Carolina Freyre de Jaimes: Writer, publisher and pioneer of female-run and

female-oriented publications in Peru, Bolivia and Argentina

Submitted by : Andrea Chávarri Marrese

E-Mail : andrea.chavarri@smail.emt.h-brs.de
Carolina Freyre de Jaimes was one of the leading feminine voices in Peruvian pacific-war
republican era and one of the pioneers in female-oriented publications run by women not
only in her home country, Peru, but also in Bolivia and Argentina. Her extensive work
facilitated discussions about the role of women in society, especially during the conflict
period of the war with Chile.

She was born in Tacna, the southernmost region of Peru, to a family of writers and
publishers: her father founded “Imprenta Libre” in 1851, the first printing house in Tacna,
and many newspapers in the south of Peru; and two of her five siblings became a writer
and a journalist.1 Carolina published her first poem in her father’s publication “La bella
Tacneña” at 14 years old.

From the year 1867 until 1868, Carolina worked as a contributing writer for El Nacional,
a newspaper in Lima, the capital of Peru. She also published the novel Un amor
desgraciado (1868), which later appeared in the form of installments in the first officially
documented female-oriented publication in Lima: La bella limeña (1872 - 1873).

Either in 1869 or 1870, Carolina’s family moved to Lima.2 Here she became the first
female writer to collaborate in the Peruvian newspaper El correo del Perú (1871-1878).
After having published many articles and essays in this publication, she joined up with
another writer, Juana Manuela Gorriti, to launch a magazine called El Álbum: Revista
Semanal Para el Bello Sexo (1874 - 1875)3. It set a precedent of being the first publication
in Peru run exclusively by women and targeted for them.

El Álbum published articles by many Peruvian, Bolivian, Colombian and even English
writers and correspondents4. This magazine issued 34 editions. The acknowledgment of
women as readers made by El Álbum allowed the development of women as writers and
journalists.

During the war between Peru and Chile (1879 - 1884), Carolina exhibited her nationalist
political rhetoric through her weekly column in the newspaper La Patria (1871 – 1880).
Through her articles she tried to instill patriotism in the population, taking especial note
on the importance of women’s access to education.5

1 Carolina’s younger sister, Eloísa Freyre Jaimes published her literary work El Ramillete at her father’s printing
house; and her younger brother, Roberto gained recognition as a journalist during the occupation of Tacna by the
Chilean forces. Escala 2017, p. 194-195
2 The exact date of moving and the reason for their relocation is unknown. However, possible factors are the 1868

earthquake or the spread of yellow fever. Escala 2017, p. 203

3 Liendo 2018, p. 62
4 Salas 2009, p 132-136
5 Escala 2015, 53-54
After the war between Peru and Chile, Carolina moved to Bolivia, the home country of
her husband, and continued her work as a publisher. She founded the weekly magazine
El Álbum de Sucre (1889), which ran for 15 issues. The concept was similar to that of El
Álbum in Lima, and it was also the first of its kind in Sucre, the Bolivian capital city.

In the early XX century, Buenos Aires became Carolina’s new and last destination. She
continued collaborating for different magazines. With Argentinian writer Carlota de la
Peña, she founded La Revista Argentina (1902 – 1905). Freyre also became a member
of the first feminist society in Argentina called Consejo Nacional de Mujeres.

Carolina Freyre died in Buenos Aires in 19166. She was one of the most prolific Peruvian
women of letters and one of the pioneers of journalism in republican Peru. Her work
spanned over more than half a century and created spaces for women not only as readers
but also as publishers.

References:

Escala, M. (2015). El Ángel del Hogar y el Ángel de la Guerra. [The Angel of Home and
the Angel of War] (Bachelor’s Thesis). Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima.
http://tesis.pucp.edu.pe/repositorio/handle/20.500.12404/6399, retrieved on October 4,
2019.
Escala, M. (2017). Carolina Freyre de Jaimes, a un siglo de su muerte. [Carolina Freyre
de Jaimes, one century after her death]. RIRA, Vol. 2, Issue 2, pp.189-248.
https://doi.org/10.18800/revistaira.201702.005, retrieved on October 5, 2019.
Escala, M (2019). Semblanza de Carolina Freyre Arias de Jaimes (Tacna, 1844 -
Buenos Aires, 1916). [Profile of Carolina Freyre Arias de Jaimes (Tacna, 1844 –
Buenos Aires, 1916)] Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes - Portal Editores y
Editoriales Iberoamericanos (siglos XIX-XXI) - EDI-RED:
http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/carolina-freyre-arias-de-jaimes-tacna-1844--
buenos-aires-1916-semblanza-952777/, retrieved on October 4, 2019.
Liendo, L. (2018). “Revista de la semana”, the journalistic format of woman. RIRA, Vol.
3, Issue 1, pp. 61–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.18800/revistaira.201801.003, retrieved on
October 4, 2019.
Salas, C. (2009). Colaboradores y corresponsales del Semanario Literario Él Album
(1874-1875) [Contributors and Correspondants for the Weekly Literary Paper El Álbum
(1874-1875). BIRA, Issue. 35, pp. 129-170.
http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/114488, retrieved on October 5,
2019.
Soto, K. (2018). Periodismo y círculos literarios femeninos en la Sudamérica
decimonónica: El caso de Carolina Freyre de Jaimes (1844-1916) en Bolivia.
[Journalism and feminine literary circles in nineteenth-century South America: The case
of Carolina Freyre de Jaimes (1844-1916) in Bolivia]. Decimonónica, Vol. 15, Issue 1,
pp. 73-75. http://red.pucp.edu.pe/riel/files/2018/02/Soto-Velasco_15.1.pdf, retrieved on
October 5, 2019.

6 Escala 2017, p. 241