SPARKS, Jared, historian, born in Willington, Connecticut, 10 May, 1789; died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 14 March, 1866. He obtained in 1809 a scholarship in Phillips Exeter academy, through the influence of Reverend Abiel Abbott, and, after remaining two years, entered Harvard, where he was also given a scholarship, which he supplemented by teaching during a part of the year. While employed in a private school at Havre de Grace, Maryland, in 1813, he served in the militia against the British, who captured and burned the town. After his graduation in 1815 he taught a classical school at Lancaster, Massachusetts, but he returned to the university in 1817 to study divinity, and for the two years that he was there he was tutor m mathematics and natural philosophy in the college and acting editor of the "North American Review." In May, 1819, after the completion of his theological studies, he was ordained pastor of a new Unitarian church in Baltimore, Maryland lie took part in the doctrinal controversy with orthodox theologians. In 1821 he was chosen chaplain of the National house of representatives. He edited in 1821-'3 a monthly periodical called the " Unitarian Miscellany and Christian Monitor," in which he printed letters addressed to Reverend Samuel Miller on the "Comparative Moral Tendency of Trinitarian and Unitarian Doctrines" that were afterward expanded and republished in a volume (Boston, 1823). He resigned his pastorate in Baltimore in 1823 on account of impaired health, and, after a journey in the western states, returned to Boston and purchased the" North American Review," which he conducted from January, 1824, till April, 1831. He undertook in 1825 the task of collecting and editing the writings of George Washington, and, after examining the papers in the public archives of the thirteen states of the Continental federation, he secured possession, through an arrangement with Bushrod Washington and Chief-Justice John Marshall, of the papers of General Washington that were preserved at Mount Vernon. In 1828 he went to Europe for the purpose of transcribing documents in the government archives at London and at Paris. Several years later he made a second journey to Europe, and, in his renewed researches among the French archives, discovered the map with the red line marked upon it, concerning which, and the use made of it in settling the question of the northeastern boundary in 1842, there was much debate, both in this country and in England. Mr. Sparks was the originator and first editor of the "American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge" (Boston, 1830-'61). He was professor of ancient and modern history at Harvard from 1839 till 1849, and president of the college from February, 1849, till February, 1853, when he resigned on account of failing health. He devoted his last years to a work on the "History of the American Revolution," which he left unfinished. He received the degree of LL.D. from Harvard in 1843, and was a member of many learned societies. The first volume that Dr. Sparks published was "Letters on the Ministry, Ritual, and Doctrines of the Protestant Episcopal Church," in reply to a sermon of Reverend William E. Wyatt directed against Unitarian doctrines (Baltimore, 1820). His sermon before the house of representatives on the death of William Pinkney was printed (Washington, 1822). He began in Baltimore, and continued in Boston, the publication of a "Collection of Essays and Tracts in Theology from Various Authors," with biographical and critical notices (6 vols., 1823-'6). In 1827 he published, in the form of two letters to Judge Joseph Story, an account of the Washington poppers at Mount Vernon, with a plan for their publication. His first biographical work was a "Life of John Ledyard" (Cambridge, 1828), which was translated into German (Leipsic, 1829). While engaged in collecting the public and private writings of President Washington, Sparks, by authority of congress, gathered and edited "The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, being the Letters of Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, John Adams, John Jay, Arthur Lee, William Lee, Ralph Izard, Francis Dana, William Carmichael, Henry Laurens, John Laurens, and others, concerning the Foreign Relations of the United States during the Whole Revolution; together with the Letters in Reply from the Secret Committee of Congress and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs; also the Entire Correspondence of the French Ministers Gerard and Luzerne with Congress" (12 vols., Boston, 1829-'30). He also wrote at this time "The Life of Gouverneur Morris" (3 vols., 1832). After nine years of preparatory labor he began the publication of" The Writings of George Washington, being his Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and other Papers, Official and Private, selected and published from the Original Manuscripts, with a Life of the Author, Notes, and Illustrations" (12 vols., 1834-'8). The first volume, containing the "Life of Washington," appeared in 1837, and was reissued separately (Boston, 1839). An abridgment by the author was also published (2 vols., Boston, 1843). Those parts of the correspondence that were of interest to the French public, with the biography in full, were translated and published under the title of "Vie, correspondance, et ecrits de Washington," with an introductory discourse by Francois P. G. Guizot on the influence and character of Washington in the American Revolution (6 vols, and atlas, Paris, 1839-'40). The first volume of the correspondence was reprinted in London, but found no sale. An English publisher issued the "Personal Memoirs and Diaries of George Washington," with the name of Jared Sparks on the title-page, though without his authorization (2 vols., London, 1839). Friedrich yon Raumer made a German translation of the biography, with extracts from the writings (Leipsic, 1839). Historians and critics generally accorded praise to Sparks for the thoroughness and accuracy of his work; yet his manner of refining the language of the letters and diaries and suppressing objectionable words and passages drew upon him the unfriendly criticism of Lord Mahon, who charged the editor not only with omissions, but with substituting and interpolating passages, afterward withdrawing the latter part of the charge. Mr. Sparks, in a "Reply to Lord Mahon and Others" (1852), defended his mode of editing. The letters of Washington to Joseph Reed that were referred to in the controversy were reprinted in their original form (Philadelphia, 1852), eliciting from Sparks "Remarks on a Reprint of Washington's Letters" (1853). Sparks was the editor of "The Library of American Biography" (10 vols., Boston, 1834-'8), containing twenty-six lives, to which a second series of thirty-four lives was added (15 vols., 1844-'7). This work passed through many editions. Of the lives he wrote those of Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold, Father Marquette, La Salle, Count Pulaski, John Ribault, Charles Lee, and John Ledyard, the latter being reprinted from his previously published work. He edited also the "Works of Benjamin Franklin, with Notes and a Life of the Author" (10 vols., 1836-'40). The first volume, containing Franklin's "Autobiography," with notes and a continuation by Mr. Sparks, was issued separately (1844). Besides "Remarks on American History" (Boston, 1837), additions to William Smyth's "Lectures on Modern History" (Boston, 1841), and other minor works, his only other publication was "Correspondence of the American Revolution, being Letters of Eminent Men to George Washington from the Time of his taking Command of the Army to the End of his Presidency" (4 vols., 1853). He left manuscript journals containing reminiscences of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and other eminent men, and recorded conversations with many of them. His manuscript collection of original materials for American diplomatic history was given to Harvard college. See a "Memoir of Jared Sparks," by Brantz Mayer (Baltimore, 1867), and one by George E. Ellis (Cambridge, 1869).