''The Peterkin Papers'' is a collection of humorous short stories by American author

Lucretia Peabody Hale Lucretia Peabody Hale (September 2, 1820 – June 12, 1900) was an American journalist and author. Biography Hale was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and educated at George B. Emerson's school there. Subsequently she devoted herself to literat ...

. The book was first published in 1880, and a sequel, ''The Last of the Peterkins'' was printed in 1886.The Peterkin Papers - (Not so) Shocking Secrets of the Hale Family, New England Historical Society
/ref>

Story publication history

The first Peterkin story, ''The Lady Who Put Salt in Her Coffee'', was published in the April 1868 issue of the children’s magazine ''

Our Young Folks ''Our Young Folks: an Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls'' was a monthly United States children’s magazine, published between January 1865 and December 1873. It was printed in Boston by Ticknor and Fields from 1865 to 1868, and then by James ...

''.Lucretia Peabody Hale, Online ''Encyclopedia Britannica''
/ref> Other stories in the series originally appeared in issues of ''Our Young Folks'', until the periodical ceased publication in 1873. Later Peterkin stories were published in ''

St. Nicholas Magazine ''St. Nicholas Magazine'' was a popular monthly American children's magazine, founded by Scribner's in 1873. The first editor was Mary Mapes Dodge, who continued her association with the magazine until her death in 1905. Dodge published work by th ...

’’.

Snyopsis

The family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin and their children Elizabeth Eliza, Soloman John, Agamemnon,Lucretia P. Hale, About Elizabeth Eliza’s Piano
/ref> plus three unnamed little boys. They lived near Boston, and encountered difficulties due to their "scatterbrained naivete and were rescued from disaster in each case by the commonsensical Lady from Philadelphia." The author based the Lady from Philadelphia on her friend, Susan Lyman Lesley.

References

External links

at "A Celebration of Women Writers",

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

1924 edition
via archive.org * 1880 short story collections American short story collections Works originally published in St. Nicholas Magazine Children's short story collections American children's books 1880s children's books {{child-story-collection-stub