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=                         John_Ames_Mitchell                         =
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                            Introduction
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John Ames Mitchell (January 17, 1845 - June 29, 1918) was an American
publisher, architect, artist and novelist. He was co-founder, editor,
and publisher of the original 'Life' magazine, in which he was a
contributing artist, and  the author of several novels.


                             Biography
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John Ames Mitchell was born in New York City on January 17, 1845. He
was a Harvard University educated architect who studied at the École
nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1883 he co-founded
'Life' magazine with Andrew Miller. Serving as president, Mitchell
held a 75 percent interest in the magazine with the remainder by
Miller in his job as secretary-treasurer. Both men retained their
holdings until their deaths. Much more like today's 'New Yorker' than
the 'Life' of the later 20th century, Mitchell's magazine discovered
and encouraged many fine writers and artists at the turn of the
century, such as Charles Dana Gibson, the illustrator who created the
Gibson Girl. It covered the literary scene as well as political and
social issues. He and Horace Greeley of the 'New York Herald Tribune'
founded the Fresh Air Fund, which for many years operated the Life
Fresh Air camp for city kids on the site of today's Branchville School
in Ridgefield, Connecticut, the town in which Mitchell also lived.

In 1875, Ames was hired by his uncle, Oliver Ames Jr., to design the
Unity Church of North Easton.

Mitchell penned a half dozen novels. 'The Last American', a fictional
journal about a Persian admiral who rediscovers America in the year
2951, was published in 1889. 'Amos Judd' (1895) was made into the 1922
silent film, 'The Young Rajah', starring Rudolph Valentino. 'Life' was
purchased in 1936 by another Ridgefield resident, Henry Luce, who
turned it into a picture-oriented magazine. The headquarters of
Mitchell's 'Life' is now the Herald Square Hotel in New York, a gift
to Mitchell from Charles Dana Gibson in appreciation of the
publisher's having seen and developed his potential as an artist.


                          Death and burial
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Mitchell died suddenly on June 29, 1918, at his home in Ridgefield,
Connecticut, of apoplexy. He is buried in Fairlawn Cemetery in
Ridgefield. Windover, his estate, was subdivided years ago, but the
main house is still on West Lane. Its owner also operates the Herald
Square Hotel, once Mitchell's 'Life' headquarters.


                              See also
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* Ames family


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