{{short description|American journalist}} {{About|the journalist and writer|the lawyer and civil-rights leader|Julius L. Chambers}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox writer <!-- For more information see :Template:Infobox writer/doc. --> | name = Julius Chambers | image = Julius Chambers 001.jpg | alt = | caption = Julius Chambers {{Circa|1912}} | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1850|11|21}} | birth_place = Bellefontaine, Ohio | death_date = {{Death date and age|1920|02|12|1850|11|21}} | death_place = New York, New York | resting_place = | occupation = Journalist, travel writer | language = | nationality = American | signature = Julius Chambers Signature 1872.svg }} '''Julius Chambers, F.R.G.S.''',<ref group=Note name="first name" /> (November 21, 1850 – February 12, 1920) was an American author, editor, journalist, travel writer, and activist against psychiatric abuse.<ref name=bio/>
==Life and works== Julius Chambers was born in Bellefontaine, Ohio on November 21, 1850, the son of Joseph and Sarabella (''née'' Walker) Chambers.<ref name=Twentieth>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/twentiethcentur04browgoog/page/n175/mode/1up |title=The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans |volume=II |editor1-first=Rossiter |editor1-last=Johnson |editor2-first=John Howard |editor2-last=Brown |publisher=The Biographical Society |location=Boston |page=<!-- no page numbers --> |year=1904 |access-date=2022-02-27 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> When he was only eleven years old, he began working as a printer's devil in his uncles' newspaper office, the ''Bellefontaine Republican''.<ref name=bio>''Dictionary of American Biography'' (1936) Charles Scribner's Sons, New York</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Bellefontaine Republican – National Digital Newspaper Program in Ohio|url=https://ndnpohio.ohiohistory.org/newspapers/bellefontaine-republican|access-date=2021-04-01|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="tucher">Tucher, Andie, "Why Journalism History Matters: The Gaffe, the 'Stuff,' and the Historical Imagination," ''American Journalism'' vol. 31, no. 4, December 2014, pp. 432–444</ref> He first attended Ohio Wesleyan University, and later, Cornell University, from which he graduated in 1870.<ref name=whoswho>{{cite book|last1=Leonard|first1=John W.|last2=Marquis|first2=Albert Nelson|title=Who's who in America|url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinameric03marqgoog|accessdate=July 29, 2013|year=1899|publisher=Marquis Who's Who|page=[https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinameric03marqgoog/page/n166 122]}}</ref> At Cornell, he was a co-founder in 1869 of the Irving Literary Society.<ref name=DKE>[https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/3316/%2318%20Early%20Histories.pdf Cornell Early History], ''Delta Kappa Epsilon'' Quarterly, 1893. Retrieved July 27, 2017.</ref> Around 1880, while working as a journalist he spent some time reading law in Philadelphia with Benjamin H. Brewster, who became U.S. Attorney General in December 1881, and studying at Columbia College Law School in New York City.<ref name=whoswho/>
===''New York Tribune''=== After graduating from Cornell, he became a reporter on the ''New York Tribune'' until 1873.<ref name=DKE/>
====Geographic discovery====
[[File:Itasca Lake Region by Julius Chambers.png|thumb|120px|Crude map of Elk Lake region, drawn by Julius Chambers. He called the lake "Lake Dolly Varden", a Dickensian name he also gave to the canoe he used on the trip.]] While on sick leave on June 4, 1872, Chambers discovered Elk Lake adjoining Lake Itasca in Clearwater County, Minnesota, in the Lake District of Northwestern Minnesota. He declared it to be the ultimate origin of the Mississippi River.<ref name=hist/><ref group=Note>Other white men including (William Morrison 1803, Schoolcraft 1832, and Nicollet 1836) preceded him there, but had not identified its role as such, because at the time of their visits, Elk Lake had been part of Lake Itasca, from which it was believed to have been subsequently separated by natural causes. (See reference "The Glazier Fiasco")</ref> For this discovery, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.