CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

William Procter Jr.

American Pharmacist

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ23855473 ↗
Source-derived summary

William Procter Jr. (May 3, 1817 – February 10, 1874) was an American pharmacist. He is known for his role in establishing the American Pharmacists Association and his work on the United States Pharmacopeia (USP). He was the author/editor of the first pharmacy textbook published in America. He has been referred to as the 'Father of American Pharmacy.'

Early life

Procter was born in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., to Isaac and Rebecca Procter. Isaac died in 1831 and William, at 14 years old, moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., to start an apprenticeship.

Career

Apprenticeship and education

Starting from 1831, Procter entered his apprenticeship in the field with Henry M. Zollickoffer in Philadelphia. Elias Durand, a nearby pharmacist trained in France, encouraged Procter to pursue investigations. He attended the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, graduating in March 1837.

Shop and contributions to journals

In 1844, he opened his own shop.

Editorial summary

“William Procter Jr.” enters the record as american Pharmacist. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what William, Procter and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1817, 1874, 1831, 1837—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1817-05-03. Its strongest next move is a source search built around William, Procter and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

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

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q23855473. VIAF identifies the subject as 5734174. The Library of Congress control number is n92801092. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1817, 1874, 1831 and 1837.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. 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

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.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “William Procter Jr.”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow William Procter Jr. primary sources, William Procter Jr. 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 Procter Jr.”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “William Procter Jr.” 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.