The historian Edward Channing (1856-1931), a specialist in American colonial and Revolutionary history, is best known for his multivolume "History of the United States."

Edward Channing, born on June 15, 1856, in Dorchester, Mass., was the son of William Ellery Channing the younger, a poet. At the age of 4 Edward was sent to Boston to live with his grandfather, Walter Channing, the dean of Harvard Medical School.

Channing graduated from Harvard in 1878. After hearing lectures by the distinguished Harvard history professor Henry Adams, Channing decided to pursue a career as a historian. He received his doctorate of philosophy in history from Harvard in 1880 with a dissertation on the Louisiana Purchase.

Channing applied to President Eliot of Harvard to teach American history but was refused. After touring Europe for a year Channing returned to Harvard as an independent student. In 1883 he became an instructor at Harvard. He married Alice Thacher in...