William J. (William John) Fielding

Born in New Jersey in 1886, William J. Fielding was an American author, editor, and self-taught sexologist. Sources on his papers at New York University say he left school before finishing the eighth grade, worked manual jobs including blast-furnace labor and tunnel work, then retrained for clerical work and spent much of his career with Tiffany & Co.

By the 1910s he was also active as a writer and editor, including work with The Newark Leader. He went on to publish widely on psychology, marriage, courtship, and sexual behavior, aiming his books at ordinary readers rather than specialists. Titles associated with him include Sex and the Love Life and Strange Customs of Courtship and Marriage.

Fielding's work reflects an era when writers were beginning to discuss subjects long treated as taboo in public. Archival descriptions note that his papers include correspondence, writings, and case histories from readers, which helps explain the practical, human-centered tone of much of his nonfiction. He died in 1973.