<ref name=bio/> This led to a series of newspaper articles and the book ''The Mississippi River and Its Wonderful Valley'' (1910).<ref name=hist>"The Glazier Fiasco" (1893) ''Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society'', Vol.7, p.181</ref><ref name="Chambers1910">{{cite book|last=Chambers|first=Julius|title=The Mississippi River and its wonderful valley: twenty-seven hundred and seventy-five miles from source to sea|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.156966|accessdate=July 29, 2013|year=1910|publisher=G. P. Putnam's sons|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.156966/page/n467 315]}}</ref><ref name="Winchell1891">{{cite book|last=Winchell|first=Newton Horace|title=The American Geologist|url=https://archive.org/details/americangeologi00unkngoog|accessdate=July 29, 2013|year=1891|publisher=Geological Publishing Company}}</ref><ref group=Note>The following notice appeared in the ''Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' on July 17, 1872:<blockquote>Julius Chambers, who undertook to paddle his canoe Dolly Varden from Lake Itaska to New Orleans, reached Quincy, Illinois, yesterday and shipped his canoe to St. Louis on the steamer Rob Roy.</blockquote></ref>
====Investigative journalism====
thumb|left|160px|Julius Chambers in 1872 Later in 1872, he returned to work and undertook a journalistic investigation of Bloomingdale Asylum, having himself committed with the help of some of his friends and the city editor. His intent was to obtain information about alleged abuse of inmates. After ten days, his collaborators on the project had him released. When articles and accounts of the experience were published in the ''Tribune'', it led to the release of twelve patients who were not mentally ill, a reorganization of the staff and administration of the institution and, eventually, to a change in the lunacy laws.<ref name=bio/><ref>"A New Hospital for the Insane" (Dec., 1876) ''Brooklyn Daily Eagle''</ref><ref group=Note>The following notice appeared in the ''Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' on November 30, 1877:<blockquote>The lady whose suit against the Bloomingdale Asylum was mentioned in the ''Eagle'' on Wednesday is Mrs. James O. Norton. Mrs. Norton has been indefatigable for the past year to have her experiences of asylum life made known to the public, with a view toward ameliorating the condition of those suffering in them, and has decided that the course she has pursued is the best. She has put her case in the hands of Mr. John D. Townsend, of New York, whose name is associated with the exposures made several years ago by Julius Chambers, and he doubtless will secure a legal victory for this worthy lady</blockquote></ref> This later led to the publication of the book ''A Mad World and Its People'' (1876). From this time onward, Chambers was frequently invited to speak on the rights of the mentally ill and the need for proper facilities for their accommodation, care and treatment.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1876/12/23/81702224.pdf |title=An Insane Hospital for Brooklyn |date=1876-12-23 |newspaper=The New York Times |page=8 |accessdate=2022-02-27}}</ref>
===''New York Herald''=== In 1873, he joined the staff of the ''New York Herald'' and in his fifteen years at the newspaper occupied nearly every one of its editorial desks.<ref name="tucher" /> In 1887, his editor-in-chief sent him to Paris to launch the Paris ''Herald.''<ref name=bio/><ref name=DKE/>
===''New York World''=== [[File:JosephPulitzernndb.jpg|thumb|120px|Chambers' editor-in-chief Joseph Pulitzer]] In 1889, Chambers became the managing editor of the ''New York World'' on the invitation of Joseph Pulitzer, where he remained until 1891.<ref name=whoswhony>''Who's who in New York'' (1905) L.R. Hamersley Co., New York</ref>
