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Howard R. Lamar

American historian (1923–2023)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ5920683
Source-derived summary

Howard Roberts Lamar (November 18, 1923 – February 22, 2023) was an American historian of the American West. In addition to being Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University since 1994, he served as President of Yale University from 1992 to 1993.

Biography

Lamar was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on November 18, 1923, and was drawn into history in part by his rich family history which includes two United States Supreme Court justices and the second president of the Republic of Texas. He received his B.A. from Emory University in 1945 and his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1951. He was president of Yale from 1992 to 1993, and from 1994 to his death was a Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale. He directed thirty-four dissertations in history and another thirteen in American studies. His prominent students include Lewis L. Gould and Patricia Nelson Limerick.

The Howard R. Lamar Center for the Study of Frontiers and Borders at Yale University was established in his honor.

Lamar died on February 22, 2023, at the age of 99.

Bibliography

Dakota Territory, 1861–1889

The Cruise of the Portsmouth, 1845–1847

The Far Southwest, 1846–1912: A Territorial History

The Trader on the American Frontier: Myth’s Victim

The New Encyclopedia of the American West

Charlie Siringo's West: An Interpretive Biography

See also

List of presidents of Yale University

Notes

References

Gould, Lewis L. (2000).

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Howard R. Lamar” as american historian (1923–2023). 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—1923, 2023, 1994, 1992—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1923-11-18. The account is most persuasive where Howard, Lamar and American 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 (1923–2023). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

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 Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5920683. VIAF identifies the subject as 84583311. The Library of Congress control number is n81032807. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1923, 2023, 1994 and 1992.

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.

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  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

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  2. Expand the search: follow Howard R. Lamar primary sources, Howard R. Lamar archive and Howard 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

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Howard R. Lamar” 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.