Irwin
Irwin names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Irwin WILLIAM HENRY, an American journalist
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
WILLIAM HENRY, an American journalist, writing under the name of Will Irwin, born in Oneida, N. Y. in 1873, brother of Wallace Irwin. He graduated from Stanford University in 1899. He acted as editor for several papers in San Francisco in 1906-7 and was managing editor of "McClure's Magazine." From 1908 he was a magazine writer. He acted as war correspondent during the World War for American and British papers and magazines. He was a member of the executive committee for the Commission for Relief in Belgium, in 1914-15. In 1918 he acted as chief of the foreign department on the Committee of Public Information. In addition to his war correspondence, he published several novels. His published writings include "The City that Was" (1907); "Old Chinatown" (1908); "The House of Mystery" (1910); "The Red Button" (1912); "The Splendid Story of Ypres" (1915).
Irwin WALLACE (ADMAH)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
WALLACE (ADMAH), an American writer, born in Oneida, N. Y., in 1876. He was educated at Denver High School and at Leland Stanford University. He became a special writer on newspapers and was for a time editor of the "San Francisco News Letter." His humorous writings in newspapers attracted wide attention, especially of the publications in 190 1902 of "The Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum." This was followed by many other pieces of humorous verse which obtained a wide circulation. He also wrote much prose in a humorous vein. In addition to these he wrote novels and special articles. His best known works are "Chinatown Ballads" (1905); "Letters of a Japanese Schoolboy" (1909); "Pilgrims Into Folly" (1917); "The Blooming Angel" (1919).
Irwin MAY, an American actress
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
MAY, an American actress, born in Whitby, Ontario, in 1862. She first appeared on the stage in 1876 and for many years following was a member of Tony Pastor's company. She later appeared under the management of Charles Frohman in many successful plays. She was one of the most popular comédiennes on the American stage.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
All three Irwins were alive when Collier's wrote these in 1921: Will died in 1948, Wallace in 1959, and May Irwin in 1938. Collier's calls May Irwin simply "one of the most popular comédiennes on the American stage" and never mentions the film for which she is now almost solely remembered — the Edison company's 1896 short of her stage kiss with John C. Rice, one of the first kisses recorded on film and later added to the National Film Registry. Will Irwin's reputation has shifted from war correspondent to founding figure of American press criticism, on the strength of his 1911 magazine series dissecting the newspaper business and his later work on wartime propaganda. Wallace Irwin's once hugely popular "Letters of a Japanese Schoolboy" is now read chiefly as an example of the era's racial caricature, and his anti-Japanese novel of the 1920s has damaged rather than sustained his standing.
Written for this edition, 2026.