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Harold R. Heaton

cartoonist

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ15996954 ↗
Source-derived summary

Harold Robertson Heaton (born January 19, 1861) was an American newspaper artist whose work focused on cartoons. His prodigious body of work contributed to the development of political cartoons. He also illustrated books and produced sketches and paintings. He left newspaper work in 1899 to begin acting on the stage, and later wrote plays as well. He returned to cartooning for six years beginning in 1908, but continued acting while doing so. He appeared in many Broadway productions through 1932. A brief retrospective on his employment with the Chicago Tribune, from October 1942, mentioned his obituary had been printed "a few years ago".

Early years

Born in Salem, Illinois, he was the son of Charles Heaton, a civil engineer from England, and Amy Robertson from Missouri. Although born in Illinois, he spent much of his childhood in New York, before moving to St. Louis.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Harold R. Heaton” as cartoonist. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1861, 1899, 1908, 1932—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1861-01-19. The account is most persuasive where Harold, Heaton and cartoonist can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as cartoonist. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15996954. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1861, 1899, 1908 and 1932.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. 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.

Best used for
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  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Harold R. Heaton”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Harold R. Heaton primary sources, Harold R. Heaton archive and Harold 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 “Harold R. Heaton”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Harold R. Heaton” 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.