York Commercial Advertiser , and the London Academy . She wrote plays and novels, but found greater success with her autobiographical works, such as Autobiography of a Tomboy (1900).

What kinds of jobs did Jeannette Leonard Gilder have?

Jeannette Leonard Gilder was an American editor and writer who held multiple jobs throughout her career. She worked in the office of the New Jersey adjutant general and later joined the staff of the Newark Morning Register, eventually becoming an editor and the New York Tribune's Newark correspondent. Moving to New York City, she became the literary editor of the New York Herald. In 1881, she co-founded the Critic, a journal of criticism and review, with her brother Joseph, and became the sole editor in 1901. She also edited the monthly Reader and contributed to Harper’s Bazaar, the New York Commercial Advertiser, and the London Academy. Additionally, Gilder was a New York correspondent for the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette and the Boston Evening Transcript, using the pen name Brunswick. She supplied book columns to McClure’s magazine, Woman’s Home Companion, and the Chicago Tribune. She was also an associate editor for Putnam's Monthly.

What is Jeannette Leonard Gilder best known for?

Jeannette Leonard Gilder (1849–1916) was an American editor and writer prominent in the late 19th century. She is best known for co-founding The Critic , a biweekly (later weekly) journal of criticism and review, with her brother Joseph B. Gilder in 1881. She contributed a regular column, “The Lounger,” and became the sole editor in 1901. Before The Critic , Gilder was the literary editor of James Gordon Bennett’s New York Herald , where her reviews of literature, music, and drama made her a central figure in New York City's cultural life.

What magazines or newspapers did she edit or write for?

Jeannette Leonard Gilder was an American editor and writer prominent in journalism and the arts in the late 19th century. She began her career at the Newark Morning Register and later became an editor there while also working as the Newark correspondent for the New York Tribune. In 1875, she became the literary editor of the New York Herald. Gilder co-founded the Critic in 1881, contributing a regular column called “The Lounger,” and became the sole editor in 1901. She also edited the monthly Reader. During her career, she wrote columns for Harper’s Bazaar, the New York Commercial Advertiser, and the London Academy. Additionally, under the name Brunswick, she was a New York correspondent for the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette and the Boston Evening Transcript. In 1906, she became associate editor of Putnam’s Monthly after it absorbed the Critic. In her later years, she supplied book columns to McClure’s magazine, Woman’s Home Companion, and the Chicago Tribune.

How did Jeannette Leonard Gilder contribute to American literature and journalism?

Jeannette Leonard Gilder was an American editor and writer who significantly contributed to literature and journalism in the late 19th century. She was the literary editor for the New York Herald , where her reviews of literature, music, and drama made her a central figure in New York's cultural life. With her brother Joseph, Gilder established The Critic , an influential journal of criticism and review, where she contributed a regular column called "The Lounger" and later became the sole editor in 1901. Additionally, she edited The Reader for several years and contributed to Harper’s Bazaar and the New York Commercial Advertiser .

How did Jeannette Leonard Gilder's work impact opportunities for women writers during her time?

Jeannette Leonard Gilder was a very influential person in journalism and the arts in the late 19th century. As literary editor for the New York Herald , her reviews and critiques of music, drama, and literature made her a central figure in New York City's cultural life. With her brother, Joseph, she established the Critic , a journal of criticism and review, where she contributed a regular column called "The Lounger." Gilder also edited The Reader for several years and contributed to Harper's Bazaar . Additionally, she edited several books, including Pen Portraits of Literary Women , with Helen Gray Cone. Through her editorial work, reviews, and criticism, Gilder helped promote and provide opportunities for women writers during her time.

Jeannette Leonard Gilder

Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Quick Facts

Born:: Oct. 3, 1849, Flushing, N.Y., U.S.

Died:: Jan. 17, 1916, New York, N.Y. (aged 66)

Founder:: “Critic”

Notable Works:: autobiography

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Jeannette Leonard Gilder

American editor and writer

Also known as: Brunswick

Written and fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Sep. 29, 2026 •History

Top Questions

Who was Jeannette Leonard Gilder?
Jeannette Leonard Gilder (1849–1916) was a U.S. editor and writer prominent in the late 19th century arts and journalism. To support her family after her father's death in the Civil War, she worked for the New Jersey adjutant general in 1864. Later, she joined the Newark Morning Register, edited by her brother Richard Watson Gilder, and became the Newark correspondent for the New York Tribune. In 1875, she became the literary editor for the New York Herald. With her brother Joseph, she established the Critic, a journal of criticism and review, in 1881 and became sole editor in 1901.

Gilder also edited the Reader and contributed to Harper’s Bazaar, the New York Commercial Advertiser, and the London Academy. She wrote plays and novels, but found greater success with her autobiographical works, such as Autobiography of a Tomboy (1900).
1 Britannica Source
1. Jeannette Leonard Gilder
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What kinds of jobs did Jeannette Leonard Gilder have?
Jeannette Leonard Gilder was an American editor and writer who held multiple jobs throughout her career. She worked in the office of the New Jersey adjutant general and later joined the staff of the Newark Morning Register, eventually becoming an editor and the New York Tribune's Newark correspondent.

Moving to New York City, she became the literary editor of the New York Herald. In 1881, she co-founded the Critic, a journal of criticism and review, with her brother Joseph, and became the sole editor in 1901. She also edited the monthly Reader and contributed to Harper’s Bazaar, the New York Commercial Advertiser, and the London Academy.

