Have a question? Need assistance? Use our online form to ask a librarian for help.
Chat with a librarian, Monday through Friday, 12-2 pm Eastern Time (except Federal Holidays).
Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
Follow @ChronAmLOC External and subscribe to email alerts and RSS feeds.
Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
On November 30, 1900, Oscar Wilde dies of cerebral meningitis surrounded by a few friends in a Parisian hotel room. Known as an "Apostle of Esthetes," who wrote "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "The Importance of Being Earnest," his life was marked by fame and controversy. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| October 16, 1854 | Oscar Wilde is born, Dublin, Ireland. |
|---|---|
| 1871-1874 | Reads Classics at Trinity College, Dublin. |
| 1874-1878 | Attends Magdalen College, Oxford. |
| 1881 | Wilde publishes a book of poems. |
| January-August 1882 | Travels throughout the United States on lecture tour. |
| August 1883 | Brief visit to New York for the staging of his first play, "Vera." |
| April 1891 | Novel "Picture of Dorian Gray" is published. |
| February 14, 1895 | Play "The Importance of Being Earnest" premieres in London. |
| February-April 1895 | Incident with the Marquess of Queensbury and the subsequent libel trial. |
| April-May 1895 | Trial and conviction of Wilde on charges of sodomy and gross indecency. |
| May 1895-May 1897 | Imprisonment in Pentonville and Wandsworth Prisons. |
| May 1897 | Leaves England to live in Paris. |
| November 30, 1900 | Wilde dies of cerebral meningitis; buried in Cimetiere de Bagneux. |
| 1909 | Wilde's remains are disinterred and reburied in Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. |
