Robinson, Elwyn B.

Professor of history at the University of North Dakota.

University of North Dakota history professor (1935-1970) and North Dakota historian.

Elwyn B. Robinson was born on October 13, 1905 on a farm near South Russell, Ohio, one of three sons of Walter P. and Mabel L. Robinson. He grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio and was educated at Oberlin College (B.A., 1928, English) and at Case Western Reserve University (M.A. 1932, Ph. D. 1936, History). He married Eva S. Foster on September 2, 1935.

In 1935, Robinson accepted a position in the history department at the University of North Dakota. He presented, and published, 40 radio talks entitled "North Dakota Heroes" from 1947-1949. In 1950 he taught the first North Dakota history course and in 1952 began writing his best-known work, THE HISTORY OF NORTH DAKOTA. In his book, Robinson outlined six basic themes which he hypothesized had shaped the state's history: remoteness, dependence, radicalism, economic disadvantage, the "too-much mistake", and adjustment. Robinson retired from the University of North Dakota in 1970. He died in Grand Forks on March 25, 1985. See finding aid for more biographical information.