Rare Book & Manuscript Library
 

Geroid Tanquary Robinson papers, 1915-1965

Summary Information

At a Glance

Call No.: MS#1073
Bib ID 4079585 View CLIO record
Creator(s) Robinson, Geroid Tanquary, 1892-1971
Title Geroid Tanquary Robinson papers, 1915-1965
Physical Description 33 linear feet (79 boxes 2 oversize boxes)
Language(s) English .
Access You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

The following boxes are located off-site: Boxes 2-80. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

There is no Box 77 in the collection; it appears that the number was skipped during processing as there is no Box 77 in the original container list for the collection.

This collection has no restrictions.

Arrangement

Arrangement

Selected materials cataloged; remainder arranged.

Description

Summary

Correspondence, manuscripts, notes, documents, subject files, photographs, art works, and printed materials. This collection covers the entire span of his life, although by far the greatest part relates to his activities as a professor from the 1930s to the 1960s. Among the correspondents are many important figures in American Russian studies or Columbia University; there are also many letters from his wife, Clemens T. Robinson, and Lewis Mumford. Manuscripts by Robinson include his "Rural Russia under the Old Regime" lectures, notes, speeches and essays, and also miscellaneous pieces (essays, reviews, poems, stories, plays, etc.) that he wrote while he was an aspiring young journalist and writer in the 1910s and 1920s. Manuscripts by others consist of student theses, papers, books and reports that were given him for review or comment. Subject files deal with such topics as his service in World War I; Columbia University (especially the Libraries and the History Department); and various aspects of academic life and Russian studies. Almost nothing in the collection has any bearing on his government service during World War II; items from the war years concern personal affairs or scholarship. There are photographs of Robinson and his wife; family photographs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries; and Russian scenes. Art works include items by Clemens T. Robinson. Among the printed materials are two books inscribed by Mumford to Robinson.

Using the Collection

Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Restrictions on Access

You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

The following boxes are located off-site: Boxes 2-80. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

There is no Box 77 in the collection; it appears that the number was skipped during processing as there is no Box 77 in the original container list for the collection.

This collection has no restrictions.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Geroid Tanquary Robinson papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Accruals

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Ownership and Custodial History

Bequest of Geroid T. Robinson, 1971.

Transfer from S.I.A. Library, 1977, 1986 & 1989.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Papers: Source of acquisition--Various. Method of acquisition--Gift.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

Papers Entered in AMC 11/28/90.

Revision Description

2020-06-29 EAD document created by CCR.

2020-06-29 Note on Box 77 added by CCR.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Genre/Form

Heading "CUL Archives:"
"Portal"
"CUL Collections:"
"CLIO"
"Nat'l / Int'l Archives:"
"ArchivedGRID"
Albums (books) Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Clippings (Information Artifacts) Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Drawings (visual works) Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Essays Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Illustrations Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Lectures Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Photographs Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Poems Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Reports Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Reviews (documents) Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Scripts (documents) Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Sketchbooks Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Speeches (documents) Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID

Subject

Heading "CUL Archives:"
"Portal"
"CUL Collections:"
"CLIO"
"Nat'l / Int'l Archives:"
"ArchivedGRID"
Bakhmetev, B. A. (Boris Aleksandrovich) Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
College teachers Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Columbia University Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Dewey, John, 1859-1952 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Donovan, William J (William Joseph), 1883-1959 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Eisenhower, Dwight D (Dwight David), 1890-1969 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Harriman, W. Averell (William Averell), 1891-1986 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Humphrey, Hubert H. (Hubert Horatio), 1911-1978 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Journalists Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Knopf, Alfred A., 1892-1984 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
MacLeish, Archibald, 1892-1982 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Marcuse, Herbert, 1898-1979 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Mumford, Lewis, 1895-1990 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Scholars Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Shotwell, James T., 1874-1965 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Soviet Union -- Civilization Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Soviet Union -- History Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Sovietologists Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Van Doren, Carl, 1885-1950 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Wilder, Thornton, 1897-1975 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
World War, 1914-1918 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID

History / Biographical Note

Biographical / Historical

Geroid T. Robinson, 1892-1971 (Columbia A.M. 1922; Ph.D. 1930) professor of Russian history at Columbia University. He was born Rodney G. Robinson in Virginia; after marrying Clemens Tanquary in 1921 he took her surname as his middle name. He had hoped to be a journalist and writer, and was on the staff of THE DIAL and THE FREEMAN from 1919 to 1924. From 1925 to 1927 he did doctoral research in the Soviet Union, which resulted in his only book RURAL RUSSIA UNDER THE OLD REGIME (1931). During World War II he was chief, USSR Division, Research and Analysis Branch, OSS. From the 1920s onward, Robinson taught in the History Department at Columbia Undiversity and was involved in the developing field of Russian studies. From 1946 to 1951 he was the first head of Columbia's Russian Institute. In 1950 he became Seth Low Professor of History and retired in 1960.