CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Alexander M. Hardy

American politician (1847-1927)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ376824
Source-derived summary

Alexander Merrill Hardy (December 16, 1847 – August 31, 1927) was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as a U.S. representative from Indiana from 1895 to 1897.

Biography

Born in Simcoe, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada, Hardy pursued a college course and studied law. He came to the United States in 1864, taking a commercial course at Eastman College, Poughkeepsie, New York. He went to New Orleans in 1869, where he engaged in newspaper work until 1873, when he moved to Natchez, Mississippi. He conducted a Republican newspaper until 1877. He served as collector of the port of Natchez under appointment of President Grant. He moved to Washington, Indiana, in 1884. He was admitted to the bar in 1884 and commenced practice in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Congress

Hardy was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1897). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1896 to the Fifty-fifth Congress.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Alexander M. Hardy” as american politician (1847-1927). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Alexander, Hardy and American.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1847, 1927, 1895, 1897—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1847-12-16. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Alexander, Hardy and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Alexander M. Hardy”, the useful work is to connect “american politician (1847-1927)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q376824. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1847, 1927, 1895 and 1897.

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 “Alexander M. Hardy”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Alexander M. Hardy primary sources, Alexander M. Hardy archive and Alexander 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 “Alexander M. Hardy”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Alexander M. Hardy” 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.