EUGENE FIELD PAPERS

Eugene Field (1850-1895) was born in St. Louis, Missouri on September 2, 1850. His father, Roswell M. Field, is recognized as a distinguished lawyer. His mother, Francis Reed Field, died in 1856. After her death, Field and his older brother, Roswell, went to Amherst, Massachusetts to live with their cousin, Mary Field French. In 1868, Field spent a year at Williams College. After his father's death in 1869, Field transferred to Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. While at Knox, Field had his first contact with the newspaper world when he contributed to the Galesburg Register. The following year, 1870, Field joined his brother at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Field gained a reputation as a prankster at the University. In 1872, Field won the University Oratory prize. However, Field and his brother both failed mathematics, a course required for graduation.

Later in 1872, Field took an advance on his father estate to travel with a college classmate, Edgar Comstock, throughout Europe. Field and Comstock toured for six months, returning to St. Louis in 1873. Upon his return, at age 23, Field married Comstock sister Julia (1857-1936), who was 16 at the time. They had eight children: Russell Martin (July 1874-September 1874), Mary French (1876-1950), Melvin Gray (1878-1890), Eugene Jr. (1880-1946), Frederick Comstock (1881-1927), Julia (1882), Roswell Francis (1893-1952) and Ruth Gray (1894-1962).

Field began working at the St. Louis Evening Journal in 1873 as a reporter. Within six months, he became the city editor. From 1875-1876, Field worked at the St. Joseph Gazette as the city editor. In 1876, he returned to the now merged St. Louis Times-Journal as editorial writer. Funny Fancies, his first column, appeared in the Times-Journal and shortly afterwards was widely copied by other newspapers. Field moved to Kansas City in 1880 to become managing editor of the Times. While Field worked at the Times, he wrote one of his well-remembered poems, The Little Peach.

From 1881 to 1883, Field served as managing editor, news editor, columnist and poet of the Denver Tribune. The Tribune, owned by railroad and political leaders, dominated Colorado and Denver. While working at the newspaper, Field contributed to a column titled Odds and Ends. He collected many of these writings for his first volume, The Tribune Primer, a 98-page book with a limited circulation. The book includes The Wasp and The Baby. While in Denver, Field met many famous personalities including humorist Bill Nye, and newspaper publishers Melville E. Stone of Chicago and Charles A. Dana of New York. The Tribune hired Bill Nye as a writer and Melville E. Stone eventually brought Field to Chicago. Charles Dana and his newspaper, the New York Sun, were paid tribute by Field, but when Dana offered Field a job he declined. Field never wanted to live any closer to the East Coast than Chicago.

Field column in Denver was titled the Current Gossip. The best of his works from the column appear in A Little Book of Western Verse. The book increased Field's fame across the country and newspapers continued to reprint his columns. In 1883, Field accepted Stone's offer to join the Chicago Morning News. Field agreed to work for the Chicago Morning News on the condition that he only reported to Stone. Several years later, Stone sold his interest in the newspaper to Victor Lawson. Field and Lawson continued to work together for the next seven years. When Field initially began working in Chicago, he left reporting to devote time to his column. His first column for the newspaper, Current Gossip, appeared on August 16, 1883. On August 31st it was renamed Sharps and Flats, a title taken from a play appearing in the city. The columns contain both humorous and serious prose and verse. Occasionally, Field wrote verses but attributed them to others and often devoted a full column to one of his tales or short stories. The topics of his columns range from sports, especially baseball, to a series on the political scene. Well-known personalities often became the subjects of his writings, as he loved to satirize Chicago and its citizens. Another popular topic with Field is food, most likely because of his stomach ailment.

This illness prompted Field to seek better health in Europe and California but without success. Field's 14 months in England, from 1889-1890, neither improved his health nor improved his attitude. Field returned to the United States in 1890 after the death of his son Melvin. In the fall of 1893, Field went to California but left San Diego for Chicago in 1894. Field continually turned his attention toward books, amassing a collection of 3,500 publications. His last writing, the day before his death, was the final chapter of The Love Affair of a Bibliomaniac. Field died in his sleep on November 4, 1895. The newspaper he wrote for reported "All of the children of the land mourn their laureate".