David Moore Robinson Explained

David Moore Robinson
Birth Date:	21 September 1880
Birth Place:	Auburn, New York
Death Place:	Oxford, Mississippi
Occupation:	Classical archaeologist
Years Active:	1904-1958
Known For:	Excavations at Olynthus
Spouse:	Helen Haskell

David Moore Robinson (September 21, 1880, in Auburn, New York – January 2, 1958, in Oxford, Mississippi) was an American classical archaeologist credited with the discovery of the ancient city of Olynthus.^{[1] [2]} While he was a prolific writer and advisor, he also has gained notoriety due to his plagiarism of his students, the most notable being Mary Ross Ellingson.

Biography

Robinson earned his A.B. (1898) and Ph.D. (1904) at the University of Chicago. Robinson served on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University (1905-1947).^[3] After his retirement, which also marked a falling out with Johns Hopkins, he moved to the Department of Classics at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi.^{[4] [5]} Many ancient objects from Robinson's collection were donated to the University of Mississippi and now constitute the David M. Robinson Memorial Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities.^[6] His collection of papyri and manuscripts were given in his will to colleague William Hailey Willis.^[7]

In addition to the excavations at Olynthus, he participated in archaeological excavations at ancient Corinth (1902) and Sardis (1910), as well as Pisidian Antioch (1924).

Among his students (he is credited with training 75 Ph.D. recipients and 41 M.A. recipients) were George M.A. Hanfmann, Eunice B. Stebbins^[8] Allan Chester Johnson, George E. Mylonas, Paul Augustus Clement, Jr.,^[9] James Walter Graham, Mary Ross Ellingson, Helen Henrietta Tanzer, and William Andrew McDonald.^[10]

Robinson was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1934 and the American Philosophical Society in 1936.^{[11] [12]} He was awarded the Cross of the Royal Order of the Phoenix by King Paul of Greece in 1957.^[13]

Plagiarism

Robinson published his findings at Olynthus in a 14-volume series, Excavations at Olynthus, most of which he wrote himself. However, it has since been proved that he plagiarized the work of his student Mary Ross Ellingson, and he has been accused of plagiarizing at least three other students as well. It has been shown that he published Ellingson's master's thesis and doctoral dissertation in volumes VII and XIV of Excavations at Olynthus as his own work.^{[14] [15]}

Publications

• 1904. Ancient Sinopea. University of Chicago (dissertation).^[16]
• 1924. Sappho & Her Influence on Ancient and Modern Literature^[17]
• 1930. with C. G. Harcum and J. H. Iliffe. A Catalogue of the Greek Vases in the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology, Toronto. Toronto: The University of Toronto Press.
• 1929-1952. David M Robinson; George E Mylonas. Excavations at Olynthus. (Johns Hopkins University studies in archaeology, no. 6, 9, 11-12, 18-20, 25-26, 31-32, 36, 38-39.) 14 v. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
• 1934-1938. with S. E. Freeman and M. McGehee. The Robinson Collection, Baltimore, Md.(Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. United States of America fasc. 4, 6-7.) Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• 1951-1953. George E. Mylonas; David M. Robinson; Doris Raymond. Studies presented to David Moore Robinson on his seventieth birthday. 2 v. Saint Louis: Washington University.

External links

• • Dictionary of Art Historians: Robinson, David Moore
  • "The Long-Suppressed Story of One Woman’s Discoveries & the Man Who Stole Credit for Them", Indiana Historical Bureau

Notes and References

1. "Robinson, David Moore." Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archaeology. Nancy Thomson de Grummond, ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996, vol. 2, pp. 963-64.
2. • George E. Mylonas

   Necrology in College Art Journal 18.1 (Autumn, 1958), p. 76.

3. Book: University of Chicago. The University Record. 1915. University of Chicago Press. 129–.
4. Hutton. Jeremy M.. 2017-06-12. Archaeology, Sexism, and Scandal: The Long-Suppressed Story of One Woman's Discoveries and the Man Who Stole Credit for Them by Alan Kaiser (review). Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies. en. 5. 2. 247–250. 10.5325/jeasmedarcherstu.5.2.0247 . 2166-3556.
5. Web site: History of David M. Robinson and Classics at Johns Hopkins. Leslie. Bill. JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM. 28 April 2020.
6. Web site: David M. Robinson Memorial Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities.
7. Will of David Moore Robinson, Lafayette County Chancery Clerk’s office, recorded in Book 4, Page 399.
8. Robinson. David M.. 1929. A Preliminary Report on the Excavations at Olynthos. American Journal of Archaeology. 33. 1. 53–76. 10.2307/497648. 497648. 193121038 . 0002-9114.
9. Paul Augustus Clement Jr. (1906-1986) was a member of the Department of Classics at UCLA from July 1, 1949 until 1973. http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb6z09p0jh&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00013&toc.depth=1&toc.id=
10. Book: David Moore Robinson. Studies Presented to David Moore Robinson On His Seventieth Birthday. 1953. Washington Univ..
11. Web site: 2023-02-09 . David Moore Robinson . 2023-06-02 . American Academy of Arts & Sciences . en.
12. Web site: APS Member History . 2023-06-02 . search.amphilsoc.org.
13. "BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DAVID MOORE ROBINSON" https://classics.olemiss.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/159/2011/01/Robinson_biography.pdf
14. Kaiser, Alan. Archaeology, Sexism, and Scandal: The Long-Suppressed Story of One Woman's Discoveries and the Man Who Stole Credit for Them. New York; London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.
15. Gaca, Kathy L. "Alan Kaiser, Archaeology, Sexism, and Scandal: The Long-Suppressed Story of One Woman's Discoveries and the Man Who Stole Credit for Them." (Book review). Bryn Mawr Classical Review, Feb. 3, 2015.
16. Internet Archive: University of Toronto - Robarts Library > Ancient Sinope : a dissertation https://archive.org/details/ancientsinopedis00robiuoft
17. Book: Henry Rushton Fairclough. The Classics and Our Twentieth-century Poets. 1927. Stanford University Press. 32–. GGKEY:1JYBQXG8WZB.