Earl Wilson (columnist)
American journalist (1907-1987)
Harvey Earl Wilson (May 3, 1907 – January 16, 1987) was an American journalist, gossip columnist, and author, perhaps best known for his 6-day a week nationally syndicated newspaper column, It Happened Last Night.
Early life and career
Wilson was born in Rockford, in Mercer County in western Ohio, to Arthur Wilson, a farmer, and Chloe Huffman Wilson. He attended Central High, where he reported on the doings of the school, using his father's typewriter to write his stories. Young Earl's mother encouraged him to pursue a career outside of farming. Wilson contributed to the Rockford Press and the Lima Republican Gazette, which would be the first to pay him for his writing. He also wrote for the Piqua, Ohio Daily Call before enrolling in college in 1925. Wilson attended Heidelberg College for two years before transferring to Ohio State University, where he worked on The Lantern, the university's student-run daily newspaper. He also held part-time jobs with the Columbus Dispatch and the capital city's International News Service Bureau. Wilson graduated from Ohio State University in 1931 with a B.S. in journalism.
In 1935, Wilson began work for The Washington Post, meanwhile sending samples of his work to one of the editors at the New York Post.
The public source identifies “Earl Wilson (columnist)” as american journalist (1907-1987). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Earl, Wilson and columnist.
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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 Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5326170. VIAF identifies the subject as 72759039. The Library of Congress control number is n82271538. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1907, 1987, 1925 and 1931.
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This entry incorporates text from “Earl Wilson (columnist)” 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.