Mary Casal, pseudonym: 1864 - Unknown

Darling, Sherry A. "A Critical Introduction to The Stone Wall." Tufts University, Dept. of Drama, 2003. Author's Summary:

In 1930 Eyncourt Press published The Stone Wall: An Autobiography by the pseudonymous Mary Casal, which offers a glimpse into the life of a turn-of-the-century lesbian. In her narrative, Casal details her experiences as a woman-loving woman, artist, inventor, and teacher, beginning with the year she was born, 1864, and continuing until she was asked to write her story by Eyncourt Press. She also introduces the reader to her extended lesbian community, which included a painter, a theosophist, and a famous male impersonator of the vaudeville stage.

At the core of Mary Casal's autobiography are her beliefs about the rights of women in general and women-loving women in particular, and she argues in direct response to the contemporary medical literature that treated lesbianism as a form of insanity or moral depravity. Identity for Casal is a matter of choice, and gender roles and the rules for sexuality are open to the same kind of interpretation as an actor would use in approaching a part in a play.

Drawing from the few concrete details Mary Casal offers in her autobiography, I discovered that the author's true identity is Ruth Fuller Field, a native of Deerfield, Massachusetts. I also uncovered the identities and confirmed events surrounding many of the people she includes in her narrative. In tracing the provenance of the text itself, I deduced that its editor, Douglas C. McMurtrie, also wrote about sexual inversion as a lay sexologist for a number of medical periodicals of the time.

[Second description of thesis]

In this critical introduction to The Stone Wall: An Autobiography , I provide additional documentation about Ruth Fuller Field and her extraordinary life and place her narrative within the larger context of the writing and publishing on same-sex desire that took place at the turn of the century. The revelation of these findings increases our understanding not only of this particular woman and her life narrative but also that of lesbian relationships between the 1860s and the 1930s and the construction of identity as a performative process.

[Third description of thesis]

Authorized facsimile, made from the microfilm master copy of the original dissertation published by UMI. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Tufts University, 2003. Author's abstract: "In this critical introduction to The stone wall: an autobiography, I provide additional documentation about Ruth Fuller Field [whose pen name was "Mary Casal"] and her extraordinary life, and place her narrative within the larger context of the writing and publishing on same-sex desire that took place at the turn of the century. The revelation of these findings increases our understanding not only of this particular woman and her life narrative, but also that of lesbian relationships between the 1860s and the 1930s and the construction of identify as a performative process." Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-134). Newberry Library copy lacks t.p. Finding and telling -- Play [a] part: individual transgressive acts -- From solo to scene partner -- The ensemble as transgressive community -- The writer and the critic: lesbian and gay autobiography as a genre -- Epilogue -- Appendix: "Ruth Fuller Field--Knitting poem." Xerographic copy.

[Fourth description of thesis]

Dissertation abstracts international: The humanities and social ... University Microfilms, University Microfilms International - 2003 - Snippet view. Drawing from the few concrete details Mary Casal offers in her autobiography, 1 discovered that the author's true identity is Ruth Fuller Field, a native of Deerfield, Massachusetts. I also uncovered the identities and confirmed events . . . .

Bibliography

Blow, Ben. CALIFORNIA HIGHWAYS. A DESCRIPTIVE RECORD OF ROAD DEVELOPMENT BY THE STATE AND BY SUCH COUNTIES AS HAVE PAVED HIGHWAYS. San Francisco, 1920

Mentions "Mrs. Ruth Fuller Field" as the secretary of The Calistoga [California] Chamber of Commerce on May 28, 1919.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac. Field, Ruth Fuller. Secretary to Helen Miller Gould. Brooklyn daily eagle almanac: Volume 18 - Page 322. American Almanac Collection (Library of Congress) - 1903 -

"Woody Crest -- Tarrytown, NY. Org. 1893. Fresh air home for children. . . . Miss Helen M. Gould, Pres., Tarrytown; Ruth Fuller Field, Sec, 579 5th av.; Miss Miriam Jagger, Matron."

Field, Ruth Fuller. "Helen Miller Gould: Recollections of a Former Private Secretary. The Cosmopolitan, 1907, : Volume 43, Issues 1-6, page 616-627.

Fuller, William Hyslop. Genealogy of Some Descendants of Thomas Fuller of Woburn. Printed for the compiler, 1919.

Lists Mary White Fuller as born on June 17, 1864, in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Married October 12, 1887 to Frank A. Field.

New York Times. "HELEN GOULD TO WED A RAILROAD OFFICIAL; Engagement to Finley J. Shepard of St. Louis Announced By G..." Abstract: "The engagement of Miss Helen Miller Gould, known to the Nation as Helen Gould, and as one of the foremost of women philanthropists, to Finley J. Shepard, a railroad man of St. Louis, was announced yesterday afternoon at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Georg... NY Times, December 16, 1912 - Front Page. Quotes from "Miss Field's" article about Helen Gould.

New York Times. "TEA PARTIES SPLIT Y.W.C.A. OF PARIS; Mrs. Ruth Field, Once Associated with Helen Gould, Forced to Give Up Secretaryship. RELIGION SUBORDINATED Devoted Her Energies to Social Side of the Organization -- Many Members, Sympathizing with Her, Resign." Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES. New York Times, May 26, 1908, Page 4. ABSTRACT: "PARIS, May 25. -- The Anglo-American branch of the Young Women's Christian Association is now in the throes of a factional fight which may result in a dissolution of the old organization and the formation of an independent society".

Sheldon, George. A History of Deerfield, Massachusetts: The Times When the People by Whom it was Settled, Unsettled and Resettled (Press of E.A. Hall & Co., 1896), page 171.

Lists birthdate of Ruth W. Fuller as June 17, 1864. "Casal" gives her birth year as 1864. Sheldon says she married Frank A. Field of "Mont." on February 12, 1887.