Additionally, Gilder was a New York correspondent for the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette and the Boston Evening Transcript, using the pen name Brunswick. She supplied book columns to McClure’s magazine, Woman’s Home Companion, and the Chicago Tribune. She was also an associate editor for Putnam's Monthly.
1 Britannica Source
1. Jeannette Leonard Gilder
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What is Jeannette Leonard Gilder best known for?
Jeannette Leonard Gilder (1849–1916) was an American editor and writer prominent in the late 19th century. She is best known for co-founding The Critic, a biweekly (later weekly) journal of criticism and review, with her brother Joseph B. Gilder in 1881. She contributed a regular column, “The Lounger,” and became the sole editor in 1901. Before The Critic, Gilder was the literary editor of James Gordon Bennett’s New York Herald, where her reviews of literature, music, and drama made her a central figure in New York City's cultural life.
1 Britannica Source
1. Jeannette Leonard Gilder
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What magazines or newspapers did she edit or write for?
Jeannette Leonard Gilder was an American editor and writer prominent in journalism and the arts in the late 19th century. She began her career at the Newark Morning Register and later became an editor there while also working as the Newark correspondent for the New York Tribune.

In 1875, she became the literary editor of the New York Herald. Gilder co-founded the Critic in 1881, contributing a regular column called “The Lounger,” and became the sole editor in 1901. She also edited the monthly Reader. During her career, she wrote columns for Harper’s Bazaar, the New York Commercial Advertiser, and the London Academy. Additionally, under the name Brunswick, she was a New York correspondent for the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette and the Boston Evening Transcript. In 1906, she became associate editor of Putnam’s Monthly after it absorbed the Critic. In her later years, she supplied book columns to McClure’s magazine, Woman’s Home Companion, and the Chicago Tribune.
1 Britannica Source
1. Jeannette Leonard Gilder
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How did Jeannette Leonard Gilder contribute to American literature and journalism?
Jeannette Leonard Gilder was an American editor and writer who significantly contributed to literature and journalism in the late 19th century. She was the literary editor for the New York Herald, where her reviews of literature, music, and drama made her a central figure in New York's cultural life.

With her brother Joseph, Gilder established The Critic, an influential journal of criticism and review, where she contributed a regular column called "The Lounger" and later became the sole editor in 1901. Additionally, she edited The Reader for several years and contributed to Harper’s Bazaar and the New York Commercial Advertiser.
1 Britannica Source
1. Jeannette Leonard Gilder
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How did Jeannette Leonard Gilder's work impact opportunities for women writers during her time?
Jeannette Leonard Gilder was a very influential person in journalism and the arts in the late 19th century. As literary editor for the New York Herald, her reviews and critiques of music, drama, and literature made her a central figure in New York City's cultural life.

With her brother, Joseph, she established the Critic, a journal of criticism and review, where she contributed a regular column called "The Lounger." Gilder also edited The Reader for several years and contributed to Harper's Bazaar. Additionally, she edited several books, including Pen Portraits of Literary Women, with Helen Gray Cone. Through her editorial work, reviews, and criticism, Gilder helped promote and provide opportunities for women writers during her time.
1 Britannica Source
1. Jeannette Leonard Gilder
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Jeannette Leonard Gilder (born Oct. 3, 1849, Flushing, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 17, 1916, New York, N.Y.) was an American editor and writer, a prolific and influential figure in popular journalism, particularly in the arts, in the latter half of the 19th century.

Gilder grew up in Flushing, New York, and Bordentown, New Jersey. In 1864 she went to work to help support her large family, left fatherless that year by the American Civil War, with a job in the office of the New Jersey adjutant general. In 1865–66 she attended the Bridgeton Female Seminary in southern New Jersey. In 1868 she joined the staff of the Newark Morning Register, which had recently been established by Richard Watson Gilder, destined to be the most famous of her five talented brothers. She later became an editor of the paper, and for a time she was Newark correspondent for the New York Tribune. In 1875 she moved to New York City and secured a job as literary editor of James Gordon Bennett’s New York Herald. Before long her reviews and criticism of music, drama, and literature made her a central figure in the cultural life of the city, and she numbered many of the leading writers, artists, and actors of the day among her friends. In January 1881 she and another brother, Joseph B. Gilder, established the Critic, a biweekly (later weekly) journal of criticism and review that enjoyed a long life and earned for itself an important place in American cultural affairs. She contributed a regular column, “The Lounger,” and helped edit the Critic, becoming the sole editor in 1901.

For several years up to 1906 Gilder also edited the monthly Reader. During this period she contributed columns to Harper’s Bazaar, the New York Commercial Advertiser, and the London Academy, and under the pen name Brunswick she was a New York correspondent for the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette and later the Boston Evening Transcript; she also corresponded at various times with newspapers in Philadelphia, Chicago, and London. In 1906 the Critic was absorbed by Putnam’s Monthly, of which she was associate editor until it in turn was absorbed by the Atlantic Monthly in 1910. Her gift for editorial work also produced several books, including Essays from “The Critic,” with Joseph Gilder (1882), Representative Poems of Living Poets (1886), Pen Portraits of Literary Women, with Helen Gray Cone (1887), Authors at Home, with Joseph Gilder (1888), Masterpieces of the World’s Best Literature, in eight volumes (1905), and Heart of Youth, young people’s poetry (1911). Her attempts at literary creation met with indifferent success.

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Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) only confirmed photograph of Emily Dickinson. 1978 scan of a Daguerreotype. ca. 1847; in the Amherst College Archives. American poet. See Notes:

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Gilder wrote several plays, including Quits, produced in Philadelphia in 1877; Sevenoaks (1878), based on Josiah G. Holland’s novel of that name; and A Wonderful Woman (1878). In 1887 she published a novel, Taken by Siege, about literary life in New York. Her Autobiography of a Tomboy (1900) and The Tomboy at Work (1904) were more successful. For many years she also served as New York agent for a number of authors and publishers. In later years she supplied book columns to McClure’s magazine, Woman’s Home Companion, and the Chicago Tribune.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Jeannette Leonard Gilder

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