Scribbling Women as Entrepreneurs: Kate Field (1838-96) and Charlotte Smith (1840-1917) Autumn Stanley Institutefor HistoricalStudy Berkeley,California Two women outwardlymore different than Mary Katherine Keemle Field andCharlotte Odlum Smith can hardly be imagined.Kate wasstrikingly attractive--oftencalled "bonny Kate Field." Charlotte, though not unattractive, wassimply never spoken of in suchterms. • Kate Field wasby somelights a childof privilege. Thoughher family wasnot wealthy,as the only childshe was much indulged, given the best St. Louis schooling.A wealthyaunt and unclegave her further schoolingin Bostonand took her to Europe for two years. The Odlums,by contrast,had sevenchildren, three of whom died in infancy[25, A]. Charlotte'sown poor health reportedlyinterrupted her schooling[15, p. 756]. WhateverCharlotte's father, Richard Odium, did for a living,it evidentlydid not suffice,for CatherineOdium was obliged to keep boarders[24a, b; 1; 2]. At Richard'sdeath, Charlotte became the "manof the family"at age 16. IKatewas petite, "very slender and graceful, with a wealth of chestnut hair falling in clustering curls,...faircomplexion and luminousblue eyes"[29, 37]. Many men, includingsome famous literarynames, fell in lovewith her or foundthemselves charmed. Biographical information on Field,where not specificallyreferenced, comes from References29, 8, and (variousissues of) 6. Charlottewas tall and, thoughattractive as a younggirl [25, Kirby and Lee depositions], became focused on her reforms to the exclusion of worries about attractiveness to men. As a PittsburghLeader reporter put it in 1893[12], Miss Smithis the pictureof earnestnessand strength. Her everythought and purpose has evidentlybeen given to her noble life work,...elevatingthe conditionof the wage-earnersof her sexand compelling from employers[equal pay for equalwork]. But in becominga fanatic...,she has,like all fanatics,let slip all the merelypretty feminine ways and graces.... She is largeand rather stout. Her dresswas of the plainest,a black wool gown escapingthe ground in extremelysensible fashion--that is by half a foot or more--aplain black bonnet pulled slightly awry in the excitementof the moment, a flushed, determined face. Informationon Smith'schildhood comes largely from References15 and 25, DepositionsA and B (Jul. 26 and 27, 1887). BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC HISTORY, SecondSeries, Volume Twenty-one, 1992. Copyright(c) 1992by the BusinessHistory Conference.ISSN 0849-6825. 75 Aside from the classdifference, Charlotte's childhood was grimmer than Kate's in other ways. Josephand Eliza Field maintaineda tender and lovingrelationship until Joseph's early death; and though work often separated them for monthsat a time, he kept in closetouch by letter with his beloved wifeand daughter. Richard Odlum may have abandoned his family, Certainly he was not enumeratedwith them in the 1850 census,when Charlotte was ten [24b;17]. At the veryleast, his work--perhapswith New York's manycanal and railroadprojects of the day--tookhim awayfor longperiods. When he died of cholerain Canada,Catherine learned the newsfrom a neighbor's newspaper. Yet thereare intriguing coincidences 2 and important similarities in the backgrounds,childhoods, and careersof thesetwo women. Born just two yearsapart, into familiesof Irish Catholicheritage, 3 both girlslost their fathersas teenagers, and thenceforward felt a needto supportthemselves and take care of their mothers. Kate was,as noted,the only child;Charlotte was the oldest,the mostpractical, and probablythe mostintelligent of the four survivingOdlum children. Boththese women, in fact,were obviously quite intelligent;and if Kate had more formal education,Charlotte did an impressivejob of educatingherself, as her writingsreveal. Both believed stronglyin marriageas an institution,but Kate nevermarried, and Charlotte marriedonly briefly, leaving her husbandwhen their secondchild was only a few weeksold [25,B]. Bothwere hot-tempered, 4 and had greatdrive and ambition. At seventeenKate wasalready aware of her ambitionand of how her sexmight frustrate it. 5 Bothhad other careers in mindat first. Kate wantedmost to be a great singer,and shetried acting,lecturing, and play- 2In1852-3 the Fields lived in St. Louis near 6th Avenue and Market Street, just blocks from where the Odiumslived (alsoon Market) when they returnedto St. Louisin 1859-60. Joseph Field establisheda periodicalon the samestreet (Olive) where Charlotte'sInland Monthly was locatedin the 1870s. RichardOdium and JosephField may have died the sameyear (1856). Both familiesthereupon went traveling,possibly visiting some of the sameEastern cities at the same time. Field's funeralwas held on the samestreet in Mobile, AL, where Charlotte'smother and brotherslived ten yearslater. Both Kate and Charlottewere keenlyinterested in science and invention[29, 60, 64; 24c;25, A; 16; 9; 20]. 