# A. N. Field > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/A._N._Field > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/A._N._Field.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._N._Field > Source revision: 1356356785 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Arthur Nelson Field Born 27 February 1882 Nelson, New Zealand Died 3 January 1963(1963-01-03) (aged 80) Occupation Journalist Parent Thomas Field **Arthur Nelson Field** (27 February 1882 – 3 January 1963) was a New Zealand [journalist](/source/Journalist), writer and [political activist](/source/Activism).[1] Born in [Nelson](/source/Nelson%2C_New_Zealand), he was the first son of four children born to [Tom Field](/source/Thomas_Field_(politician)) and Jessica Black. His father was managing director of Wilkins and Field Hardware in his native city, which his grandfather had founded, and served as a Nelson City Councillor and [Reform Party](/source/New_Zealand_Reform_Party) [member of parliament](/source/Member_of_parliament) for the [Nelson](/source/Nelson_(New_Zealand_electorate)) electorate from [1914](/source/1914_New_Zealand_general_election) to 1919.[2] Field took up journalism and worked as a reporter for *[The Evening Post](/source/The_Evening_Post_(New_Zealand))*, *[Taranaki Herald](/source/Taranaki_Herald)*, *[Poverty Bay Herald](/source/Poverty_Bay_Herald)* and *[Melbourne Argus](/source/Melbourne_Argus)* (1901–1907), before returning to Nelson in 1907. He served as a Wellington *[Dominion](/source/The_Dominion_Post_(Wellington))* columnist for the next 21 years (1907–1928). There was a break during this period when he served as a [Royal Navy](/source/Royal_Navy) sub-lieutenant and adjutant at Portsmouth, and on board RNV *Spenser* in the [North Sea](/source/North_Sea). He returned to New Zealand when discharged in 1914.[2] ## Career and associations While working as a journalist and serving in the Navy, Field became involved in [right-wing politics](/source/Right-wing_politics). In 1909 he published *The Citizen*, an early far right publication which upheld motherhood, [eugenics](/source/Eugenics) and monetary reform, and opposed "Maori Obstructionism" for seven years, 1912–1919.[3] After that period, he also became involved with "The Britons", a group that specialised in publishing New Zealand editions of *[The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion](/source/The_Protocols_of_the_Learned_Elders_of_Zion)* and published a New Zealand edition himself. During the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War), he was kept under surveillance by the Security Intelligence Bureau of New Zealand's Department of External Affairs. Field won later "acclaim" from kindred anti-socialists such as the [League of Empire Loyalists](/source/League_of_Empire_Loyalists) and the late [Eric Butler](/source/Eric_Butler) of the [Australian League of Rights](/source/Australian_League_of_Rights). Marcus van Rooij wrote a paper on A.N. Field's influence on Australian neofascism, suggesting his [conspiracy theory](/source/Conspiracy_theory) discourse impacted on other such Australian organisations during the Depression era. In particular, *The Truth About the Slump* (1931, 1932) enjoyed widespread circulation and stimulated the interest of organisations such as the Guild of Watchmen of Australia, the Australian Catholic Truth Society, the League of Truth, the British Australian Racial Body, and Evangelical Publishing Company of New South Wales. Australian anti-Semite Patricia Lewin cited *Truth About the Slump* in her tract, *The Key* (1933), as did numerous other Australian [Social Credit](/source/Social_Credit) and [Douglas Credit Party](/source/Douglas_Credit_Party) figures that based their work on the monetary theories of [C.H. Douglas](/source/C.H._Douglas). Rooij designated him the "Kiwi theoretician of the Australian Radical Right". Field was a [creationist](/source/Creationism).[4] He authored the book *Why Colleges Breed Communists* (1941). It was republished in 1971 under the title *The Evolution Hoax Exposed*.[5] Despite the recognition of his work in Australia and the United States, and the circulation of his books within those countries, Field preferred to work from his isolated Nelson homestead. In his later years, Field wrote a series of self-published tracts on his interpretations of economics, anti-socialist articles about the New Zealand Labour Party and trade union movement, and related matters. Some were republished in the United States in the early 1960s. Field died in 1963 aged 80 at a private hospital in Nelson.