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Edward Potts Cheyney

American historian and economist

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 11, 2026
Entity authorityQ5344894
Source-derived summary

Edward Potts Cheyney, A.M., LL.D. (January 17, 1861 – February 1, 1947) was an American historical and economic writer, born at Wallingford, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1883. He visited German universities and studied at the British Museum. He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1904. He was editor of the American Historical Review and 1923 president of the American Historical Society. The University of Pennsylvania conferred the degree of LL.D. on him in 1911. He taught at the University of Pennsylvania from 1890 until 1934.

His writings were employed as college textbooks. They include:

Social Changes in England in the Sixteenth Century (1896)

Social and Industrial History of England (1901)

Short History of England (1904)

European Background of American History (1904)

Readings in English History (1908)

A History of England, from the Defeat of the Armada to the Death of Elizabeth (two volumes; volume i, 1914)

Personal life

E.P. Cheyney was the son of Waldron J. Cheyney, Jr. and Frances "Fannie" Potts.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Edward Potts Cheyney” as american historian and economist. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

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—1861, 1947, 1883, 1904—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1861-01-17. The account is most persuasive where Edward, Potts and Cheyney 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 historian and economist. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5344894. VIAF identifies the subject as 39812903. The Library of Congress control number is n50038001. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1861, 1947, 1883 and 1904.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. 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
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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 “Edward Potts Cheyney”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Edward Potts Cheyney primary sources, Edward Potts Cheyney archive and Edward 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 “Edward Potts Cheyney”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Edward Potts Cheyney” 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.