Wikipedia's first sentence called it “born at new york”. Today it says “american economist who spent his entire academic career at columbia university in new york city”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Edwin Robert Anderson Seligman ( April 28 , 1861 - July 8 , 1939 ), American economist , was born at New York . He was educated at Columbia University , and, after studying for three years in Germany and France , became prize lecturer at Columbia University in 1885, being made adjunct professor of political economy in 1888. He became McVickar professor of political economy in the same university in 1904 . His principal works are: Railway Tariffs (1887) The Shifting and Incidence of Taxation (1899; 3rd ed., 1910) Progressive Taxation in Theory and Practice (1894; 2nd ed. 1908) Economic Interpretation of History (1902; 2nd ed. 1907) Principles of Economics (1907). This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Chisholm, Hugh , ed. Cambridge University Press. : Missing or empty |title= ( help )1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17018822.
The opening as it stood in 2015 6 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Edwin Robert Anderson Seligman (1861–1939), was an American economist who spent his entire academic career at Columbia University in New York City .Seligman is best remembered for his pioneering work involving taxation and public finance .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 663604094.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
American economist Edwin Robert Anderson Seligman (1861–1939), was an American economist who spent his entire academic career at Columbia University in New York City . Seligman is best remembered for his pioneering work involving taxation and public finance . His principles for a progressive federal income tax were adopted by Congress after the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment .A prolific scholar and teacher, his students had great influence on the fiscal architecture of postcolonial nations.He served as an influential founding member of the American Economics Association.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1152159197.
The opening as it stood in 2025
American economist (1861–1939) Edwin Robert Anderson Seligman (1861–1939) was an American economist who spent his entire academic career at Columbia University in New York City . Seligman is best remembered for his pioneering work involving taxation and public finance . His principles for a progressive federal income tax were adopted by Congress after the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment . A prolific scholar and teacher, his students had great influence on the fiscal architecture of postcolonial nations. He served as an influential founding member of the American Economics Association.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1294420979. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “born at new york”. Today it says “american economist who spent his entire academic career at columbia university in new york city”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
born at new york
Now
american economist who spent his entire academic career at columbia university in new york city
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
