Charles J. Peterson

Charles Jacobs Peterson was an American editor, publisher, and author. He was an editor at Graham's Magazine, co-owner and partner in The Saturday Evening Post, and the founder of Peterson's Magazine. He wrote several fiction and nonfiction historical works under his own name, as well as the anti-Tom literary novel The Cabin and Parlor; or, Slaves and Masters under the pseudonym J. Thornton Randolph. He belonged to the Peterson publishing family, which also included his relatives Robert Evans...See more

Charles Jacobs Peterson was an American editor, publisher, and author. He was an editor at Graham's Magazine, co-owner and partner in The Saturday Evening Post, and the founder of Peterson's Magazine. He wrote several fiction and nonfiction historical works under his own name, as well as the anti-Tom literary novel The Cabin and Parlor; or, Slaves and Masters under the pseudonym J. Thornton Randolph. He belonged to the Peterson publishing family, which also included his relatives Robert Evans Peterson and Henry Peterson. Thomas P. Peterson and Elizabeth Snelling Jacobs gave birth to Peterson on July 20, 1819, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He earned a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1838. He was admitted to the bar before graduation but never practiced law. He went on to become the owner and partner of The Saturday Evening Post, as well as the editor of Graham's magazine. He shared an editorial desk with Edgar Allen Poe, who later named him one of the "journalistic ninnies" of Graham's. In 1842, he established Ladies' National Magazine to compete with the successful Godey's Lady Book. Peterson's Ladies' National Magazine was renamed in 1848, and from 1858 until 1898, it was just Peterson's Magazine. See less