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Moses Forster Sweetser

writer (1848–1897)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ85748700
Source-derived summary

Moses Forster Sweetser (September 23, 1848 - 1897) authored travel books on the White Mountains, Maine in 1880, Massachusetts (1889), and a handbook on the U.S. (1891). He also wrote several biographies on artists including Guido Reni, Raphael, Fra Angelico, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Leonardo da Vinci, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Washington Allston, Landseer, Claude Lorrain, and Dürer. He was affiliated with the Moses King Corporation.

Sweetser was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts. He toured Europe and climbed in the Alps on a two-year jaunt before returning stateside and writing travel guidebooks along the lines of the Karl Baedecker's series he relied on in Europe.

He published several books with Chisholm Brothers publishing company of Portland, Maine.

The Mount Washington Observatory Collection has an image of Sweetser. He helped encourage visitors to the White Mountains of New Hampshire with his guidebook; A Bibliography of the White Mountains

Moses King edited some of his books as well as Edwin M. Bacon's King's Dictionary of Boston.

Works

The Maritime Provinces: a handbook for travelers, a guide to chief cities, coasts and islands of the Maritime Provinces of Canada, and to their scenery and historic attractions, with the gulf and river of St. Lawrence to Quebec and Montreal, also Newfoundland and the Labrador coast, Boston : J.R. Osgood, (1875)

White Mountains, a handbook for travelers (1876)

Allston, Boston, Houghton, Osgood and Company (1879)

Picturesque Maine (1880)

Artist-biographies, several editions from at least 1878 until 1882

Summer Days Down East (1883)

King's Handbook of Newton (1889)

King's Handbook of Boston Harbor (1889)

King's Hand-book of the United States (1891)

Chisholm's Mount-Desert guide-book, Chisholm Brothers (circa 1888)

King's Handbook of Massachusetts (1889)

Chisholm's White Mountain guide-book, Chisholm Bros.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Moses Forster Sweetser” as writer (1848–1897). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1848, 1897, 1880, 1889—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1848-01-01. The account is most persuasive where Moses, Forster and Sweetser can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as writer (1848–1897). 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 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q85748700. VIAF identifies the subject as 38405345. The Library of Congress control number is n86145820. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1848, 1897, 1880 and 1889.

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.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

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

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Moses Forster Sweetser”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Moses Forster Sweetser primary sources, Moses Forster Sweetser archive and Moses 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 “Moses Forster Sweetser”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Moses Forster Sweetser” 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.