Fields, Annie Adams (1834–1915)
Fields, Annie Adams (1834–1915)
American poet, essayist, literary host, and social welfare worker. Born Anne Adams in Boston, Massachusetts, June 6, 1834; died 1915; 2nd wife of James Thomas Fields (partner in Boston publishing firm of Ticknor & Fields and publisher and editor of Atlantic Monthly); lived with Sarah Orne Jewett.
Because of keen critical eye, was often consulted by husband in choosing manuscripts for publication; opened home to writers, including Celia Thaxter, Sarah Orne Jewett, Longfellow, Hawthorne, Lowell, and Emerson; was also a leading figure in charity work, founding the Associated Charities of Boston; after husband's death, published a book of poems, Under the Olive (1881), as well as The Biography of James T. Fields (1884), Authors and Their Friends (1896), Life and Letters of Harriet Beecher Stowe (1897), and a handbook for charity workers, The Singing Shepherd (1896), that sold 22,000 copies in 2 years.
See also M.A. DeWolfe Howe, Memories of a Hostess (1922); and Women in World History.