[2] ## Arthur Nelson Field Collection Field's collection of more than 2500 right-wing publications was acquired by the [Alexander Turnbull Library](/source/Alexander_Turnbull_Library) at the [National Library of New Zealand](/source/National_Library_of_New_Zealand) on the year of his death.[1] The collection includes over 650 of his own books, pamphlets, periodicals, manuscripts and ephemera published between 1890 and 1970, and now accounts for one of the largest complete collections of published right-wing materials available to the public anywhere in the world.[1] ## Bibliography - *Wanted: Accurate Data about Human Heredity*. Timaru: Timaru Post Publishing, 1911. - *Medical Marriage Certificates*. London: Eugenic Education Society, 1912. - *The Defence Department's Failure*. Wellington: Wellington Publishing Company, 1915. - [*The Truth about the Slump: What the News Never Tells You.*](https://archive.org/details/AllTheseThingsArthurField_20190308) Nelson: A. N. Field, 1931, 1932. - *The Stabilisation of Money*. Nelson: A. N. Field: 1934. - *The Protocols of the Elders of Zion*. Nelson: A. N. Field, 1934. - *The Untaught History of Money*. Nelson: A.N. Field, 1938. - [*All These Things, Vol. 1*.](https://archive.org/details/AllTheseThings1934) Nelson: A.N. Field, 1936. - *Socialism Unmasked*. Nelson: A.N. Field, 1938. - [*Why Colleges Breed Communists*](https://archive.org/details/WhyCollegesBreedCommunists1941). [Hawthorne, California](/source/Hawthorne%2C_California): Omni Publishing, 1941. - [*The Bretton Woods Plot*.](https://archive.org/details/TheBrettonWoodsPlot1957) Nelson: A. N. Field, 1957. - *All These Things*, Vol. 2. [Hawthorne, California](/source/Hawthorne%2C_California): Omni Publishing, 1963. - *The Truth About New Zealand*. Bullsbrook: Veritas Books, 1987. ## Further reading - La Rooij, Marinus, F. ["From Colonial Conservative to International Antisemite: The Life and Work of Arthur Nelson Field."](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3180683) *[Journal of Contemporary History](/source/Journal_of_Contemporary_History)*, vol. 37, no. 2, April 2002, pp. 223–239. [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [3180683](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3180683). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1177/00220094020370020401](https://doi.org/10.1177%2F00220094020370020401). - La Rooij, Marinus F. [*Arthur Nelson Field: Kiwi Theoretician of the Australian Radical Right?*](https://www.jstor.org/stable/27516074) *[Labour History](/source/Labour_History_(journal))*, No. 89, November 2005, pp. 37–54. [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [27516074](https://www.jstor.org/stable/27516074).[doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/27516074](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F27516074). - *Report on Arthur Nelson Field by Security Intelligence Bureau*. New Zealand Department of External Affairs Archives, 15 December 1943. - [Spoonley, Paul.](/source/Paul_Spoonley) *The Politics of Nostalgia: The Extreme Right in New Zealand.* Palmerston North: [Dunmore Press](/source/Dunmore_Press), 1987. - [Spoonley, Paul.](/source/Paul_Spoonley) ["Field, Arthur Nelson."](https://web.archive.org/web/20210224203115/https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4f8/field-arthur-nelson) [*Dictionary of New Zealand Biography*.](https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies) *[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand](/source/Te_Ara%3A_The_Encyclopedia_of_New_Zealand)*. Archived from [the original.](https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4f8/field-arthur-nelson) ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-collection_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-collection_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-collection_1-2) ["Arthur Nelson Field Collection."](https://archive.today/20210309063059/https://natlib.govt.nz/collections/a-z/arthur-nelson-field-collection) *[Turnbull Named Collections.](/source/Alexander_Turnbull_Library)* [National Library of New Zealand](/source/National_Library_of_New_Zealand). Archived from [the original.](https://natlib.govt.nz/collections/a-z/arthur-nelson-field-collection) Retrieved 8 March 2021. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-DNZB_A.N._Field_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-DNZB_A.N._Field_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-DNZB_A.N._Field_2-2) Spoonley, Paul. ["Field, Arthur Nelson: 1882-1963"](https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4f8). *[Dictionary of New Zealand Biography](/source/Dictionary_of_New_Zealand_Biography)*. [Ministry for Culture and Heritage](/source/Ministry_for_Culture_and_Heritage). Retrieved 4 April 2011. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["*The Citizen* (Wellington, N.Z.: 1909)."](https://archive.today/20210308235419/https://collection.nelsonmuseum.co.nz/objects/23135/the-citizen-wellington-nz-1909) [Nelson Provincial Museum](/source/Nelson_Provincial_Museum), 1909. Archived from [the original.](https://collection.nelsonmuseum.co.nz/objects/23135/the-citizen-wellington-nz-1909) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Numbers, Ronald L; Stenhouse, John. (2000). *Antievolutionism in the Antipodes: From Protesting Evolution to Promoting Creationism in New Zealand*. *[The British Journal for the History of Science](/source/The_British_Journal_for_the_History_of_Science)* 33 (3): 335-350. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Busse, Ulrich; Hübler, Axel. (2012). *Investigations into the Meta-Communicative Lexicon of English: A Contribution to Historical Pragmatics*. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 145. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-9027256256](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-9027256256) ## External links - [A. N. Field](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/141041016/arthur-nelson-field) at [Find a Grave](/source/Find_a_Grave) - [A. N. Field](https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no92-006030/) in libraries ([WorldCat](/source/WorldCat) catalog) - [A. N. Field](https://collection.nelsonmuseum.co.nz/persons/680) at the [Nelson Provincial Museum](/source/Nelson_Provincial_Museum) - [A. N. Field papers](https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22464193) at the [National Library of New Zealand](/source/National_Library_of_New_Zealand) - [Arthur Nelson Field Collection](https://natlib.govt.nz/collections/a-z/arthur-nelson-field-collection) at the [Alexander Turnbull Library](/source/Alexander_Turnbull_Library) v t e Social credit Movements Canada Abolitionist Party of Canada Alberta Social Credit Party British Columbia Social Credit Party Canada Party Christian Credit Party Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform Les Démocrates Manitoba Social Credit Party New Democracy Pauper Party of Ontario Parti crédit social uni Pilgrims of Saint Michael Ralliement créditiste Ralliement créditiste du Québec Social Credit Board Social Credit Party of Canada Social Credit Party of New Brunswick Social Credit Party of Ontario Social Credit Party of Saskatchewan Oceania Australian League of Rights Country Party (New Zealand) Democratic Labour Party (New Zealand) Douglas Credit Party Social Credit Party (New Zealand) Social Credit-NZ Solomon Islands Social Credit Party Europe British People's Party Irish Monetary Reform Association Social Credit Party of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Social Credit Party of Ireland People William Aberhart Lavern Ahlstrom Bruce Beetham W. A. C. Bennett John Horne Blackmore Eric Butler Réal Caouette Vernon Cracknell C. H. Douglas Louis Even A. N. Field Ron Gostick John Hargrave Robert A. Heinlein Norman Jaques Solon Earl Low Hugh MacDiarmid Ernest Manning Roly Marks Neil Morrison Al Overfield Ezra Pound Manasseh Sogavare Ken Sweigard John Turmel History 1937 Social Credit backbenchers' revolt Prosperity certificate Social Credit Party of Canada split, 1963 Category Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States Italy Israel Other Open Library Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [A. N. Field](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._N._Field) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._N._Field?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.