One side effect of reading so much Victoriana is that I can longer read a certain type of modern literature: The tale of some would-be female journalist around the turn of the century who meets male condescension, belittlement and rejection at every turn. Bosh! By the late 1890's, women in journalism were downright commonplace! Jennie June was a reporter during the Civil War! Women writers were everywhere, and as many report, they encountered far less resistance from their male peers and bosses than we might imagine today. On the flip side, many women imagined that writing was an easy way to make a living - and so we have a number of articles attempting to disabuse women of this notion that could just as easily have been written for today's wannabes!

Reporters and Shorthand Writers (Leisure Hour, 1860)

A Slight Sketch of Miss Jumble's Career, by Herself (Godey's, 1863)

An authoress explains why it isn't always a good thing to have a reputation for "being literary."

A Night on a Morning Paper (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1877)

Literary Work for Girls, by An Editor's Wife (Girl's Own Paper, 1881)

"Happily this nineteenth century, which has so many evil things to answer for, has at any rate done us good service in materially altering the aspect from which women's labour is regarded." Beyond that, this article could just as easily have been written to advise the would-be authors of today!

How to Write a Story, by An Editor's Wife (Girl's Own Paper, 1881)

Good advice from an editor's wife!

A Newspaper Subeditor's Office and Work (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1882)

Reporters and Their Work (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1882)

Thirty Years in Journalism, by Jennie June (Demorest, 1886)

Women as Reporters, by an American Newspaper Reporter (Girl's Own Paper, 1886)

This is primarily about women reporters in America, and largely concerns the art of taking shorthand.

How I Tried to Write a Story, by H. Frith (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1888)

An amusing account of an author's efforts to "break in" that will ring just as true with writers today!

A Day in a Proofreader's Life (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1889)

Writing for the Press (Ingalls' Home Magazine, 1889)

"Oh, let me advise you and beseech you not to write for the press unless you possess that most valuable and most beautiful of personal gifts--common sense."

Journalists and Newsmongers (Century Magazine, 1890B)

Young Women as Journalists (Girl's Own Paper, 1891)

The Author and the Publisher, by A.S. Fergus (Ladies' Home Journal, 1892)

Tips on getting published, and on self-publishing.

The Compleat Novelist, by James Payn (The Strand, 1897B)

Tips on writing success that are as valid today as they were over 100 years ago.

The Literary Life from a Woman's Standpoint, by Isabella Fyvie Mayo (Girl's Own Paper, 1900)

"Whatever fame and profit it may bring is uncertain and external..." Well, some things never change!

A Glance at "Vanity Fair," by J. Holt Schooling (Strand, 1901B)

Vanity Fair was the first of the "modern weekly society journals," launched in 1868.

How to Write Fiction, by Lily Watson (Girl's Own Paper, 1901)

The "Newspaper Woman," by John Pendleton (Good Words, 1902)

Girls' Ambitions, by Lily Watson (Girl's Own Paper, 1902)