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Abba Goold Woolson

American writer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ29568827 ↗
Source-derived summary

Abba Goold Woolson (née, Goold; April 30, 1838 – February 6, 1921) was a 19th-century American teacher, author, and poet from Maine. She published several volumes, including: Women in American Society (1873); Dress Reform (1874); Browsing Among Books (1881); and George Eliot and Her Heroines (1887). Woolson taught and lectured on various topics.

Early life and education

Abba Louisa Goold was born in Windham, Maine, April 30, 1838, at the old homestead at Windham, 10 miles (16 km) from Portland, Maine. The second of seven children, she was the daughter of Hon. William Goold, who was recognized in Portland as an authority on matters which concern its local history. He served for years as an active member, and as corresponding secretary, of the Maine Historical Society. He was the author of several leading papers, and of a large volume entitled Portland in the Past, published in that city in 1886. For two years, he represented the Portland district in the State Legislature as senator, with a previous service of two years as representative.

Her family lived in Windham for four generations, her great-grandfather, Benjamin Goold —a native of Kittery, Maine— having moved there from Portland (then Falmouth) in 1774.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Abba Goold Woolson” is american writer. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Abba, Goold and Woolson, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1838, 1921, 1873, 1874—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1838-04-30. For this dossier, Abba, Goold and Woolson is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american writer” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q29568827. VIAF identifies the subject as 73462287. The Library of Congress control number is no97061385. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1838, 1921, 1873 and 1874.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Abba Goold Woolson”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Abba Goold Woolson primary sources, Abba Goold Woolson archive and Abba research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Abba Goold Woolson”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Abba Goold Woolson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.