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David Bruce Smith

American author

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 revisionSep 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ5239888 ↗
Source-derived summary

David Bruce Smith (born December 16, 1958) is an author, editor, publisher and business executive based in Washington, DC. He is the founder and president of The Grateful American Foundation, an organization dedicated to restoring enthusiasm in American history for kids and adults. Smith has been a guest blogger for Maryland Humanities, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and Historic Deerfield. He has co-authored History Matters with John Grimaldi, Ed Lengel, and Michael Bishop; newsletters for his Grateful American Foundation, and David Bruce Smith Publications.

Early life and family

David Bruce Smith is the son of Robert H. Smith, a real estate developer, and Clarice Smith, an artist. His grandfather was Charles E. Smith, also a real estate developer. Smith's book Conversations with Papa Charlie: A Memory of Charles E. Smith (2000) is a memoir of the close relationship he had with his grandfather.

Smith received a Bachelor of Arts in American Literature from George Washington University in 1979. He also holds a Master of Arts in Journalism from New York University.

Career

Smith worked at the Charles E. Smith Realty Companies for two decades, progressing from a property management job in the residential division, to vice-president and senior vice president positions in commercial management. He then switched to a career in writing, editing, and publishing.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “David Bruce Smith” as american author. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1958, 2000, 1979—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1958-12-16. The account is most persuasive where David, Bruce and Smith can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american author. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

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 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5239888. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1958, 2000 and 1979.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. 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 “David Bruce Smith”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow David Bruce Smith primary sources, David Bruce Smith archive and David 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 “David Bruce Smith”?
  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 “David Bruce Smith” 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.