3Kate'smother was of Quaker stock, and Kate, following her father's example, "easily sloughed off a baptismal Catholicism"to become "basicallysecular in belief" [13]. Even so, the backgroundhas its influence. Charlotteremained an activeCatholic all her life. 4Charlottewas so angry when the police failed to keeptheir promise to prevent her brother Robert from divingoff the BrooklynBridge in May of 1885,that she physicallyattacked the haplessofficer bringingher the news[14]. In lettersand journal entriesKate beratesherself about her temper[29, 70]. 5Shesays, •Oh, if I werea man!...There is not an ambition, a desire, a feeling, a thought, an impulse,an instinctthat I am not obligedto crush. And why? BecauseI am a woman, and a woman must contentherself with indoor life, with sewingand babies"[29,69]. writingas well. Charlotte'searly entrepreneurial ventures--aside from a spot of blockade-runningearly in the Civil War [25, A, B]--were all in retail. Clearly,however, she was an entrepreneurat heart, openinga millineryand dressmakingshop and patternemporium in St. Louisat age 19 [16; 24c]. But perhapsthe most important similarity between them, or at leastthe mostpertinent here, is that theywere both political animals. After a certain pointin eachof theirlives, they took social, political, and economic criticism at the nationallevel as theirrole andprovince. 6 In short,they were both reformers. Their stylesof criticismwere at first glanceas different as their mode of dress. Kate, alwaysthe darlingof her family and of society,often useda ratherlight and banteringwit to makeher points. Charlottealso used wit, but of a more mordantand heavy-handed type. Indeed,if Kate Field was Washington'scourt jester, Charlotte Smith was a revivalistpreacher come to court--oran ancientHebrew prophetreturned to hauntthe hallsof Congress. And yet, there was an underlyingcommon ground of attitude and approachbetween them. Interestinglyenough, for example,both became lobbyists.And Kate, saysFrank Mott, couldbe a bit of a shrewat times[11, p. 40]. Also,these two journalist/reformers favored some of the samecauses. Both opposedimmigration. Both were anti-Clevelandand anti-Mormon. Both becameinterested in the role of womenat the ColumbianExposition-- thoughKate won medalsand praise for her interest,whereas Charlotte becamepersona non grata at the Woman'sBuilding. Both were feministsand wantedto do somethingpractical for women,7 and both saw the basicneed asjobs and money. Both alsowanted to help labor,though Charlotte's was a sustainedeffort over nearly forty years,whereas Kate's may have been a one-timething. These similaritiesshould not be overstated.Kate Field joined the suffragistslate in life, whereasCharlotte remained a stricteconomic feminist 6Indeed,Kate was fascinated with politics asearly as age 18 [29, 12, 29], and was an avid reader of newspaperseven as a younggirl. Her politics-or rather, her outspokennessabout her views-- costher a greatinheritance, which would have made her financiallyindependent for life; for her uncle had resolved to leave her his fortune until she took the Union side in the Civil War. ?Indeed,both did render direct aid to women.As early as 1874, while running her first periodical,the Inland Monthly,in St. Louis, CharlotteSmith foundeda Woman'sPrinting Companyto give employmentto women--includingthe printingof the Inland [30]. She also hired women as canvassers for the Inland. In the 1890s her crusade for women inventors encompassedsuch practical proposals as aid with model-making,patent drawings,and the expensesof gettinga patent,all outlinedin the onlyknown journal devoted exclusively to women inventors[22]. And in Boston,after the turn of the century,Smith's Woman's Rescue League providedshelter, employment counseling, medical care, and other direct aid to impoverished workinggirls and to sickor disaffectedprostitutes [26, 446]. In 1882,Kate Field starteda CooperativeDress Association, which not only hired women, but offeredcheaper and more healthfulclothing for women. A smallbut tellingfeature of the whereenterprisethey wascould thatrest itbetween providedcustomers seats for [29, all the391-3, women409]. employees--"a Unfortunately,patentthe venture self-actinglasted seat"only two years. 77 to the end. Kate'sinterests were broader (more "cultural") than Charlotte's. One of her proudestachievements was getting the importtax on art repealed; anotherwas saving John Brown's farm andgravesite for the nation. Charlotte mightwell have seenthese as frivolousconcerns, so long as thousandsof workingwomen were trying to subsiston $3-5 a week. Before further comparingthe careersand journalisticenterprises