The Fields Family collection includes an extensive look into the lives of the Fields family in Nanticoke, Maryland. The collection is comprised of two parts, a digitized print portion that contains accounts from the Fields’ children and grandchildren growing up on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, photographs of the family, friends, locations and other items prominent in their lives. Additional information includes extensive genealogy records for the Barker and Fields families. The second part of this collection is comprised of digital film clips from family moments. The film clips were digitized from two original 8mm films. This collection also reveals a glimpse into what life was like on the Eastern Shore throughout the 1920s to 1970s. The majority of the materials were acquired by grandchild of the Fields family, Jane Beardsley Burt, who between the years of 2005 and 2011 collected material from family members at reunions and conducted extensive research.

Daniel Allen Fields was born in Laurinburg, North Carolina in 1898. Growing up he attended the Georgia Military Academy, and then University of North Carolinas Medical School. He later went on to the University of Maryland’s Medical School in Baltimore. In 1925, he married his wife, Dorothy Barker Fields, whom was born in Kennebunk, Maine in 1900. Dorothy obtain a music degree from Hollins College in Virginia before meeting Daniel and settling down. They bought a house on the Nanticoke River, which also housed Daniels medical practice. Daniel and Dorothy had four girls, Ann (1926), Jane (1927-2016), Nancy (1929), and Priscilla (1931).

As Daniel’s medical practice grew, overseeing multiple counties, primarily in Salisbury and Nanticoke, they family grew in prominence. This now wealthy family lived in luxury having electricity, an inside bathroom, a tennis court, a barn with horses, a boat, and multiple cars. All things very uncharacteristic for the time. They had Alberta the help, Hamp the Driver, and Mrs. Holloway the live-in nurse. As a one of very few doctors in the area, some of Daniels most notable moments were meeting President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Booker T. Washington, being president of the medical society, owning his own drug store, becoming a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary during WWII, and in his free time singing in a Quartet.

While Daniel worked often, Dorothy ran the household and yard, and tended to the children. Growing up the children were taken on many trips to places such as New York City, the Adirondacks, Ocean City, the Race Tracks, the Waterview hotel were among a few. Living life near the water; boating, fishing and oystering were popular activities for the Fields Family.  Ann studied at the University of Maryland Medical School, married in 1951, and had three children: Richard, Dorothy, and Allen. Jane earned her B.S. in 1948 and her Nursing Degree in 1982, she married in 1958 and had five children: Jane, Samuel, Emily, Earl, and Thomas. Nancy focused on her career as a nurse’s aide. Lastly, Priscilla married in 1960 and had one child, Kate.

Daniel passed in 1946 from a stroke. Dorothy took care of affairs and moved a smaller house in Salisbury. She lived out her life there spending much time with her children and grandchildren until her death in 1976.

This collection includes print and digital materials that feature the Fields Family throughout the 1920s to 1970s. The bulk of materials are in print and include accounts of childhood memories from the children of Daniel and Dorothy Fields during a 2005 and a 2011 family reunion. Other material include photographs, genealogies, and DVDS.

Series I: DIGITAL PRINT MATERIAL contains multiple sections, 2005 and 2011 family memories, photographs and the Baker and Fields Family Genealogy. The family memories are typed stories recordings of the various Fields sister’s memories of their life growing up on the Nanticoke River, Wicomico County, Maryland. Copies of the photographs include some images of the Fields Family Home, family members, other prominent people in their life, family vacations and other daily activities, as well as various locations around the Eastern Shore. Most photographs also include written descriptions of what is depicted. There are two genealogies, one of Dorothy Barker Fields lineage and the second is of Daniel Allen Fields. Materials have been digitized and are available on the Nabb Research Center’s dropbox account – please see the archivist for access.

Series II: DIGITAL FILMS, contains two films the Fields Family throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The first DVD features clips of the family’s home life. Much at their Nanticoke home as well as activities they family took part in such as swimming, attending graduations, going to the beach, riding horses, boating and visiting various places. The second video focuses on family gatherings of the children and the grandchildren. Activities featured include going to amusements parks, playing in a creek, watching a train, shooting guns and going to the beach. The second DVD has thirty minutes of content, but only the first fifteen is original clips, the second half is a repetition. Materials have been digitized and are available on the Nabb Research Center’s dropbox account – please see the archivist for access.