Topic Guide to American Authors

The information and links below include search tips and a selection of articles covering this topic in the digitized Louisiana newspapers. The dates and suggested search terms can help to further explore this topic on Chronicling America. For the most search results, try the search terms in different combinations, in proximity, and as phrases.

Significant Dates

1803 - Ralph Waldo Emerson born in Boston, Massachusetts
1809 - Edgar Poe is born in Boston, Masschusetts
1809 - Edgar Poe is adopted by Mr. and Mrs. John Allan
1811 - Harriet Beecher is born in Litchfield, Connecticut
1819 - Walt Whitman is born in Long Island, New York
1827 - Edgar Allan Poe prints "Tamerlane and other Poems"
1832 - Harriet Beecher and her family move to Cincinnati and become involved with the anti-slavery movement
1835 - Samuel Clemens born in Florida, Missouri
1836 - Harriet Beecher marries Calvin Ellis Stowe
1836 - Principles of transcendentalism introduced in Ralph Waldo Emerson's Nature
1837 - Ralph Waldo Emerson gives "The American Scholar" address at Harvard
1838 - Ralph Waldo Emerson criticizes formal religion and encourages personal spiritual exploration in his "Divinity School Address"
1839 - Samuel Clemens moves to Hannibal, Missouri
1839 - Edgar Allan Poe publishes The Fall of the House of Usher
1841 - Edgar Allan Poe publishes The Murders in the Rue Morgue
1841 - Ralph Waldo Emerson's first series of Essays, including "Self-Reliance" is published
1842 - Ambrose Bierce born in Horse Cave, Ohio
1842 - Ralph Waldo Emerson takes over editorship of the transcendentalist magazine The Dial
1843 - Edgar Allan Poe publishes The Pit and the Pendulum
1844 - Ralph Waldo Emerson delivers the first of many lectures against slavery
1845 - Edgar Allan Poe publishes The Raven and Other Poems
1846 - Walt Whitman becomes editor the Daily Eagle
1847 - Ralph Waldo Emerson publishes his first collection of poems in The Dial
1848 - Walt Whitman's association with the Daily Eagle ends; relocates to New Orleans with his brother to briefly edit the Daily Crescent before returning to Brooklyn where he sets up the Freeman, a "free-soil" newspaper
1849 - Edgar Allan Poe dies in Baltimore, Maryland
1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes the antislavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin
1855 - First edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass is published
1865 - Samuel Clemens establishes his Mark Twain persona with the incrediby successful The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
1866 - Walt Whitman publishes Drum-Taps
1873 - Ambrose Bierce publishes The Fiend's Delight, Nuggets and Dust, and Cobwebs from an Empty Skull while living in England
1876 - Mark Twain publishes The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
1876 - John Griffith "Jack" London born in San Francisco, California
1878 - Upton Sinclair is born in Baltimore, Maryland
1880 - Ambrose Bierce returns to San Francisco and begins work on The Devil's Dictionary
1882 - Ralph Waldo Emerson dies in Concord, Massachusetts
1883 - Mark Twain's autobiographical Life on the Mississippi published
1884 - Mark Twain publishes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
1891 - Ambrose Bierce publishes Tales of Soldiers and Civilians
1892 - Walt Whitman dies in Camden, New Jersey; Ninth edition of the expanded Leaves of Grass is published
1896 - Harriet Beecher Stowe dies in Hartford, Connecticut
1900 - Jack London's first short story collection, The Son of the Wolf, is published
1903 - Jack London publishes The Call of the Wild
1906 - Upton Sinclair publishes The Jungle
1908 - Jack London publishes The Iron Heel
1910 - Samuel Clemens dies at "Stormfield" in Redding, Connecticut
1913 - Ambrose Bierce ventures into Mexico and is never heard from again
1916 - Jack London dies in Glen Ellen, California
1968 - Upton Sinclair dies in Bound Book, New Jersey

Suggested Search Terms

Samuel Clemens, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mrs. Stowe, Edgar Allan Poe, Edgar A. Poe, Ambrose Bierce, Jack London, Upton Sinclair

Sample Articles: Ralph Waldo Emerson

• "The True Mark of Genius" The Planters' Banner, July 17, 1852, Image 2
• "We Thought So" New Orleans Daily Crescent, November 29, 1859, Image 1
• "The Future of America" The Louisiana Democrat, June 25, 1879, Image 4
• "Lincoln as Others Saw Him" The Progress, February 12, 1898, Image 16
• "Emerson Centenary" The Caucasian, April 05, 1903, Image 7
• "Honor Emerson" The Caucasian, May 28, 1903, Image 4

Sample Articles: Edgar Allan Poe

• "Edgar A. Poe" The New Orleans Crescent, February 14, 1869, Image 2
• "Edgar A. Poe's Boyish Days in Richmond" Claiborne Guardian, May 08, 1878, Image 3
• "An Embittered Poet" The Lafayette Advertiser, June 01, 1889, Image 3
• "The Romance of Genius" The Banner-Democrat, June 08, 1895, Image 3
• "The Tragic Element in Literature - Methods of Using It" The Banner-Democrat, October 19, 1895, page 3
• "Mysticism" The Banner-Democrat, January 23, 1897, Image 3
• "Arp Sustains Reed" St. Landry Clarion, April 03, 1897, Image 1
• "Scored Edgar Allan Poe" Le Meschacébé, June 30, 1900, Image 3
• "To Honor Edgar Allan Poe" St. Tammany Farmer, July 18, 1908, Image 6
• "Razing an Old Residence of Poe" Tensas Gazette, August 16, 1912, Image 8
• "New Yorkers Honor Poet" The Rice Belt Journal, January 31, 1920, Image 5

