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George Barr McCutcheon

American writer (1866–1928)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 22, 2026
Entity authorityQ5536746 ↗
Source-derived summary

George Barr McCutcheon (July 26, 1866 – October 23, 1928) was an American novelist and playwright. His best known works include a series of novels set in Graustark, a fictional East European country, and the novel Brewster's Millions, which was adapted into a play and several films.

Life

McCutcheon was born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Despite having no formal education himself, his father emphasized the importance of literature and urged his sons to write. During McCutcheon's childhood, his father had a number of jobs that required travel around the county. McCutcheon studied at Purdue University and was a roommate of future humorist George Ade. During his college years, he was editor of the newspaper Lafayette Daily Courier and wrote a serial novel of satire about Wabash River life.

He was the older brother of noted cartoonist John T. McCutcheon and died in Manhattan, New York City, New York.

McCutcheon, along with a number of other Indiana authors of the same period, is considered to be part of the Golden Age of Indiana Literature.

Selected bibliography

Graustark novels

Graustark: The Story of a Love Behind a Throne (1901), ISBN 1-4043-5098-5

Beverly of Graustark (1904), ISBN 1-4179-3249-X

Truxton King: A Story of Graustark (1909), ISBN 1-4179-0333-3

The Prince of Graustark (1914), ISBN 1-4179-4103-0

East of the Setting Sun (1924), ISBN 1-4179-1787-3

The Inn of the Hawk and the Raven (1927)

Other novels

Plays

Brood House (1910)

Mary Midthorne (1911)

One Score and Ten; A Comedy in Four Acts (1919)

Filmography

Brewster's Millions (dir.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “George Barr McCutcheon” is american writer (1866–1928). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through George, Barr and McCutcheon, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1866, 1928, 1901, 1904—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1866-07-26, 1866—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. For this dossier, George, Barr and McCutcheon is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american writer (1866–1928)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5536746. VIAF identifies the subject as 1309481. The Library of Congress control number is n80063000. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1866, 1928, 1901 and 1904.

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 “George Barr McCutcheon”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow George Barr McCutcheon primary sources, George Barr McCutcheon archive and George 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 “George Barr McCutcheon”?
  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 “George Barr McCutcheon” 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.