Catharine Cole Collection
2007-24

Summary Information

Repository
Newcomb Archives
Creator - Creator
Cole, Catharine, (Martha R. Field)
Title
Catharine Cole Collection
ID
2007-24
Date [inclusive]
Between 1853 and 1898
Extent
1.0 Cubic feet 1 carton
Language
English

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Biographical/Historical note

Catharine Cole, whose real name was Martha J Field, was an extraordinary woman of her time. Cole was one of the South's first female journalists. She was a crusader for the women's right to work and the prevention of animal cruelty in New Orleans. She helped start New Orleans' Training School for Nurses, the Women's Exchange, kindergartens in New Orleans, and the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Cole published her first article in the "New Orleans Republican" in 1869, when she was only 15 years old. She continued writing in such newspapers as the "San Francisco Post," "New Orleans Republican," "Commercial Bulletin," "New Orleans Times-Democrat," and "Daily Picayune" for the rest of her life.

Cole wrote such columns as the successful "Social Mélange," "Catharine Cole's Intercepted Letters," and "Over the Tea Cups" of the "Daily Picayune." In 1881, Cole toured the entire state of Louisiana and sent articles back on her findings. Her trip gave her plenty of material for short stories and further articles, as well as made her an authority on the resources of Louisiana. In 1887 she went to cover the Irish Troubles, consorting with such patriots as Sir John Dillon and William O'Brien. Cole used the information she gained on her travels when she was on the Board of Awards at the World Fair of 1893 in Chicago. With the accumulated fatigue from her trips and the effort of writing a daily column, Catharine's health finally broke.

Cole went to Germany for special treatment and several operations for paralysis agitans, but her condition worsened. Remarkably in 1897 she was able to write "Catharine Cole's Book," a compilation of her newspaper articles and thoughts. Catharine Cole died on December 20, 1898, at the age of 44.

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Scope and Contents note

The bulk of this collection is published articles, booklets, and books on the subject of New Orleans and related topics. The material, which covers the period of the early 1880s to 1889, may be helpful to researchers interested in the subject of New Orleans in the late 1800s.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

Newcomb Archives

Newcomb Center for Research on Women
Seltzer-Gerard Reading Room
62 Newcomb Place
New Orleans, Louisiana, 70118
504 865 5762
vorhoff@tulane.edu

Location of additional material

A tape from Cole's descendent, Catherine Field Bacon, is in the Oral History File.

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Controlled Access Headings

Personal Name(s)

  • Bacon, Catherine Field

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List of series

I. Biographical Information

II. Photographs

III. Correspondence

IV. Published Materials

V. Miscellaneous

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Collection Inventory

 NAC-327 Biographical Information 

Specific Content

A. Newspaper Clippings; B. Written Materials On; C. Miscellaneous.

Newspaper Clippings 

Specific Content

1. Article from the "Daily Picayune" on May 16, 1976 on Cole as an 'avid crusader for Women's jobs'. 2. Article from the "Daily Picayune" on May 8, 1904 on a concert to raise money for a memorial. 3. Obituary for Cole on December 24, 1898. 4. Obituary for Cole in 1898.

Written Materials On 

General note

1. Section on Cole in "Some Notables of New Orleans" from 1896 by Mary W. Mount. 2. Flo Field's, Cole's daughter, Biography of Catharine Cole. 3. Flo Field's Biographical Tribute to Catharine Cole. 4. Notes on Cole's life by Flo Field 5. Paper on Cole by a Newcomb College student

Miscellaneous 

General note

Map of the cemetery Cole is buried in and a picture of her gravestone.

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 NAC-327 Photographs 

Specific Content

A. Portrait of Cole; B. Portrait of Cole with her signature; C. Portrait of Cole's father, Walter Marion Smallwood; D. Copy of a portrait of Cole's mother, Emmeline Smallwood; E. Family portrait showing a young Emmeline Smallwood; G. Two photographs of Cole's house on Burdette Street.

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 NAC-327 Correspondence 

General note

A. Letter from Ida N. Mazurette, on March 9, 1968, to Flo Field that quotes from an article Cole had written about her visit to Northern Louisiana in 1892. B. Letter from Erma E. Beasley, on October 3, 1972, to Sydney Field, Cole's grandson, that recounts an incident on the streetcar when Cole's "old negro" was saved from a rioting mob as he took her copy to the "Daily Picayune."

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 NAC-327 Published Materials 

General note

A. Articles; B. Booklets; C. Books; D. Poems.

Articles 

General note

Album of Cole's newspaper clippings of her travels and columns from the 1880s to 1890s.

Booklets 

General note

"Summer Land: A Guide to New Orleans" that was reprinted in 1916 "The Story of the Old French Market."

Books 

General note

"Catharine Cole's book" from 1897, which is a compilation of her newspaper articles and thoughts.

Poems 

General note

"New Orleans" from circa 1890.

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 NAC-327 Miscellaneous 

General note

A. Poem "To Catharine Cole on the Eve of her Departure of Europe, May 1889"; B. Copy of a souvenir program from a benefit for Cole on June 29, 1894; C. Collection of Cole's aphorisms; D. Dinner card featuring remarks made by Cole; E. Letter from Catharine Field Bacon, Cole's great-granddaughter, regarding the collection; F. Inventory of items concerning Cole; G. Information on Elizabeth Smallwood Shield, Cole's sister.

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