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Elwyn Burns Robinson

3/24/2007:

North Dakota lost one of its most noted historians on this day in 1985. Elwyn Burns Robinson passed away at the age of seventy-nine, after a life-long career documenting North Dakota’s history as a distinguished professor at the University of North Dakota. Robinson was born on a small Ohio farm in 1905. After earning his PhD from Western Reserve in Cleveland, Robinson was quickly offered a job to teach history at UND by Dr. Orin Libby. During his thirty-five years as a UND professor, Robinson contributed an extensive amount of literature on the early history of the state, including his monumental History of North Dakota. Robinson’s growing affections for North Dakota were best shown in his series of radio talks that aired across the state in the late 1940's: "Perhaps this bit of our state history will nourish in our hearts more affection for our [state]. To love North Dakota is good for us, and our loyalty is good for the state."

Sources:

http://www.library.und.edu/Collections/Robinson/home.html

--Jayme L Job