Dave Elman
American hypnotist (1900–1967)
Dave Elman (May 6, 1900 – December 5, 1967), birth name David Kopelman, was a noted Jewish American radio host, comedian, and songwriter, and important figure in the field of hypnosis. He is most known today as the author of Findings in Hypnosis (1964). Over the course of his life, he was also well known as the creator and host of the popular radio show Hobby Lobby as well as a songwriter and lyricist.
Early life
Dave Elman was born David Kopelman to Jewish parents Jacob and Lena on May 6, 1900, in Park River, North Dakota. In 1902, the family moved to Fargo, where they started a business on Front Street making wigs, switches, and related performance equipment.
In 1906, they moved their wig-making business to the Kopelman Building, which they had built at 514 1st Street. In the basement, they provided mikvah services so Jewish women in the community could purify themselves through special cleansing. Lena also began a hairdressing shop next door.
Soon thereafter, Jacob was diagnosed with cancer. When a family friend relieved the intractable pain quite rapidly with hypnosis, Elman set about learning these techniques from him and began to realize the vast possibilities of hypnosis in the relief of pain outside of traditional medical procedures.
“Dave Elman” enters the record as american hypnotist (1900–1967). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Dave, Elman and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Dave Elman” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Dave, Elman and American provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q533987. VIAF identifies the subject as 149347081. The Library of Congress control number is no2010141944. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1900, 1967, 1964 and 1902.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. 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
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Dave Elman”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Dave Elman primary sources, Dave Elman archive and Dave research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dave Elman”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Dave Elman” 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.