Jared Sparks

Born in Willington, Connecticut, in 1789, he rose from modest beginnings to become a minister, editor, historian, and eventually president of Harvard College. Before his historical work made him widely known, he studied at Phillips Exeter and Harvard, taught school, and served as a Unitarian minister.

He became one of the most important early editors of American historical documents. As editor of the North American Review and later through major projects such as The Writings of George Washington and The Library of American Biography, he gathered letters, papers, and life stories that helped preserve the documentary record of the United States.

His career also included a Harvard professorship and the presidency of Harvard from 1849 to 1853. Although later historians questioned some of his editorial methods, especially where he silently revised texts, his larger contribution remains clear: he was among the first Americans to treat the nation’s past as something to collect, organize, and study with lasting care.