The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Gilder, Richard Watson

GILDER, Richard Watson, American editor and poet: b. Bordentown, N. J., 8 Feb. 1844; d. New York, 18 Nov. 1909. He was a private of artillery during the campaign in Pennsylvania (1863) and later managing editor of the Newark (N. J.) Advertiser. He subsequently established, with Newton Crane, the Newark Register, was editor of Hours at Home, a monthly of New York and when this was merged in Scribner's Monthly became managing editor of the latter (1870). In 1881 he succeeded J. G. Holland (q.v.) as editor-in-chief of the Monthly, in which capacity he remained after it became the present Century Magazine. He was prominently identified with public affairs as chairman of the New York Tenement-House Commission (1894), member of the council of the National Civil Service Reform League and other posts and was a founder of the Authors' Club, the International Copyright League and the Society of American Artists. The best of his verse, most of which originally appeared in magazines, was collected in &lsquo;Five Books of Song&rsquo; (1894). Later volumes are &lsquo;In Palestine and Other Poems&rsquo; (1898), and &lsquo;Poems and Inscriptions&rsquo; (1901). Consult Gilder, R., &lsquo;Letters of Richard Watson Gilder&rsquo; (1916).