Field, Marshall, 1834–1906, American merchant, b. Conway, Mass. In 1856, after five years' apprenticeship in a general store in Pittsfield, Mass., he went to Chicago and became a clerk for Cooley, Wadsworth & Co., a leading dry-goods house there, of which he became a junior partner in 1862. In 1865 he became a partner in the firm of Field, Palmer, and Leiter, the company that became Marshall Field and Co. in 1881. He amassed one of the largest private fortunes in the United States and pioneered in establishing many modern retailing practices.

He made the first of his major philanthropies when he was a charter member of the corporation formed (1878) to found the institution which became the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1890 he gave the original tract of land for the Univ. of Chicago, ultimately becoming one of the largest donors to the school. In 1893 he gave $1,000,000 to the fund for the museum at the World's Columbian Exposition. Its collections were the nucleus of the Field Museum of Natural History, now housed in a magnificent building on the Chicago lake front that was provided by a bequest of $8,000,000 from Field.

His son,

Marshall Field 2d, 1868–1905, never made any move to follow his father into business. His early death from a gun wound was officially held to have been accidental.

Marshall Field 3d, 1893–1956, son of Marshall Field 2d, was educated at Eton and at Cambridge Univ., then served in World War I. He engaged in numerous business activities until 1936, when he gave up all of them to devote himself to his various social projects. In June, 1940, Field helped found the New York City liberal newspaper PM. He was the publication's largest stockholder and, from Oct., 1940, its owner. He took no part in its editorial direction, but offered it financial support until Apr., 1948, when the paper was sold; soon afterward it went out of business.

In 1941, Field started the Chicago Sun, and in Jan., 1948, he bought the Chicago Times and merged the two papers. Field took a more active part in that journalistic enterprise, ultimately becoming the paper's dominant personality. Through Field Enterprises, Inc. (est. 1944) he also published the World Book Encyclopedia. His charities included many child welfare organizations. Field's political and social beliefs are expressed in his book Freedom Is More than a Word (1945).

Bibliography

See L. Wendt and H. Kogan, Give the Lady What She Wants: The Story of Marshall Field and Co. (1952); biography of Marshall Field 3d by S. D. Becker (1964); J. Tebbel, The Marshall Fields: A Study in Wealth (1947).

Field, Marshall

(born Aug. 18, 1834, near Conway, Mass., U.S.—died Jan. 16, 1906, New York, N.Y.) U.S. department-store owner. Born on a farm, he became an errand boy for a dry-goods store at age 16. He moved to Chicago and was hired in 1856 by a mercantile house, in which he later attained full partnership. In 1867 he and a partner bought the merchandising firm they had joined two years earlier, and in 1888 he bought out his partner, creating Marshall Field and Co. In his store Field emphasized customer service, liberal credit, the one-price system, and the acceptance of returned merchandise. His department store was the first to have a restaurant for shoppers.

Field, Marshall (1835–1906) merchant; born in Conway, Mass. A shop clerk in Pittsfield, Mass., he moved to Chicago (1856) where he continued in retail. By 1867 he headed Field, Leiter & Company which in 1881 became Marshall Field and Company, soon recognized as one of the world's largest, most progressive emporia. As a philanthropist, he gave to many causes, from the land on which to establish the University of Chicago to a library for his hometown. In 1893 he gave a million dollars for the Columbian Museum at the Chicago World's Fair; it is now known as the Field Museum of Natural History.