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Arthur May

American historian

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ76915803
Source-derived summary

Arthur James May (c. 1899 – June 13, 1968) was an American historian, a professor, and "an authority on the history of modern Europe."

May was born in Rockdale, Pennsylvania. He received a Bachelor's Degree from Wesleyan University and a Master's and Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. "He taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Brown University" before he came to the University of Rochester in 1925.

He was a prolific speaker, frequently lecturing in the United States and Europe on "historical and contemporary issues." He was the author of a number of works of history, particularly the history of Eastern Europe. His book The Hapsburg monarchy, 1867-1914 won The Herbert Baxter Adams Prize of the American Historical Association in 1952. He was named one of "three distinguished pioneer American scholars of Hapsburg history." His last book A History of the University of Rochester, 1850-1962 was published posthumously.

May was a member of the American Historical Association, the American Association of University Professors, and the International Committee for the Study of the Hapsburg Monarchy, and an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa.

May retired from teaching in 1964 and became the University Historian at Rochester.

Publications

May, Arthur J. (1925). Kossuth and Karolyi.

Editorial summary

“Arthur May” enters the record as american historian. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Arthur, American and historian can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1899, 1968, 1925, 1867—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1899. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Arthur, American and historian.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Arthur May” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Arthur, American and historian provides the most credible route into that argument.

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 Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q76915803. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1899, 1968, 1925 and 1867.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. 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
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

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  2. Expand the search: follow Arthur May primary sources, Arthur May archive and Arthur 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

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Arthur May” 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.