Lawrence C. Wroth
author, librarian, research professor (1884-1970)
Lawrence Counselman Wroth (January 14, 1884 – December 25, 1970) was an American historian and the author of The Colonial Printer, the definitive book on the American printing trade during the period of 1639 through 1800. Though he wrote hundreds of articles or books, Wroth was also a librarian and research professor.
Early life and education
Wroth was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1884, the son of an Episcopal clergyman.
In 1905, Wroth graduated from Johns Hopkins University and wrote his first published article, "Sanitation in the Country House", which appeared in the magazine Country Life in America.
He served with the 110th and 111th Field Artillery in World War I during the period of 1917 to 1919 in France.
Career
Author
His first book, published in 1911, Parson Weems; a biographical and critical study, was a biography of George Washington's biographer.
Though Wroth wrote over 550 pieces, he is most notable for two books on colonial printing: A History of Printing in Colonial Maryland: 1686-1776, published in 1922, a study of printing in colonial Maryland; and The Colonial Printer, published in 1931, a study in the printing trade during the American colonial period. Both books detailed the first colonial printing presses, colonial printing houses, typeset, printing ink, paper, journeymen, apprentices, conditions of the trade, and bookbinding. The content and finish of the completed books, pamphlets, and papers of the period are also discussed. Wroth expressly stated that the book was written "as a discussion of certain fundamental aspects of cultural history" and that the book was not intended as an "essay in bibliophilism", though his love of books is evident:
"To love the contents of a book and care nothing about the volume itself, to love the treasure and to be unmindful of the earthen vessel that loyally holds and preserves it, is to be only half a lover, deaf to a whole series of notes in the gamut of emotion.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Lawrence C. Wroth” is author, librarian, research professor (1884-1970). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Lawrence, Wroth and author, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “author, librarian, research professor (1884-1970)” 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.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6503903. VIAF identifies the subject as 64154775. The Library of Congress control number is n83013542. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1884, 1970, 1639 and 1800.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lawrence C. Wroth” 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.