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Winfield S. Hall

American physiologist and writer (1861–1942)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ92967296
Source-derived summary

Winfield Scott Hall (January 5, 1861 – October 2, 1942) was an American physiologist and writer.

Career

Hall was born in Batavia, Illinois. He attended Northwestern University where he obtained his B.S. in 1887, M.D. in 1888 and M.S. in 1889. He studied physiology at Leipzig University where he obtained his PhD in 1895.

Hall was instructor in biology at Haverford College (1889–1893) and Professor of Physiology at Northwestern University Medical School (1895–1919). He was a member of the American Physiological Society, Chairman of the American Medical Association in 1905 and President of the American Academy of Medicine from 1902 to 1910.

Hall authored works on dietetics, physiology and sex hygiene. He was described as a pioneer in the field of sex education. In 1911, it was reported that Hall had visited 51 educational institutions to teach sex education. He married Jeannette Winter in 1888, they had four children.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Winfield S. Hall” as american physiologist and writer (1861–1942). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Winfield, Hall and American.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1861, 1942, 1887, 1888—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1861-01-05. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Winfield, Hall and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Winfield S. Hall”, the useful work is to connect “american physiologist and writer (1861–1942)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

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 Mar 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q92967296. VIAF identifies the subject as 33428868. The Library of Congress control number is n85112137. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1861, 1942, 1887 and 1888.

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.

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Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
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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 “Winfield S. Hall”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Winfield S. Hall primary sources, Winfield S. Hall archive and Winfield 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

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Winfield S. Hall” 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.