Fielding, William J. (William John), 1886-. Papers, 1912-1973.
Title:
Papers, 1912-1973.
The papers contain correspondence, two typescripts of Fieldings autobiography, All the Lives I Have Lived (Dorrance and Co., 1972), and other works, including poems, essays, and reviews authored by Fielding over the years, and case histories (1923-1963), i.e. correspondence with readers of Fieldings work in sexology and psychology who wrote to him for advice on personal matters (e.g. Masturbation, homosexuality, birth control, nervous disorders and phobias). The collection also contains printed material form the 1920s concerning sexology, psychology and other matters. Other correspondence concerns Fieldings work at Tiffanys, and personal reflections. The papers span sixty years of activities in the life of William J. Fielding, although the greatest bulk of material were accumulated after 1963, during Fieldings retirement years. The collection reflects Fieldings diverse pursuits: professionally, he was employed by the Tiffany Company and Louis Tiffany Foundation from the second decade of the twentieth century until his retirement in 1963: in private life, he was an author, poet and editor distinguished by his popular writings in the field of sexology and psychology. The collection clarifies the course of Fieldings carreer as described in his autobiography and listing in Whos Who in America, but also describes the personal history of an aging, middle-class individual in America between 1960 and 1973. The majority of this collection consists of personal correspondence between Fielding and less famous colleagues, readers, researchers and friends. In his later years, these provide summaries of his career that are more personal than his autobiography, including letters that describe Fieldings struggle with emphysema and arthritis and his wifes affliction with cerebral artereo-sclerosos. Fielding explored this problem in an essay entitled The Plight of the Aged, Middle-class Sick. Fieldings participation in the American Social Hygiene Association, The American Birth Control League, the Eugenics Educational Society, the Society for Constructive Birth Control and Racial Progress, the Ethical Humanist Societies of Greater New York, the Freethinkers of America, and the Thomas Paine Foundation are illuminated through correspondence with officials and members of these organizations. Among Fieldings correspondents in the Birth Control, Sexual Reform and Psychology movements between 1917 and 1972 were Drs William J. Robinbson, Harry Benjamin, Victor Robinson, Samuel Schmalhausen, and Andre Tridon. Other correspondents include Marie C. Stopes, Margaret Sanger, and Havelock Ellis. His relationship with Emanuel Haldmann-Julius, owner and editor of the Little Blue Books is evident in correspondence with Haldmann-Julius, his family, and his biographers (1919-1973). Issues of Freethought and Rationalism are displayed in correspondence with Joseph Lewis (1923-1968), Alfred Korzybski (on general semantics and mathematical reasoning, 1921-1933), Martin J. Martin (1966-1971) and Madalyn Murray OHair (1969-1971). Fieldings expertise in Tiffany artworks and the history of the Tiffany firm generated considerable correspondence with collectors and other parties interested in the authenticity of pieces and his collection of the firm. Fieldings employment at Tiffanys also placed him in apposition as ex-officio income tax consultant for the companys executives and Emelia Tiffany. Scattered autographed letters were received personally by Fielding from Upton Sinclair (1918-1928), John Haynes Holmes (1938), Ralph Bunche (1955) and J.W Fulbright (1965). Letters from John D. Rockefeller (1922), Helen Keller (1928), and Barry Goldwater (1959) were acquired through his affiliation with the Tiffany concern. Other prominent correspondents/persons referenced include Helen Keller and Bertrand Russell.
ArchivalResource:
4.5 linear ft. (5 boxes)
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/477855760 View
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