Historian; born in
Willington, Conn., May 10, 1789; graduated at Harvard College in 1815, and was a tutor there from 1817 to 1819.
He had passed his youth in mechanical pursuits, and during his college course taught for a while a small private school at
Havre de Grace, Md. He was in the militia that opposed
Cockburn and his marauders.
At
Cambridge he studied theology; became an editor of the
North American review, and was sole proprietor and conductor of it from 1823 to 1830.
He was a Unitarian minister at
Baltimore from 1819 to 1823, and in 1821 was chaplain to the House of Representatives.
In 1839 he was chosen
Professor of History at Harvard, occupying the position ten years, and from 1849 to 1852 he was president of that institution.
In 1857
Dr. Sparks made a tour in
Europe with his family, and afterwards resided at
Cambridge until his death, March 14, 1866.
Dr. Sparks's earlier publications were mostly on theological subjects.
In 1834 he began the publication of
The writings of George Washington, with a life.
It was completed in 1837 (12volumes.) He had already (1829-30) published
Diplomatic correspondence of the American Revolution (12 volumes), and
Life of Gouverneur Morris, 1832.
He edited
The American almanac for many years from 1830, and in 1840 completed
The works of Benjamin Franklin (12 volumes). He also edited a series of
American biography (15 volumes), of which he wrote several of the sketches.
His last great labor in the field of American documentary history, in which he wrought so conscientiously and usefully, was the publication of
The correspondence of the American Revolution (4 volumes, 1854). His
Washington cost him nine years of labor, including researches, in 1828, in the
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archives of
London and
Paris, which were then opened for historical purposes for the first time.