In 1890, Pulitzer, Chambers, et al. were indicted for posthumous criminal libel against Alexander T. Stewart for accusing him of "a dark and secret crime", as the man who "invited guests to meet his mistresses at his table", and as "a pirate of the dry goods ocean."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1890/05/01/103240921.pdf |title=Defending Stewart's Memory |date=May 1, 1890 |work=New York Times |accessdate=2012-08-10}}</ref> The charges were dismissed by the court.<ref name="Bobbs-Merill Company">{{cite book|title=The Reader: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oMpHNXax0AoC&pg=PA559|accessdate=July 29, 2013|year=1904|publisher=Bobbs-Merill Company|page=559}}</ref> This sort of criminal action was common at the time and both Pulitzer and Chambers were indicted in a number of cases, in some of which they were acquitted, in others convicted.<ref name="Merrill1888">{{cite book|last=Merrill|first=Samuel|title=Newspaper Libel: A Handbook for the Press|url=https://archive.org/details/newspaperlibela01merrgoog|accessdate=July 29, 2013|year=1888|publisher=Ticknor}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Chicago Daily News Almanac and Year Book for ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RmMTAAAAYAAJ|accessdate=July 29, 2013|year=1910|publisher=Chicago Daily News, Incorporated}}</ref>
Chambers also wrote a column for the ''Brooklyn Daily Eagle'', from 1904 onwards, called "Walks and Talks" and he continued to write it for the rest of his life.<ref name=bio/>
He continued his travel writing and lectured in journalism at Cornell University from 1903 to 1904, and at New York University in 1910.<ref name=bio/>
In addition to his works of non-fiction, he published over a hundred short stories and had two plays produced in New York, both comedies.<ref name=bio/><ref name=whoswhony/> His final book, the posthumously published ''News Hunting on Three Continents'' (1921), has been generally accepted as an autobiographical account of his career even though many of the chapters are in fact lightly revised versions of fictional stories he wrote over the years.<ref name="tucher" />
Chambers was married twice. For years he was a member of the Lotos Club, New York.
He died at his home in New York on February 12, 1920.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/obituary-clipping-feb-13-1920-3062530/ |title=Julius Chambers Dies in New York |newspaper=The Boston Post |location=New York |page=8 |date=1920-02-13 |access-date=2022-02-27 |via=NewspaperArchive}}</ref>
==Bibliography==
===Books===
*''A Mad World and Its People'' (1876) a.k.a.<br/> ''A Mad World and Its Inhabitants'', Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, London<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/amadworldandits01chamgoog |title=A mad world and its inhabitants : Julius Chambers : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive |date=2001-03-10 |publisher=Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington |accessdate=2012-08-10}}</ref> *''On a Margin'' (1884) The story of a hopeless patriot, Ford, Howard & Hulbert, New York<ref name="Chambers1884">{{cite book|last=Chambers|first=Julius|title=On a Margin ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AGk-AAAAYAAJ|accessdate=July 29, 2013|year=1884|publisher=Fords, Howard & Hulbert}}</ref> *''Lovers Four and Maidens Five'' (1886) A story of the Allegheny Mountains, Porter & Coates *''Missing'' (1896) A Romance of the Sargasso Sea, The Transatlantic Publishing Company *''A Happy Month in Jamaica'' (1900) F. Presbrey Co. *''The Destiny of Doris'' (1901) A travel-story of three continents, Continental Publishing Company, New York<ref name="Chambers1901">{{cite book|last=Chambers|first=Julius|title=The destiny of Doris: a travel-story of three continents|url=https://archive.org/details/destinydorisatr00chamgoog|accessdate=July 29, 2013|year=1901|publisher=Continental pub. co.}}</ref> *''Seven, Seven, Seven – City'' (1903) A Tale of the Telephone<ref>{{cite web |title="Seven, seven, seven – City." A tale of the telephone (1903) by Julius Chambers |url=http://gaslight-lit.s3-website.