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Roy McCardell

American writer (1870-1940)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ7373134
Source-derived summary

Roy Larcom McCardell (June 30, 1870 – after 1940) was an American journalist, scenarist, humorist and writer.

Early life

Roy McCardell was born in 1870 in Hagerstown, Maryland. His father was the editor of the Hagerstown Mail. When his father became the editor of the Evening Times in Cumberland, Maryland, the family moved there, where Roy attended school until he was twelve. He then started writing for his father's newspaper before becoming a regular contributor to Puck, the leading American satirical magazine.

Career

McCardell moved to Birmingham, Alabama at age 17 to work as a reporter for the Age-Herald. Many of his contributions were reprinted in magazines, including Frank Leslie's Weekly. New York City newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane became aware of his writing, and offered him a position on the New York newspaper The Evening Sun. Along with his newspaper reporting, McCardell also provided serialized novels to the newspaper. He then moved on to the New York World and finally became a staff member of Puck.

Editorial summary

“Roy McCardell” enters the record as american writer (1870-1940). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what McCardell, American and writer can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1870, 1940—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1870-06-30. Its strongest next move is a source search built around McCardell, American and writer.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Roy McCardell” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, McCardell, American and writer provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7373134. VIAF identifies the subject as 12593733. The Library of Congress control number is n95020587. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1870 and 1940.

Critical limits

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.

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

This entry incorporates text from Roy McCardell” 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.