R. DeWitt Miller
American writer (1910–1958)
Richard DeWitt Miller (January 22, 1910 – June 3, 1958) was an American writer of science fiction and Forteana. His first science-fiction publication was "The Shapes" which appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in 1936. His non-fiction books include You Do Take It With You (1936) (a book about Fortean phenomena) as well as The Mastery of the Master (1944), Impossible - Yet It Happened (also known as Forgotten Mysteries: True Stories of the Supernatural, 1947), Stranger Than Life (1955), You Do Take It with You: An Adventure into the Vaster Reality (1955), and Reincarnation: The Whole Startling Story (1956). Miller wrote one science-fiction novelette published in March 1938 by Astounding Science Fiction under the title "The Master Shall Not Die" with no collaborator; it was not issued in book form until 1956, when Ace Books brought it out in its dos-à-dos format Ace Doubles under the title The Man Who Lived Forever, with co-author Anna Hunger. The book was bound back-to-back with Jerry Sohl's The Mars Monopoly. Miller also authored a fantasy work entitled The Loose Board in the Floor (1951).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “R. DeWitt Miller” is american writer (1910–1958). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through DeWitt, Miller and American, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “american writer (1910–1958)” 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.
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 Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7273577. The first chronological checks are 1910, 1958, 1936 and 1944.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. 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 “R. DeWitt Miller”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow R. DeWitt Miller primary sources, R. DeWitt Miller archive and DeWitt 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 “R. DeWitt Miller”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “R. DeWitt Miller” 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.