Wikipedia's first sentence called it “american scholar and writer on palestine”. Today it says “american methodist pastor”.
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 2025 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 2025
Elihu Grant (1873 – November 2, 1942) was an American scholar and writer on Palestine . Grant was ordained Methodist minister in 1900, and between 1901 and 1904 he was superintendent of the American Friends Schools in Ramallah and Jerusalem . Returning to the US he was a professor of biblical literature at Smith College from 1907 to 1917, and thereafter at Haverford College until his retirement in 1938. Between 1928 and 1933 he directed four campaigns of excavations at Ain Shems (Beth Shemesh), and Time magazine reported that he found jugs and vases which represented a Bronze Age culture. One of his lifelong interest was the life of the Palestinian fellahin , an interest which started when he first worked for the American Friends School, and which resulted in three books. The 1907 book The Peasantry of Palestine: The Life, Manners, and Customs of the Village is described as "a vividly accurate portrait of rural life in Palestine".
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1292728887.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Elihu Grant (1873-died 2 November 1942) was an American scholar and writer on Palestine . Grant was ordained Methodist minister in 1900, and between 1901 and 1904 he was superintendent of the American Friends Schools in Ramallah and Jerusalem . Returning to the US he was a Professor of Biblical literature at Smith College from 1907 to 1917, and thereafter at Haverford College until his retirement in 1938. Between 1928 and 1933 he directed four campaigns of excavations at Ain Shems (Beth Shemesh), and Time Magazine reported that he found jugs and vases which represented a bronze age culture. One of his life-long interest was the life of the Palestinian fellahin , an interest which started when he first worked for the American Friends School, and which resulted in three books., where the 1907 book The Peasantry of Palestine: The Life, Manners, and Customs of the Village is described as "a vividly accurate portrait of rural life in Palestine." "Diggers" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 351642573.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Elihu Grant (1873-died 2 November 1942) was an American scholar and writer on Palestine . Grant was ordained Methodist minister in 1900, and between 1901 and 1904 he was superintendent of the American Friends Schools in Ramallah and Jerusalem . Returning to the US he was a Professor of Biblical literature at Smith College from 1907 to 1917, and thereafter at Haverford College until his retirement in 1938. Between 1928 and 1933 he directed four campaigns of excavations at Ain Shems (Beth Shemesh), and Time Magazine reported that he found jugs and vases which represented a bronze age culture. One of his lifelong interest was the life of the Palestinian fellahin , an interest which started when he first worked for the American Friends School, and which resulted in three books., where the 1907 book The Peasantry of Palestine: The Life, Manners, and Customs of the Village is described as "a vividly accurate portrait of rural life in Palestine." "Diggers" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 659805886.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Grant, at Haverford College, 1918 Elihu Grant (1873 – 2 November 1942) was an American scholar and writer on Palestine . Grant was ordained Methodist minister in 1900, and between 1901 and 1904 he was superintendent of the American Friends Schools in Ramallah and Jerusalem . Returning to the US he was a Professor of Biblical literature at Smith College from 1907 to 1917, and thereafter at Haverford College until his retirement in 1938. Between 1928 and 1933 he directed four campaigns of excavations at Ain Shems (Beth Shemesh), and Time Magazine reported that he found jugs and vases which represented a Bronze Age culture. One of his lifelong interest was the life of the Palestinian fellahin , an interest which started when he first worked for the American Friends School, and which resulted in three books., where the 1907 book The Peasantry of Palestine: The Life, Manners, and Customs of the Village is described as "a vividly accurate portrait of rural life in Palestine." "Diggers" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 957947734.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Grant, at Haverford College, 1918 Elihu Grant (1873 – November 2, 1942) was an American scholar and writer on Palestine . Grant was ordained Methodist minister in 1900, and between 1901 and 1904 he was superintendent of the American Friends Schools in Ramallah and Jerusalem . Returning to the US he was a professor of biblical literature at Smith College from 1907 to 1917, and thereafter at Haverford College until his retirement in 1938. Between 1928 and 1933 he directed four campaigns of excavations at Ain Shems (Beth Shemesh), and Time magazine reported that he found jugs and vases which represented a Bronze Age culture. One of his lifelong interest was the life of the Palestinian fellahin , an interest which started when he first worked for the American Friends School, and which resulted in three books. The 1907 book The Peasantry of Palestine: The Life, Manners, and Customs of the Village is described as "a vividly accurate portrait of rural life in Palestine".
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1060013511.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “american scholar and writer on palestine”. Today it says “american methodist pastor”. Read the current article and compare.
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 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
american scholar and writer on palestine
Now
american methodist pastor
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.