Barton A. Fields becomes Pennsylvania’s secretary of the Commonwealth
October, 1977
Philadelphia native Barton A. Fields (BA Lib 1954) graduated from Penn State University in 1954, then moved to Harrisburg to begin a career in state government. He started as the director of municipal pension and fire relief audits in the Department of the Auditor General in 1957 and rose to deputy secretary of the Department of State in 1971. Governor Milton Shapp appointed him secretary of the Commonwealth six years later, and Fields was reappointed by Governor Richard Thornburgh in 1979.
In 1987, Fields was appointed as secretary of revenue by Governor Robert Casey, while serving as chairman of the Commission on Charitable Organizations. Fields has served as president and board chairman of the Harristown Development Corporation and president of the NAACP’s Greater Harrisburg Branch. In the latter capacity he helped to re-launch and charter the Penn State chapter of the NAACP in 1987. While a student at Penn State, Fields was a founding member and a major driving force behind the chartering of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity on campus in 1952.
Source: Harrisburg Living Legacy
