The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Robinson, James Harvey
1863–1936, American historian, b. Bloomington, Ill. He taught history at the Univ. of Pennsylvania (1891–95) and Columbia (1895–1919), becoming a full professor in 1895. In 1919, he was one of the founders of the New School for Social Research (now New School Univ.), of which he was the first director. Through his writings and lectures, in which he stressed the “new history”—the social, scientific, and intellectual progress of humanity rather than merely political happenings—he exerted an important influence on the study and teaching of history. An editor (1892–95) of the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, he was also an associate editor (1912–20) of the American Historical Review and president (1929) of the American Historical Association.