Sample Articles: Harriet Beecher Stowe

• "Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's Charity" The Opelousas Courier, May 14, 1853, Image 2
• "Harriet Beecher Stowe" The Opelousas Courier, June 18, 1853, Image 2
• "Mrs. Stowe in Paros" New Orleans Daily Crescent, July 12, 1853, Image 1
• "A Sequel to Uncle Tom's Cabin" Feliciana Sentinel, June 21, 1879, Image 4
• "Harriet Beecher Stowe" The Ouachita Telegraph, March 30, 1889, Image 4
• "Uncle Tom's Cabin" The Colfax Chronicle, December 24, 1892, Image 1
• "Uncle Tom's Cabin" The Meridional, April 01, 1893, Image 1
• "Death of Mrs. Stowe" The Louisiana Democrat, July 08, 1896, Image 2
• "Mrs. Stowe's Character" The Louisiana Democrat, August 19, 1896, Image 2
• "Mrs. H.B. Stowe Was Puzzled" Tensas Gazette, October 13, 1911, Image 3
• "Condensed Classics: Uncle Tom's Cabin" The Concordia Sentinel, July 02, 1921, Image 3

Sample Articles: Walt Whitman

• "Walt Whitman" The New Orleans Crescent, March 05, 1869, Image 4
• "Walt Whitman" The Morning Star and Catholic Messenger, November 14, 1875, Image 7
• "How Walt Whitman Writes" The Opelousas Courier, May 08, 1880, Image 2
• "Walt Whitman is Feeling the Weight of Years" The Louisiana Democrat, February 14, 1885, Image 3
• "With the Veterans" The Jennigs Daily Record, MArch 28, 1902, Image 4
• "News In Brief" The Caucasian, February 26, 1905, Image 8
• "Queer Occupation for Poet" The Rice Belt Journal, July 04, 1913, Image 7

Sample Articles: Mark Twain

• "A Letter From Mark Twain" The Donaldsonville Chief, November 16, 1872, Image 1
• "Mark Twain and the Spelling Bee" The Morning Star and Catholic Messenger, May 30, 1875, Image 7
• "Mark Twain's Latest" The Ouachita Telegraph, November 02, 1877, Image 2
• "Mark Twain Back Again" The Ouachita Telegraph, September 12, 1879, Image 1
• "Mark Twain on the Art of War" The Ouachita Telegraph, June 17, 1881, Image 2
• "Misfortunes of Mark Twain" The Colfax Chronicle, March 27, 1897, Image 3
• "Long Used to Earthquakes" The Lafayette Advertiser, April 25, 1906, Image 9
• "Mark Twain" The Caucasian, April 24, 1910, Image 1
• "Mark Twain's Infinite Jest" The Caucasian, April 26, 1910, Image 2
• "Mark Twain's Wit" The Caucasian, May 01, 1910, Image 2
• "Reminisences of Mark Twain" The Caucasian, May 03, 1910, Image 4
• "Sayings of Twain" The Caucasian, May 08, 1910, Image 6
• "Afraid of 'Innocents Abroad'" Tensas Gazette, September 09, 1910, Image 8
• "Not Original 'Mark Twain'" The Herald, July 07, 1921, Image 3

Sample Articles: Ambrose Bierce

• "A Comfortable Creed for Some" The Louisiana Democrat, July 06, 1891, Image 4
• "Whys for the Printer" The Lafayette Gazette, July 06, 1901, Image 3
• "A Substitute for Snakes" St. Tammany Farmer, November 02, 1901, Image 2
• "Western Paper Quick to Notice Author's Presence 'In Our Midst'", November 10, 1903, Image 7
• "Dog Worship" The True Democrat, July 03, 1909, Image 2
• "Our Statesmen" The Caldwell Watchman, July 17, 1914, Image 4

Sample Articles: Jack London

• "Chat About Authors" The Caucasian, January 25, 1903, Image 3
• "How Jack London Arrived" The Colfax Chronicle, August 06, 1904, Image 3
• "Jack London Among the Lepers" St. Tammany Farmer, February 22, 1908, Image 3
• "The Alleged Social Revolt" The Lafayette Advertiser, April 14, 1908, Image 2
• "Jack London - Gentleman" The Voice of the People, July 14, 1914, Image 3
• "The Sea Wolf" Tensas Gazette, June 23, 1916, Image 2
• "Jack London's Ashes to be Scattered Alled over Ranch" The Era-leader, November 30, 1916, Image 3
• "In a Far Country" Tensas Gazette, January 25, 1918, Image 3
• "The Son of the Wolf" Tensas Gazette, February 15, 1918, Image 3
• "The Men of Forty Mile" Tensas Gazette, February 22, 1918, Image 3
• "To The Man on Trail" Tensas Gazette, March 01, 1918, Image 3
• "The Wisdom of thr Trail" Tensas Gazette, March 08, 1918, Image 3
• "Jack London Tale of Gold Stampede in Screen Drama" St. Landry Clarion, July 17, 1920, Image 2

Sample Articles: Upton Sinclair

• "The Unspeakable Beef Monopoly" The Lafayette Advertiser, May 16, 1906, Image 7
• "Evaporated Fiction. 'The Jungle"- by Upton Sinclair." The Colfax Chronicle, July 21, 1906, Image 2
• "Two Sides to the Trouble" The Caucasian, May 21, 1907, Image 1
• "Sympathy for the Fish" St. Tammany Farmer, July 06, 1907, Image 2
• "The Book and the Big Stick" The Caucasian, April 04, 1909, Image 6
• "We Eat Too Much" The Cauasian, June 26, 1910, Image 7
• "Sinclair Wants Divorce" St. Tammany Farmer, September 02, 1911, Image 6
• "Mrs. Upton Sinclair" The Caucasian, September 17, 1911, Image 7