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Robert M. Scotten

American diplomat

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ17479457 ↗
Source-derived summary

Robert McGregor Scotten (1891–1968) was an American ambassador to Costa Rica, Ecuador, and New Zealand.

Born in Detroit, Michigan on August 18, 1891, his father was Oren Scotten and his mother was Mary Clarke (McGregor) Scotten. Scotten served as Foreign Service officer; U.S. Consul in Asuncion from 1926 to 1927. He was ambassador to the Dominican Republic from 1940 to 1942, later he served as ambassador to Costa Rica from 1942 to 1943, Ecuador from 1943 to 1947, New Zealand first as minister from 1947 to 1948 and then as ambassador (reaccredited) 1948 to 1955. He died in 1968.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Robert M. Scotten” is american diplomat. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Robert, Scotten and American, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1891, 1968, 1926, 1927—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1891-08-18. For this dossier, Robert, Scotten and American is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american diplomat” 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.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17479457. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1891, 1968, 1926 and 1927.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. 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

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  • Search vocabulary
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  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Robert M. Scotten” 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.