CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Joseph Bushnell Ames

American novelist

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ47814687
Source-derived summary

Joseph Bushnell Ames (August 9, 1878 – June 20, 1928) was an American novelist during the early 20th century.

Early life

Joseph Bushnell Ames was born on August 9, 1878, in Titusville, Pennsylvania, the son of Elias Hurlbut Ames (1851–1891) and Eleanor Gray Bushnell (1855–1946). Both Ames' father and maternal grandfather, Joseph Bushnell (1831–1918), came from old New England families and became wealthy during the Pennsylvania Oil Rush. Ames' great-grandfather was the Pittsburgh industrialist Daniel Bushnell. After Elias Ames' death of pneumonia in 1891 at age 39, Joseph's mother moved the family to Morristown, New Jersey, where her children had a privileged upbringing in the town that was then known as an "inland Newport.". Ames attended St. Mark's School and the Stevens Institute of Technology, graduating from the latter in 1901. Ames then worked as a mechanical engineer in Morristown, New Jersey for a time, until he quit that profession and began writing.

Career

Ames wrote over a dozen novels, primarily Westerns, during the 1910s and 1920s. Some of his works, including the posthumously published The Bladed Barrier, included fantasy themes.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Joseph Bushnell Ames” as american novelist. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Joseph, Bushnell and Ames.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1878, 1928, 1851, 1891—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1878-08-09. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Joseph, Bushnell and Ames providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Joseph Bushnell Ames”, the useful work is to connect “american novelist” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q47814687. VIAF identifies the subject as 13557318. The Library of Congress control number is n50054534. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1878, 1928, 1851 and 1891.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. 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

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
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Joseph Bushnell Ames”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Joseph Bushnell Ames primary sources, Joseph Bushnell Ames archive and Joseph 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 “Joseph Bushnell Ames”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Joseph Bushnell Ames” 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.