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Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Ormond; or, the Secret Witness

1799 novel by Charles Brockden Brown

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 11, 2026
Entity authorityQ23307999 ↗
Source-derived summary

Ormond; Or, The Secret Witness is a 1799 political and social novel by American writer Charles Brockden Brown. The novel focuses on the ways in which individuals change in reaction to their social environments. The novel follows a female protagonist Constantia and her relationship with the mysterious Ormond. The novel thoroughly explores Republicanism in the United States and the republican values common to the early American nation.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Ormond; or, the Secret Witness” as 1799 novel by Charles Brockden Brown. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ormond, Secret and Witness.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1799—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1799. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Ormond, Secret and Witness providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Ormond; or, the Secret Witness”, the useful work is to connect “1799 novel by Charles Brockden Brown” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q23307999. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1799.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. 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

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ormond; or, the Secret Witness”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ormond; or, the Secret Witness primary sources, Ormond; or, the Secret Witness archive and Ormond 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 “Ormond; or, the Secret Witness”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ormond; or, the Secret Witness” 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.