Annie Fields (1834–1915)

Annie Adams was the daughter of a Boston doctor and was educated at home and at school. In 1854, she married as his second wife James Thomas Fields, an author and publisher of Ticknor and Fields, and became a well-known literary hostess in Boston society. She encouraged younger writers such as Sarah Orne Jewett, Lydia Maria Child, Mary Freeman, and Emma Lazarus. She also made friends with established figures including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose biography she wrote. In 1859, Annie and her husband visited Charles Dickens at his home in London, beginning a long personal and professional relationship with the famous novelist. Annie's other works included Whittier, Notes of His Life and of His Friendship (1883), How to Help the Poor (1883), A Shelf of Old Books (1894), Authors and Friends (1896), and Nathaniel Hawthorne (1899). She also wrote a biography of her husband, James T. Fields: Biographical Notes and Sketches (1893). Annie Fields kept a diary which, together with her personal letters, was published after her death as Memories of a Hostess: A Chronicle of Eminent Friendships (1922). Annie Fields was an opponent of slavery and a supporter of women's emancipation. She took a strong interest in social reform and founded several institutions to help poor and unmarried working women in Boston. Following the death of James Fields, Annie invited Sarah Orne Jewett to live with her.