James Alexander Robertson

Background

James Alexander Robertson was born at Pennsylvania, United States on 19. 08. 1873. The sixth of eight children and third of four sons of John McGregor and Elizabeth (Borrowman) Robertson, natives of Canada and Scotland, respectively, and recently naturalized American citizens. His father was a contractor and builder. His mother died when he was seven, and three years later the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio.

Education

Educated first in public schools, he took his Ph. B. degree at Adelbert College of Western Reserve University, Cleveland, in 1896, specializing in Romance languages.

Career

After working for five years as proofreader and indexer of The Jesuit Relations, edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites and Emma Helen Blair, Robertson became joint editor with Miss Blair of another monumental collection of documents, The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (55 vols. , 1903 - 09). This was the first of his many contributions to the history of the Hispanic world, and in search of documents for it he spent the years 1902-07 in Europe, mainly in Spain. By-products were his edition of Pigafetta's Magellan's Voyage around the World (3 vols. , 1906) and a Bibliography of the Philippine Islands (1908). In 1909 he prepared for the historical division of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, headed by J. Franklin Jameson, a List of Documents in Spanish Archives Relating to the History of the United States (1910) and a two-volume study, Louisiana under the Rule of Spain, France, and the United States, 1785-1807 (1911). From 1910 to 1916 Robertson served as librarian of the Philippine Library, Manila. He traveled widely during this period: to Hong-Kong, to Spain, where in 1913 he purchased for the Philippine government a rich collection of Philippiniana; and to the Panama-Pacific Exposition (San Francisco, 1915), after which he collaborated with H. Morse Stephens and Bolton on The Pacific Occan in History (1917). Another product of this period was his Bibliography of Early Spanish-Japanese Relations (1915). In 1916 Robertson returned to Washington and, briefly, to the Carnegie Institution. His appointment the next year as a research chief in the Department of Commerce marked the beginning of a sixteen-year period of financial security during which he gained a leading position in the new but rapidly growing field of Latin-American studies in the United States. He left the Department in 1923 to become research professor in the John B. Stetson University (DeLand, Florida. ) and executive secretary of the Florida State Historical Society, an organization liberally supported by Stetson University and other patrons and devoted mainly to the history of Florida's Spanish period. Five years earlier he had been made managing editor of a new journal, the Hispanic American Historical Review, a post which he held for the rest of his life, except for the years 1922-26, when the journal was suspended. In 1933 the depression led to the termination of Robertson's research professorship and the suspension of the activities of the Florida State Historical Society, which had by this time published under his dynamic leadership eleven volumes and had a score more in various stages of preparation. His next and last post was that of archivist in the Maryland Hall of Records (Annapolis), which he held from 1935 until his death.

Achievements

• He is most noted for his contributions to the historiography of the Philippines

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 09 of 55 1593-1597 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History ... to the Close of the Nineteenth Century

    (This book was converted from its physical edition to the ...)

  • The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 06 of 55 1583-1588 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History ... to the Close of the Nineteenth Century

    (This book was converted from its physical edition to the ...)

  • Lineage, Life and Labors of José Rizal, Philippine Patriot
  • The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 03 of 55 1569-1576 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History ... to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century
  • The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 01 of 55 1493-1529 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History ... to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century

Connections

He traveled widely during this period: to Hong-Kong, where on March 4, 1912, he married Cora Moore Halsey of Oshkosh.

In 1933 the depression led to the termination of Robertson's research professorship and the suspension of the activities of the Florida State Historical Society, which had by this time published under his dynamic leadership eleven volumes and had a score more in various stages of preparation. His next and last post was that of archivist in the Maryland Hall of Records (Annapolis), which he held from 1935 until his death. He died at Annapolis of a cerebral hemorrhage. His body was cremated and the ashes laid to rest at Fort Lincoln Cemetery, Washington, D. C. He was survived by his wife and their three children, Mary Elizabeth, Richard John, and James Alexander.

child:

Richard John

He was survived by his wife and their three children, Mary Elizabeth, Richard John, and James Alexander.

child:

James Alexander.

He was survived by his wife and their three children, Mary Elizabeth, Richard John, and James Alexander.

child:

Mary Elizabeth

He was survived by his wife and their three children, Mary Elizabeth, Richard John, and James Alexander.

Wife:

Cora Moore Halsey

He traveled widely during this period: to Hong-Kong, where on March 4, 1912, he married Cora Moore Halsey of Oshkosh.