The University of New Mexico

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Carolyn Gonzales 277-5920
cgonzal@unm.edu

March 03, 2008

Gary Scharnhorst, distinguished professor of English at the University of New Mexico, has penned biographies of Horatio Alger Jr., Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Bret Harte. His most recent biography is of 19 th century American journalist Kate Field.

“We have to agree with the Chicago Tribune’s posthumous characterization of Field as perhaps the most unique woman the present century has produced. Scharnhorst has skillfully captured that uniqueness on page after page of this magnificent biography,” wrote ­Denise D. Knight, 19th-century American literature specialist and distinguished teaching professor of English at SUNY Cortland.

“Kate Field: The Many Lives of a Nineteenth-Century American Journalist,” Syracuse University Press, 2008, brings to life the many lives of Kate Field, an intriguing female journalist of the late 19th century who both reported the news and subsequently became the subject of news reports as one of the first celebrity journalists.

Field, a colorful and unorthodox feminist, served as journalist and contributor to the most recognizable newspapers of the time, including the Boston Courier, the Boston Post, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Herald and the Chicago Times-Herald. Her circle of friends and professional acquaintances read like a “Who’s Who” of 19th–century literati, counting among her friends Charles Dickens, Susan B. Anthony, Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oscar Wilde and countless others. She would interview a host of famous people including President Grover Cleveland, Gilbert and Sullivan, and Arthur Rubenstein. Henry James would even model the character of Henrietta Stackpole in The Portrait of a Lady on Kate Field.

“Never a dull moment” epitomizes the story of Field’s life. She was a vocal advocate for black American rights, founded the first women’s club in the United States, made a small fortune promoting the telephone for Alexander Graham Bell, was instrumental in having Yosemite declared a national park, ventured into acting and women’s fashion, and was the first person to appear on stage at the opening of the first permanent Shakespeare theater in Stratford, England. She also became a leading authority on Mormonism.

Field’s story not only provides a look into a fascinating life, it also provides a look into the literary history of mid-to-late 19th century America.

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