CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

William J. Granfield

American politician from Massachusetts (1889-1959)

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 revisionJul 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ1719957 ↗
Source-derived summary

William Joseph Granfield (December 18, 1889 – May 28, 1959) was a United States representative from Massachusetts.

Granfield was born in Springfield on December 18, 1889. He attended elementary and high school in Springfield, and graduated from Williston Academy in 1910. In 1913 he received his law degree from the Notre Dame Law School. He was admitted to the bar in 1916 and began to practice in Springfield.

He was a member of Springfield's common council in 1915 and 1916, and served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1917 to 1919. He was a delegate to the State constitutional convention of 1918 and 1919, and a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions every four years from 1924 to 1940.

He was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-first Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William K. Kaynor. He was reelected to the Seventy-second, Seventy-third, and Seventy-fourth Congresses and served from February 11, 1930 to January 3, 1937.

Granfield was not a candidate for renomination in 1936.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “William J. Granfield” as american politician from Massachusetts (1889-1959). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1889, 1959, 1910, 1913—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1889-12-18. The account is most persuasive where William, Granfield and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american politician from Massachusetts (1889-1959). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

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 Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1719957. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1889, 1959, 1910 and 1913.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. 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 “William J. Granfield”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow William J. Granfield primary sources, William J. Granfield archive and William 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 “William J. Granfield”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “William J. Granfield” 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.