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Ruby Altizer Roberts

American writer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 27, 2026
Entity authorityQ16016257
Source-derived summary

Ruby Altizer Roberts (April 22, 1907 – May 24, 2004) was a writer and the first female Poet Laureate of Virginia.

Personal life

Roberts was born in Alum Ridge, Virginia in 1907. When she was still a child her family moved to Cambria, Virginia, where she spent most of the rest of her life. She was married to highway contractor Laurence Roberts from 1927 until his death in 1966; the couple had one daughter.

Writing

Early in her career Roberts published two collections of poetry, Forever Is Too Long (1946) and Command the Stars (1948). Her poems also appeared in magazines and in newspapers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post. In 1952 she became editor of traditional poetry journal The Lyric, a position she held for the next 25 years.

Her prose works consist of a genealogical history, three memoirs, and the children's book The Story of Buzzy Bee (1982).

Awards and recognition

Roberts received a number of awards and honours in connection with her writing. In 1950 she was named the Poet Laureate of Virginia; she was the first woman to win the award.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Ruby Altizer Roberts” is american writer. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Ruby, Altizer and Roberts, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1907, 2004, 1927, 1966—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1907-04-22. For this dossier, Ruby, Altizer and Roberts is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american writer” 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

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 Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16016257. VIAF identifies the subject as 53204533. The Library of Congress control number is n87152175. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1907, 2004, 1927 and 1966.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. 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 “Ruby Altizer Roberts”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ruby Altizer Roberts primary sources, Ruby Altizer Roberts archive and Ruby 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 “Ruby Altizer Roberts”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Ruby Altizer Roberts” 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.