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William Corbin (author)

American writer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 11, 2026
Entity authorityQ2578324
Source-derived summary

William Corbin McGraw (born January 22, 1916, in Des Moines, Iowa, died June 6, 1999, in Portland, Oregon), known professionally as William Corbin, was an author and novelist of books for adults and children.

Career

He started his writing career as a newspaperman and later married Eloise Jarvis McGraw (née Hamilton), also an author.

Corbin became more serious about writing fiction and moved into a house with a 23-acre filbert orchard to do so. Several of Corbin's works received awards.

His novel Smoke was made into a movie of the same name in 1970, airing as part of The Wonderful World of Disney, and starring Ron Howard, Earl Holliman, and Pamelyn Ferdin. A British television series based on Corbin's Horse in the House was produced from 1977 to 1979.

Personal life

William Corbin and Eloise had two children, Lauren and Peter McGraw.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “William Corbin (author)” is american writer. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through William, Corbin and author, 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—1916, 1999, 1970, 1977—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1916-01-22. For this dossier, William, Corbin and author 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

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 Jun 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2578324. VIAF identifies the subject as 273793791. The Library of Congress control number is n50007824. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1916, 1999, 1970 and 1977.

Critical limits

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

This entry incorporates text from William Corbin (author)” 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.