American authoress and lecturer, a protégée of Walter Savage Landor; born in St. Louis, MO. After completing her studies in Boston, she made long visits to Europe and became correspondent for the New York Tribune, the Chicago Tribune and the Philadelphia Press. Her father, Joseph M. Field, was an actor, and she herself appeared in Peg Woffington at Booth’s Theatre, New York (1874), and for a time followed the stage with some success. She engaged with marked success in lecturing upon the topics of the day. In 1890 she conceived the idea of a “personal” journal, and Kate Field’s Washington was the result. It was extensively quoted for its graphic and often keen descriptions of public men in Washington. She was compelled to cease the publication of this journal in 1895 on account of ill health. She sought recuperation in travel, and after a period passed in Honolulu, died there on the 19th of May 1896. Her works include Agnes Ristori: A Biography (1868); Pen Photographs of Charles Dickens’s Readings (1868); Planchette’s Diary (1868); Hap-Hazard: Travel and Character Sketches in America and Europe (1873); Ten Days in Spain (1874); History of Bell’s Telephone (1878); and Charles Albert Fechter (1882).
