In March 1798, Judith Sargent Murray published a three-volume book titled The Gleaner. It contained essays she had written for the Massachusetts Magazine using a male persona ("The Gleaner"), unpublished "Gleaner" essays, and her two plays. As "The Gleaner," Judith addressed a variety of issues including federalism and the state of the nation, the French Revolution, philanthropy, social policy, citizenship, female equality and education. The Gleaner was reissued by Union College Press and is available again for purchasing. Showm here, The Gleaner's title page and volumes 1 and 3.
Judith Sargent Murray paid for the publication of The Gleaner by attracting advance subscribers. In all, 730 individuals and organizations subscribed, and she listed their names at the end of Volume III starting with President John Adams.
When The Gleaner was printed, Judith published this advertisement in the Columbian Centinel, a leading Boston newspaper.
Judith Sargent Murray's "Gleaner" column appeared in the Massachusetts Magazine from 1792 -94. This is the first column; it appeared in February 1792.
In 1812, Judith assisted her husband, the Rev. John Murray, with publishing his Sketches of Sermons. A few years earlier, in 1809, John Murray had suffered a stroke. As the "Father of American Universalism," it was important for John and Judith to publish this book. As a stroke victim who could no longer support his family, John hoped the book would produce income. Sadly, it was minimal.
After John Murray died in 1815, Universalist friends urged Judith to complete the autobiography John had been writing since he was a young man. Unfortunately, he had stopped working on his project in 1774. As a result, the book is filled with accounts of John's life in England, and of his early days in America since he arrived in 1770. He did not write about Judith and their lives together. The book's title page lists "a continuation by a friend." The "friend" is Judith.
Judith Sargent Murray's first published essay, "Desultory Thoughts Upon the Utility of Encouraging a Degree of Complacency, Especially in Female Bosoms," was published in the Gentleman and Lady's Town and Country Magazine in October 1784. She used the pen name "Constantia" to disguise her identity, which was proper eighteenth-century etiquette. This is the cover of the magazine...
...and this is how her essay appeared. This piece, and two other important essays on women's rights, were published in 1999 by the Judith Sargent Murray Society in its monograph Forming a New Era in Female History.
This is the cover of the Massachusetts Magazine of March 1790, which contained Judith Sargent Murray's groundbreaking, two-part essay "On the Equality of the Sexes" by "Constantia."
This is how "On the Equality of the Sexes" appeared in 1790. It was reissued in 1999 by the Judith Sargent Murray Society in its monograph Forming a New Era in Female History.
Judith, as "Constantia," published "On the Domestic Education of Children" in May 1792. This essay was reissued by the Judith Sargent Murray Society in its monograph Forming a New Era in Female History.
Judith published her column titled "The Repository" in the Massachusetts Magazine from 1792-4. These essays were reissued by the Judith Sargent Murray Society.
Judith's first literary love was poetry, and she published many poems in the Massachusetts Magazine like this one, "Lines Occasioned by the Death of an Infant," which appeared in January 1790. Her baby son, Fitz Winthrop, had just died after only a few hours of life.
In the early 1800s, Judith published more poetry in the Boston Weekly Magazine.
When Judith moved to Boston in 1794, the editor of the Federal Orrery, Thomas Paine, asked her to submit work to his newspaper. She developed a new column titled "The Reaper," but she pulled it after only five entries. "Mr. Paine" edited her work too extensively for her liking.
"The Reaper, No. I" appeared in the October 20, 1794 edition of the Federal Orrery. These essays have been reissued by the Judith Sargent Murray Society.
Home