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/gaslight/777city.htm |accessdate=2025-05-31 |publisher=Gaslight.mtroyal.ca}}</ref> * ''When Money Talked'' (1904) Serialized in ''The Gateway'': (Part 1)<ref>{{cite book|title=Gateway|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P3VMAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=July 29, 2013|year=1904|publisher=The Gateway}}</ref> (Part 2)<ref>{{cite book|title=Gateway|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1nVMAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=July 29, 2013|year=1905}}</ref> *''Seeing New York'' (1908) a brief historical guide and souvenir of America's greatest city *''The Book of New York'' (1912) Forty years' recollections of the American metropolis<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/bookofnewyorkfor00cham |title=The book of New York; forty years' recollections of the American metropolis : Chambers, Julius, 1850–1920 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive |accessdate=2012-08-10}}</ref> *''Montreal'' (1915) Old, New, Entertaining, Convincing, Fascinating (contributing editor)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/montrealoldnewen00prinuoft |title=Montreal: old, new, entertaining, convincing, fascinating. Editorial staff: Lorenzo Prince [and others] Contributors: B.K. Sandwell [and others] Special contributing editor: Julius Chambers : Prince, Lorenzo : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive |accessdate=2012-08-10}}</ref> *''News Hunting on Three Continents'' (1921) Mitchell Kennerley, New York<ref name="Chambers1921">{{cite book|last=Chambers|first=Julius|title=News hunting on three continents|url=https://archive.org/details/newshuntingonthr00chamuoft|accessdate=July 29, 2013|year=1921|publisher=M. Kennerley}}</ref> *''The Rascal Club'' (1897) F. Tennyson Neely, New York. *''Benjamin North''<ref name="Chambers1901"/> *''One Woman's Life'' * [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924027458839#page/n9/mode/2up ''News hunting on three continents'']. Publisher: Mitchell Kennerley, New York 1921 * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Julius Chambers}}
===Articles=== * "The Chivalry of the Press" ''The Arena'' Vol.4 (June, 1891<ref name="Flower1891">{{cite book|last=Flower|first=Benjamin Orange|title=The Arena|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VwjZAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=July 29, 2013|year=1891|publisher=Arena Publishing Company}}</ref> * "Little Stories of Journalism" in ''The Reader'' (1904)<ref name="Bobbs-Merill Company"/> *"Woman:The Line of Progress" (1910) in ''The Forum'', Volume 44<ref name="MetcalfPage1910">{{cite book|author1=Lorettus Sutton Metcalf|author2=Walter Hines Page|author3=Joseph Mayer Rice |author4=Frederic Taber Cooper |author5=Mitchell Kennerley |author6=Arthur Hooley |author7=Edwin Wildman |author8=George Henry Payne |author9=Henry Goddard Leach |author-link9=Henry Goddard Leach|title=The Forum|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IGO_u3K13BQC&pg=PA724|accessdate=July 29, 2013|year=1910|publisher=Forum Print. Company|page=724}}</ref> *"Why Germany Went to War, General Conversion to the Racial Doctrines of Professor Fichte" in ''The Gateway'', a magazine of patriotic service, Volume XXXI (1918)<ref>{{cite book|title=Gateway|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o7TmAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=July 29, 2013|year=1918}}</ref>
==Notes== {{commons category}} {{reflist|group=Note|refs= <ref group=Note name="first name"> There is disparity about an unused first name. ''The Americana'' Vol.4 (1911) calls him '''Charles Julius Chambers''',[https://books.google.com/books?id=9U0WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP867&ci=117%2C153%2C381%2C216] ''Dictionary of American Biography'' (1936) and ''The Delta Kappa Epsilon Quarterly'' (1893) [https://books.google.com/books?id=UQITAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA19&ci=44%2C1044%2C834%2C210] call him '''James Julius Chambers'''. Regardless of the correct name, he used neither one in practice, nor an initial in its place.</ref> }}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chambers, Julius}} Category:American male journalists Category:American travel writers Category:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Category:1850 births Category:1920 deaths Category:Cornell University alumni Category:New York Herald people Category:People from Bellefontaine, Ohio Category:Journalists from Ohio