Rachel Lyman Field (September 19, 1894 – March 15, 1942) was an American novelist, poet, and

children's fiction Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

writer. She is best known for her work '' Hitty, Her First Hundred Years''. Field also won a

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

, a Newbery Honor award and two of her books are on the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award list.

Life

Field was a descendant of

David Dudley Field David Dudley Field II (February 13, 1805April 13, 1894) was an American lawyer and law reformer who made major contributions to the development of American civil procedure. His greatest accomplishment was engineering the move away from common ...

, the early New England

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

and writer. She grew up in

Stockbridge, Massachusetts Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,018 at the 2020 census. A year-round resort area, Stockbridg ...

. Her first published work was an essay entitled "A Winter Walk" printed in ''

St. Nicholas Magazine ''St. Nicholas'' was a popular monthly American children's magazine, founded by Scribner's in 1873 and named after the Christian saint. The first editor was Mary Mapes Dodge, who continued her association with the magazine until her death in 1 ...

'' when she was 16. She was educated at

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

where she studied writing under George Pierce Baker. According to Ruth Hill Viguers, Field was "fifteen when she first visited Maine and fell under the spell of its 'island-scattered coast'. ''Calico Bush''

931 Year 931 ( CMXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place North Africa * The Ummayad Caliphate of Córdoba invades and conquers the city of Ceuta, which was ruled by the Berber dynasty Banu I ...

still stands out as a near-perfect re-creation of people and place in a story of courage, understated and beautiful." Field married Arthur S. Pederson in 1935, with whom she collaborated in 1937 on ''To See Ourselves.'' In 1938, one of her plays was adapted for the British film '' The Londonderry Air''.Rachel Field
at

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

. Retrieved 2012-03-15. She was also successful as an author of adult fiction, writing the bestsellers ''Time Out of Mind'' (1935), ''All This and Heaven Too'' (1938), and ''And Now Tomorrow'' (1942). Field also wrote the English lyrics for the version of

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

's "

Ave Maria The Hail Mary or Ave Maria (from its first words in Latin), also known as the Angelic or Angelical Salutation, is a traditional Catholic prayer addressing Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical pa ...

" used in the Disney film '' Fantasia'' (1940). She moved to Hollywood, where she lived with her husband and daughter. Rachel Field died at the Good Samaritan Hospital on March 15, 1942, of pneumonia following an operation.

Awards

'' Hitty, Her First Hundred Years'' received the Newbery Award in 1930, for the year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.""Newbery Medal and Honor Books, 1922–Present"

Association for Library Service to Children The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is a division of the American Library Association. ALSC has over 4,000 members, including children, experts in children's literature, publishers, faculty members, and other adults. The Associa ...

. ALA. Retrieved 2012-03-15. As a publicity stunt, Field was informed of her win via radio by a group of librarians and ALA President Milton J. Ferguson who were flying in a second plane as Field flew from New Mexico to Los Angeles. The 1944 (

posthumous Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award, an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication, publishing of creative work after the author's death * Posthumous (album), ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1 ...

) '' Prayer for a Child'', with a story by Field and illustrations by Elizabeth Orton Jones, won the

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

recognizing the year's "most distinguished

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

for children" published in the U.S."Caldecott Medal Winners, 1938 – Present"
Association for Library Service to Children. ALA. Retrieved 2012-03-15. ''Hitty'' and ''Prayer for a Child'' were both named to the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award list of books deemed to belong "on the same bookshelf" with Carroll's ''Alice''. ''Prayer for a Child'' was one of the seventeen inaugural selections in 1958, which were originally published 1893 to 1957. ''Hitty'' was added in 1961. ''Time Out of Mind'' won one of the inaugural National Book Awards as the Most Distinguished Novel of 1935, voted by the

American Booksellers Association The American Booksellers Association (ABA) is a non-profit trade association founded in 1900 that promotes independent bookstores in the United States. ABA's core members are key participants in their communities' local economy and culture, and to ...

. "Books and Authors", ''The New York Times'', April 12, 1936, page BR12. "Lewis is Scornful of Radio Culture: Nothing Ever Will Replace the Old-Fashioned Book, He Tells Booksellers", ''The New York Times'', May 12, 1936, page 25.

Adaptation of works into other media

The novel ''And Now Tomorrow'' (1942) was adapted into the 1944 film '' And Now Tomorrow'' by

Irving Pichel Irving Pichel (June 24, 1891 – July 13, 1954) was an American actor and film director, who won acclaim both as an actor and director in his Hollywood career. Career Pichel was born to a American Jews, Jewish family in Pittsburgh. He attended ...

. ''Prayer for a Child'' (1944) was the lyrics for the song ''A Child's Prayer'' (1955), which was written for a three-part chorus of women's voices with piano accompaniment. The music was by Gustav Klemm and the arrangement was by Rudolph Schirmer. As mentioned in this article, Field had written the lyrics for one of the songs in the 1940 film ''Fantasia''.

Selected works

* 1924, '' The Pointed People'', poetry * 1924, ''Cinderella Married, A Comedy in One Act'', drama * 1924, ''Six Plays'', drama * 1926, ''Taxis and Toadstools'', poetry * 1926, ''Eliza and the Elves'', fiction * 1926, ''An Alphabet for Boys and Girls'', poetry * 1927, ''The Magic Pawnshop'', fiction * 1927, ''The Cross-Stitch Heart And Other One-Act Plays'', drama * 1928, ''Little Dog Toby'', fiction * 1929, '' Hitty, Her First Hundred Years'', fiction—winner of the 1930 Newbery Medal * 1930, ''A Circus Garland: Poems'', poetry * 1931, '' Calico Bush'', fiction * 1931, ''The Bad Penny: A Drama in One Act'', drama * 1932, ''Hepatica Hawks'', fiction (translated into German by Annemarie Böll "Die Tochter des Riesen") * 1933, ''Just Across the Street'', fiction * 1934, ''Branches Green'', poetry (including "Something Told the Wild Geese") * 1934, ''Susanna B And William C'', fiction * 1934, ''God's Pocket'', historical non-fiction * 1935, ''Time Out Of Mind'' , fiction * 1936, ''Fear Is the Thorn'', poetry * 1936, ''First Class Matter: A Comedy in One Act'', drama * 1937, ''To See Ourselves'', by Field and her husband Arthur Pederson, fiction * 1938, ''All This and Heaven Too'', based on the true story of Field's great-aunt, Henriette Deluzy-Desportes, and made into a movie, ''

All This, and Heaven Too ''All This, and Heaven Too'' is a 1940 American drama film released by Warner Bros.- First National Pictures, produced and directed by Anatole Litvak with Hal B. Wallis as executive producer. The screenplay was adapted by Casey Robinson from ...

'', in 1940. * 1938(?), ''The Londonderry Air'', drama; produced as a film, '' The Londonderry Air'' (1938) * 1940(?), "Ave Maria" lyrics for the film '' Fantasia'' (1940) * 1940, ''All Through the Night'', nativity story * 1942, '' And Now Tomorrow'', fiction * 1944, '' Prayer for a Child'', fiction,

illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones—winner of the 1945 Caldecott Medal

References

External links

Papers, 1845–1942
��finding aid at Radcliffe College Archives
Schlesinger Library
Harvard University (2007)
Rachel Field collection
at the

Mortimer Rare Book Collection The Mortimer Rare Book Collection (MRBC) is the rare books collection of Smith College. Along with the Sophia Smith Collection and College Archives (Smith College), Smith College Archives, it makes up Smith College Special Collections. The colle ...