Joseph Edgar Chamberlin

Joseph Edgar "J. E." or "Ed" Chamberlin (August 6, 1851 – July 6, 1935) was an American journalist, columnist, essayist, and editor whose work appeared in newspapers in Chicago, Boston, and New York, as well as in national magazines and journals, beginning in 1871 and continuing until his death in 1935. Beginning in the late 1880s, he wrote a popular column for the Boston Evening Transcript called "The Listener" and thus became known throughout New England as "The Listener of the Transcript." He was a friend and mentor to many aspiring writers, photographers, musicians, and artists, and maintained a close friendship with Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan for over 40 years. He died in South Hanson, Massachusetts in 1935 and is buried in his birthplace of Newbury, Vermont.

Early life

Chamberlin was born in Newbury, Vermont, the youngest child of Abner and Mary (Haseltine) Chamberlin. The Chamberlins were descendants of one of Newbury's founding families. Joseph Edgar's early years were spent in Spring Prairie, Wisconsin, where his father, a farmer, moved in 1857. The Chamberlins were staunch and vocal abolitionists, frequently housing itinerant abolitionist speakers and politicians at their home. Young "Ed" was educated in a one-room schoolhouse, and though he wanted to attend college, the family could not afford it, so he was forced to find a trade. He followed his older brother, Everett Chamberlin, already established in the newspaper business, to Chicago in 1868. While there, he provided himself with what he called a "classical" education by reading extensively at the nearby Chicago Public Library.