Southern Literary Messenger

Southern Literary Messenger

The Southern Literary Messenger building in Richmond, Virginia (1902)
Categories	Literary magazine
Frequency	Monthly
Founder	Thomas Willis White
First issue	August 1834
Final issue	June 1864
Country	United States of America
Based in	Richmond, Virginia
Language	English

The Southern Literary Messenger was a periodical published in Richmond, Virginia, from August 1834 until June 1864. Each issue carried a subtitle of "Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts" or some variation and included poetry, fiction, non-fiction, reviews, and historical notes. It was founded by who served as publisher and occasional editor until his death in 1843.

White hired Edgar Allan Poe in 1835 as a staff writer and critic. Others involved with the periodical included Matthew Fontaine Maury and Maury's kinsman Benjamin Blake Minor. It ended in June 1864 in part due to Richmond's involvement in the American Civil War.

The Southern Literary Messenger first appeared in August 1834 with Thomas Willis White as publisher. In the inaugural issue White stated that his aim was "to stimulate the pride and genius of the south, and awaken from its long slumber the literary exertion of this portion of our country." This was in reference to the fact that at the time most magazines were published in Boston, New York and Philadelphia.

Edgar Allan Poe served as an editor for a time (see below). After his departure, White resumed editorial duties before hiring Lieutenant Matthew Fontaine Maury USN as editor from 1840 to 1843. Upon White's death in 1843, Benjamin Blake Minor served as editor and publisher from August 1843 to October 1847.

Writing contributions to the journal, as well as a loss of subscriptions, led to its cancellation in June 1864. As was explained editorially in that issue, the press in Richmond (and the town in general) had been thrown into considerable disarray due to the American Civil War.

The Southern Literary Messenger featured poems, fiction, non-fiction, translations, reviews, legal articles, and Virginia historical notes. Each issue carried the subtitle "Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts" or some variation of it. The periodical was published approximately monthly, and it initially had subscribed mostly readers in the north but it picked up southern readers and writers over time as more southerners wrote articles to be published, as is stated in an 1840 issue of the Messenger. James E. Heath, the first editor of the Southern Literary Messenger wrote: