The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Eugene Field Correspondence 1877-1901
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| Title: | Field, Eugene. Correspondence |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1877-1901 |
| Size: | 0.5 linear feet (1 box) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | Eugene Field, writer, poet. The Eugene Field Correspondence consists of 301 letters written to Eugene Field by various admirers, friends, family members, and business associates during the years 1884 - 1895. The collection also contains newspaper and magazine clippings pertaining for the most part to Field and his poetry. |
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Eugene Field, American author, was born in St. Louis, Missouri on September 2, 1850. After the death of their mother in 1856, Eugene and his younger brother Roswell were placed under the care of a cousin, Mary Field French, of Amherst, Massachusetts. Field spent the remainder of his boyhood in the eastern United States, attending for a time a private school at Monson, Massachusetts. In the autumn of 1868 he began his advanced studies at Williams College. After the death of his father the following summer, Field moved back to the Midwest and entered Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. Upon completion of a less than profitable year at Knox, he changed schools once again, joining his brother at the University of Missouri. Failing in his final attempt to receive a degree, he went abroad in the autumn of 1872, spending the greater portion of a substantial inheritance from his father. Upon his return to the States a year later, he married Julia Sutherland Comstock of St. Joseph, Missouri. Turning to newspaper work, Field held successive positions of the St. Joseph's Gazette, the St. Louis Journal, the Kansas City Times, and the Denver Tribune. In 1883 he joined the editorial staff of the Chicago Morning News (later renamed the Chicago Record), where he quickly became known for his editorial column "Sharps and Flats." Field remained with the News until his death on November 4, 1895.
While working for the News, Field gained considerable recognition as a poet and author. He is most popularly known, perhaps, for his poems of childhood and Christmas-time, including "Little Boy Blue," "A Dutch Lullaby," and "Wynken, Blyken, and Nod." Although most of Field's important writings appeared first in the newspapers he worked for, he did manage to publish several books of poetry and prose during his lifetime. His first booklet, The Tribune Primer, appeared in 1882 followed by Culture's Garland (1887); A Little Book of Western Verse (1889); A Little Book of Profitable Tales (1890); With Trumpet and Drum (1892); A Second Book of Verse (1892); Echoes from the Sabine Farm (1892); The Holy Cross and Other Tales (1893); and Love Songs of Childhood (1894).
The Eugene Field Correspondence consists of 301 letters written to Eugene Field by various admirers, friends, family members, and business associates during the years 1884 - 1895. The collection also contains newspaper and magazine clippings pertaining for the most part to Field and his poetry.
| Box 1 Folder 1 | Correspondence, 1884-1891
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| Box 1 Folder 2 | Correspondence, January -April, 1882 View digitized documents, part 1. View digitized documents, part 2.
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| Box 1 Folder 3 | Correspondence, May-August, 1892 View digitized documents, part 1. View digitized documents, part 2.
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| Box 1 Folder 4 | Correspondence, September-October, 1892
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| Box 1 Folder 5 | Correspondence, 1894
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| Box 1 Folder 6 | Correspondence, January-February, 1895
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| Box 1 Folder 7 | Correspondence and Clippings, 1895, undated
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| Box 1 Folder 8 | Clippings, undated |
| Box 1 Folder 9 | Letters and Manuscripts, 1877-1901
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| Box 1 Folder 10 | “Eugene Field Original Letter,” November 21, 1891, A.L.S., bound |