Adele M. Fielde

Adele Marion Fielde (March 30, 1839 – February 23, 1916)[1] was a social activist, Baptist missionary, scientist, and writer.[2][3]

Adele Marion Fielde
Born
Adelia Field

(1839-03-30)March 30, 1839
East Rodman, New York
DiedFebruary 23, 1916(1916-02-23) (aged 76)
Known forThe Fielde Nest
Parent(s)Leighton Field and Sophia (Tiffany) Field
Signature

Biography

Adelia Field was born in East Rodman, New York on March 30, 1839. Her parents were Leighton Field and Sophia Field. She graduated from New York State Normal School in Albany in 1860.[1] From 1883 to 1885, she studied medicine at the Medical College of Pennsylvania.[4] Fielde also studied biology for two years at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, but did not receive a formal degree.[4]

At age 27, her fiancé, Reverent Cyrus A. Chilcott (Chinese: 周谷), went to Thailand to engage in missionary work among the local Chinese,[5] and she followed, only to find he had passed several weeks before her arrival.[6] She never married.[7]

In 1894, after the defeat of the women's suffrage amendment to the New York State constitution, Fielde was one of six prominent suffragists who founded the League for Political Education. She worked with other suffragists to establish the Volunteer Committee with the goal of targeting New York society, using her wealth and status she established as a missionary in China to facilitate her efforts.[7]

Key research contributions

Fielde made significant contributions to myrmecology, the study of ants. In particular, she devised the 'Fielde Nest', a portable observation nest that she then used to enable precise observations of ant behaviour,[8] and which was also used by others including William Morton Wheeler.[9] She published over 20 papers about ants in less than 10 years.[4] She carried out her myrmecological research at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, one of the few institutions that was sympathetic to female students at that time. In addition to studying there, she also gave lectures.[4] Key discoveries include demonstrating that ants use their antennae to recognise nestmates[10] and that ants react to vibrations in the ground detected via their legs, rather than 'hearing' sound travelling through the air.[11]

Fielde also wrote a comprehensive dictionary and guide to the Chinese Teochew language, and was known to locals as "Miss Fielde" (Chinese: 斐姑娘).[5][12]

Selected works
  • Fielde, Adele M. (1894). A corner of Cathay: studies from life among the Chinese. New York: Macmillan and Co. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
  • Pagoda shadows: studies from life in China (3rd ed.). Boston: W.G. Corthell. 1885. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
  • Fielde, Adele M. (1914). Parliamentary procedure; a compendium of its rules compiled from the latest and highest authorities, for the use of students and for the guidance of officers and members of clubs, societies, boards, committees, and all deliberative bodies. Seattle, WA: Helen N. Stevens. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
  • Fielde, Adele M. (1883). A pronouncing and defining dictionary of the Swatow dialect, arranged according to syllables and tones. Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
  • Fielde, Adele M. (1878). First Lessons in the Swatow Dialect. Swatow: Swatow Printing Office Company. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
  • Fielde, Adele M. (1900). "Portable Ant Nests". Biological Bulletin. 2 (4): 81–85. doi:10.2307/1535796. JSTOR 1535796.
  • Fielde, Adele M.; Parker, George H. (1904). "The reactions of ants to material vibrations". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 56 (3): 642–649. JSTOR 4062955.

Taxon named in her honor

References
  1. Stevens, Helen Norton (1918). Memorial Biography of Adele M. Fielde: Humanitarian. Fielde Memorial Committee.
  2. Tucker, Ruth A. "Adele M. Fielde". Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity. Archived from the original on 2014-04-21. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  3. Warren, Leonard (14 January 2004). Adele Marion Fielde: Feminist, Social Activist, Scientist. Routledge. ISBN 9781134488155.
  4. Gibson, Roberta (2020). "Women's History: Adele Marion Fielde". Myrmecological News Blog.
  5. 徐松石 (1972-04-01). 華人浸信會史錄 (第四輯:海外地區) (in Chinese). 浸信會出版社(國際)有限公司.
  6. Griffiths, Valerie (September 2008). "Biblewomen from London to China: the transnational appropriation of a female mission idea". Women's History Review. 17. no 4.: 530 – via ebscohost.
  7. Santangelo, Lauren C. (Summer–Fall 2017). ""The Merry War Goes On": Elite Suffrage in Gilded Age Manhattan". Fenimore Art Museum: 349–350 – via ebscohost.
  8. Fielde, Adele Marion (1900). "Portable Ant Nests". Biological Bulletin. 2 (2): 81–85. doi:10.2307/1535735. JSTOR 1535735.
  9. Wheeler, W.M. (1910). Ants: Their Structure, Development and Behavior (PDF). Columbia University Biological Series. Vol. 9. Columbia University Press.
  10. Fielde, A.M. (1904). "Power of recognition among ants". Biological Bulletin. 7 (5): 227–250. doi:10.2307/1535711. hdl:2027/njp.32101079510044. JSTOR 1535711.
  11. Fielde, A.M.; Parker, GH. (1904). "The reactions of ants to material vibrations". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 56 (3): 642–649. JSTOR 4062955.
  12. 林伦伦 (2018-04-22). "斐姑娘"及其《汕头方言词典》. 汕头日报 (in Chinese). Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  13. Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (22 September 2018). "Family ENGRAULIDAE Gill 1861 (Anchovies)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
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