SPARKS, Jared, American scholar and his torian: b. Willington, Tolland County, Conn., 10 May 1789; d. Cambridge, Mass., 14 March 1866. He was graduated from Harvard in 1815, studied theology with Dr. Nathaniel Thayer from May 1817 to March 1818, was editor of the North American Review, then begun in Boston, and in 1818 entered the Unitarian min • istry. On May 1819 he was ordained pastor of the Unitarian congregation at Baltimore, Md., Dr. W. E. Chantung (q.v.) preaching on that occasion the well-known discourse of 'Uni tarian Christianity) Sparks did much in Bal timore to promote the growth of the Unitarian faith, instituting there a Unitarian book society and editing the Unitarian Miscellany, a monthly periodical. He resigned in 1823 and from 1823 to 1830 was again editor of the North Amen can Review, in which he acquired a three quarter interest. After some periodical con tributions to the economic history of the South, and to Mexican and South American history, he published in 1828 a (Life of Ledyard,' the American traveler. In the preparation of this work he first undertook that method of-travel and research among original sources in which he was the pioneer in the United States and which he afterward so worthily applied to the study of American history. After long investi gation, including a very wide correspondence and a voyage to Europe for the examination of records in the public offices of London and Paris, he published the well-known 'Writings of George Washington, with a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations> (1834-37), which remained the standard until partially superseded by W. C. Ford's edition (1889-93).
Sparks used the copies of Washington's letters as found in the latter's letter-book. The dis crepancies found to exist between the copies and the originals as preserved refuted the charges at first made to the effect that Sparks had wilfully altered the letters. Sparks' method of editing in general has, however, been discarded. He printed only what he believed of importance, omitting and altering passages as he saw fit. This was largely due to the idea of editorial discretion then observed, and should not be made occasion for disparagement. Whatever may be said of his methods in editing text, Sparks was a really distinguished histori cal scholar and maintained almost invariable as high a level of excellence as was then possible to the historical editor. He also prepared (The . Works of Benjamin Franklin) (1836-40) ; (The Library of American Biography' (1st series 1834-38; 2d 1844-48). himself writing seven of the 60 lives; and 'Correspondence of the Ameri can Revolution' (1854). He also wrote (Re marks on American History' (1837). He was professor of history at Harvard in 1839-49, and president in 1849-53. The standard bi ography is Adams, H. B., (Life and Writings of Jared Sparks' (Boston 1893) ; there is also one by Ellis (1869). Consult also Bassett, J. S., 'Jared Sparks' in 'The Middle Group of American Historians) (New York 1917).