Norman Ault
British artist and illustrator
Thomas Norman Ault (17 December 1880 – 6 February 1950) was a book illustrator and writer, now best known as a compiler of anthologies.
He wrote children's literature with his wife (He)Lena, who died in 1904. He later was noted as a scholar of English poetry of the seventeenth century, and Alexander Pope.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Norman Ault” as british artist and illustrator. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as british artist and illustrator. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 9, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7051925. VIAF identifies the subject as 66546802. The Library of Congress control number is n50028902. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1880, 1950 and 1904.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. 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.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Norman Ault”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Norman Ault primary sources, Norman Ault archive and Norman research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Norman Ault”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Norman Ault” 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.