Gossip Definitions and Discussions
This exhibit page collects examples of explicit, nineteenth-century mentions of gossip as a practice and source of knowledge. Harriet Beecher Stowe and Dinah Maria Mulock, for example, distinguish different forms of gossip: fruitful for sociality, harmful, idle, etc. Wm. Pitt Byrne ties gossip to gender norms but values gossip as an important source of knowledge: "History owes most of what little truth it contains, to the gossip of diarists and annotators as well as to the intimate confidences of friendly correspondence." Some of the articles gathered here that show 'gossip' in the title illustrate that gossip was largely used as a synonym for news at the middle of the nineteenth century, while others stress the (negative) gendered dimensions of gossip.
An 1841-article from the National Anti-Slavery Standard, which considers gossiping "[t]he most prevailing fault of conversation in our country"
"Provincial Theatres and Gossip", Era, Aug 2, 1846
A short entry about Grace Greenwood stating that celebrity opera singer Jenny Lind Goldschmidt is an abolitionist, which is presented as "interesting gossip" (1852)
This report from a Woman's Rights Convention published in The National Anti-Slavery Standard (Sep 16, 1852) demarks "gossip and scandal" as one of the valueless pastimes women are reduced to through the logic of separate spheres.
Short narrative on the dangers of gossiping about neighbours, offers distinction between gossip as "scandal-mongering" and "tattle" and "that natural interest with which we observe those who are to form our future associates" (1854)
The Athenaeum, Cushman mention in Gossip Section, Sept 16, 1854
Dinah Maria Mulock Craik comments on the relationship between truth and gossip, men and women, and gives contemporary examples of gossip and how to refrain from participating in gossipping activities (1858)
Behind-the-scenes gossip in Vandenhoff's Leaves from an Actor's Note-Book; With Reminiscences and Chit-Chat of the Green-Room and the Stage, in England and America (1860)
"Theatrical Gossip", New York Times, Jul 9, 1860
Harriet Beecher Stowe distinguishes different forms of gossip (1860)
Poem by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper on the dangers of gossip (1862).
The Christian Recorder refuting the claim that gossip is a primarily female vice (1862).
The Albany Evening Journal (1862) on Grace Greenwood's "charming gossip" lectures
"Rome Gossip," Daily Ohio Statesman, March 15, 1867
"Grace Greenwood Gossip," Alton Weekly Telegraph, Aug 28, 1868
Poem about the spread of gossip, that is about things that aren't "anybody's business" – and yet are "made so" (from The Boston Adocate)
James Parton's Eminent Women of the Age (1869) mentions gossip for the entry on Elizabeth Browning
Memphis Daily Appeal mentions Anne Brewster as gossiping (1869)
One of Anne Brewster's "Letter from Rome" (Boston Daily Advertiser) which mentions gossip repeatedly (1870)
"Gossips," Bedford County Press and Everett Press, June 28, 1871
"Royal Gossip," Chicago Tribune, Aug 20, 1876
European Gossip, Clay Center Dispatch, Mar 29, 1877
An article by Daily Appeal the about Lucy Hooper and Anne Brewster who "swapped gossip" (1879)
Mary Agnes Tincker's By the Tiber (1881) describes one of the characters, who is based on Anne Brewster, as "one of the foreign centres of Roman gossip"
The preface of Byrne's Gossip of the Century: Personal and Traditional Memories (1892) contextualizes the use of gossip
Frances Elliot's Roman Gossip (1894)