Charlotte Kohler

Who was Charlotte Kohler?

Charlotte Kohler was a literary magazine editor and a university professor. She was born in Richmond, Virginia, attended the city's John Marshall High School, graduated from Vassar College, and obtained both a master's and a PhD from the University of Virginia. As a woman, she was not able to gain employment as an English professor in Virginia, so she taught for two years at Woman's College of the University of North Carolina.

UVa hired Kohler in 1942 to serve as the managing editor of the university's Virginia Quarterly Review, selecting her to succeed Archibald Shepperson in part because, as a woman, she was not subject to the draft that was sending many of the United States' men overseas to fight in World War II, making her "war-proof". Despite her title, she functioned as editor, a position to which she was formally named in 1946, the sixth person to hold the title at the publication. She remained as editor for nearly thirty years before retiring in 1975 with the Review's 50th anniversary edition, making her the longest-serving editor in the Review's history.