William H. Prescott
The first American scientific historian, whose eidetic memory and meticulous archival work shaped classic histories of Spain and the Spanish Empire.
William H. Prescott was born in Salem, Massachusetts on May 4, 1796, the first of seven children.[1] He became a historian specializing in late Renaissance Spain and the early Spanish Empire.[2]
Quick Facts
- Born
- 4 May 1796
- Birthplace
- Salem, Massachusetts, U.S.
- Died
- 28 January 1859
- Place of death
- Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
- Education
- Harvard College
- Occupation
- Historian
- Years active
- 1821–1859
- Spouse
- Susan Amory, May 4, 1820
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
He abandoned the idea of a legal career in 1821 due to continued deterioration of his eyesight.[3] He wrote The History of the Conquest of Mexico (1843) and A History of the Conquest of Peru (1847).[2] A food fight during his student years left Prescott with permanently weakened eyesight after a bread crust struck his eye.[4] While lodging with eye doctor William Adams in London, Prescott began employing a noctograph, a device that enabled him to write despite his visual impairment.[5]
On May 4, 1820, Prescott wed Susan Amory, whose father was the poet Thomas Coffin Amory.[6] Two essays examining Italian poetry, appearing in the North American Review, constituted Prescott's initial published writings.[7]
What the cited sources add
Samuel Lawrence testified he was at the battle of Bunker Hill in Colonel William Prescott's regiment.[8] William Lawrence served nine years as a representative from Boston to the Massachusetts General Court.[8] Rollo Ogden's 1904 biography primarily updates the style of Ticknor's earlier work.[9]
References
- Wikipedia, "William H. Prescott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sullivan, 1972, p. 154 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "William H. Prescott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gardiner, p. ix; Gardiner, p. 143 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "William H. Prescott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Peck, p. 44; Gardiner, p. 71 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "William H. Prescott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Peck, p. 33; Ticknor, 1864, p. 16; Gardiner, p. 20; Peck, p. 31; Ticknor, 1864, p. 26; Peck p. 34 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "William H. Prescott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Peck, p. 36; Peck, p. 37 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "William H. Prescott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ticknor, 1864, p. 49; Ticknor, 1864, p. 51; Peck, p. 43 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "William H. Prescott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Peck, p. 46; Rossi, Joseph The Italian Poems of Thomas James Mathias, 1943, printed in Modern Language Quarterly, p. 331 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Lawrence, "The descendant of Major Samuel Lawrence", Riverside Press, 1904, p. 153. facts only, no text reused. archive.org
- Wikipedia, "William H. Prescott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gardiner, p. xi; C. Harvey Gardiner, "William Hickling Prescott: A Biography", University of Texas Press, 2013, p. 390; Humphreys, R. A., "Gardiner C. Harvey: William Hickling Prescott. A Biography. Introduction by Allan Nevins", Journal of Latin American Studies, November 1971, p. 204 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article William H. Prescott (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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