Riley, James Whitcomb. Letters to James Newton Matthews, 1890 | Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Matthews, James Newton (1852-1910)
Riley, James Whitcomb (1849-1916)

James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916), a native of Greenfield, Indiana, was a newspaper editor before concentrating on his poetry. He began publishing poems in local newspapers during the mid-1870s and increased his fame by reciting his work on a traveling circuit in the 1880s. Riley, then based in Indianapolis, was one of the most famous writers in the United States by the 1890s. He is known for his use of local dialects and his depictions of life in Indiana.

James Newton Matthews (1852-1910) grew up in Greencastle, Indiana, and Mason, Illinois. In 1868, he became the first student to enroll at the Illinois Industrial University (now the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign); following his graduation in 1872, he earned medical degrees from Missouri Medical College (1878) and the renamed University of Illinois (1894). Matthews had a private practice in Mason, Illinois, and published two collections of poetry.

Sources

Manlove, Donald C. "Riley, James Whitcomb." American National Biography Online. Oxford University Press, 2000. doi: 16-01384

Weaver, George H. "Matthews, James Newton." American Medical Biographies, ed. Howard A. Kelly and Walter L. Burrage. Baltimore: The Norman, Remington Company, 1920. 768-769.

Authors and publishers - United States - History - 19th century
Poets, American - 19th century