Lucia Isabella Runkle (née Gilbert; August 20, 1844 – 1922), was an editorial writer and contributor to the ''

New York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' (from 1914: ''New York Tribune'') was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s ...

'' and ''

Harper's ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

''. She was one of the first women editorialists at a major American newspaper.

Biography

Runkle was born in

North Brookfield, Massachusetts North Brookfield is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,735 at the 2020 census. The town includes the census-designated place of North Brookfield (CDP). History North Brookfield was first settled in ...

and educated in Fall River and

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

. She moved to New York City and for many years she was an editorial writer and contributor to the ''

New-York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' (from 1914: ''New York Tribune'') was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s ...

'', in which she published a series of articles on cooking, treated from an artistic standpoint. She also wrote frequently for other journals and for magazines including the '' Christian Union'', later '' The Outlook.'' For ten years, Runkle was the literary adviser of

Harper & Brothers Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship Imprint (trade name), imprint of global publisher HarperCollins, based in New York City. Founded in New York in 1817 by James Harper (publisher), James Harper and his brother John, the compan ...

, her work including French and German manuscripts and books, as well as English. In 1893, she undertook, with

Charles Dudley Warner Charles Dudley Warner (September 12, 1829 – October 20, 1900) was an American essayist, novelist, and friend of Mark Twain, with whom he co-authored the novel '' The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today''. Biography Warner was born of Puritan descen ...

and others, the enormous labor which is represented in the thirty volumes of '' Library of the World's Best Literature''.''Sunset, Volume 14'' (1905) She was quoted in support of '' The Woman's Advocate'' publication. She corresponded with

Helen Hunt Jackson Helen Hunt Jackson (pen name, H.H.; born Helen Maria Fiske; October 15, 1830 – August 12, 1885) was an American poet and writer who became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of Native Americans by the United States government. She de ...

Personal life

In the early 1860s, she had an affair with future president

James Garfield James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 1881 until Assassination of James A. Garfield, his death in September that year after being shot two months ea ...

, who ended the affair after his wife learned of it. In 1862, she married a Mr. Calhoun. Her second marriage, in 1869, was to Cornelius Runkle, a customs official and lawyer for the ''New-York Tribune''. Their daughter Bertha Runkle authored '' The Helmet of Navarre'' and four other novels.

Selected works

*Modern Women and What is Said of Them: A Reprint of a Series of Articles in the Saturday Review, by E. Lynn Linton, J. S. Redfield, New York (1868), contributor *''Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern'', New York, R. S. Peale and J. A. Hill, (c1896-97), contributor

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Runkle, Lucia 1844 births 1922 deaths People from North Brookfield, Massachusetts 19th-century American journalists 19th-century American women journalists 19th-century American non-fiction writers Mistresses of presidents of the United States