Douglas H. Robinson Collection

Collection

Identifier: L009-98

Staff Only

Scope and Content

This collection contains documents, photographs, audio tapes, blueprints, plans, books, magazines, manuscripts, scrapbooks, clippings, memorabilia, moving images, slides, glass plate negatives, personal papers and files, correspondence with the Karl Mathy Family, reports, manuals, and other materials that were created and/or collected by Douglas Robinson. The Douglas H. Robinson Collection is housed in forty-six boxes of various sizes totaling 18.2 linear ft.

The collection arrived in good condition and was initially processed with only a container list as description. Due to a change of the content management system, further description proved to be necessary.

Dates

1903 - 1993
Majority of material found within 1915 - 1975

Creator

Robinson, Douglas H., Mr., MD (Douglas Hill) (1918-1998, Harvard psychiatrist and aviation historian) (Creator, Person)

Language of Materials

Collection is in English, Flemish, French, and German.

Access Restrictions

Materials in this collection are open for research.

Literary Rights Statement

Permission to publish material from this collection in any form, current or future, must be obtained from the Special Collections and Archives Division, Eugene McDermott Library, The University of Texas at Dallas.

Biographical Sketch

Douglas Hill Robinson was born 9 July 1918 in Columbia, Missouri to his parents Gustavus Hill and Sarah (Anderson) Robinson. Robinson received both his B. S. in 1939 and his MD in 1943 from Harvard University. Robinson had a full-time medical practice located in Trenton, New Jersey, where he specialized in psychiatry.

He was also Director of Special Therapies at the New Jersey State Hospital from 1947 to 1953, staff member of St. Frances Hospital from 1956 to 1974, honorary staff member beginning in 1982, and chief of psychiatry from 1968 to 1974.

Although a full-time psychiatrist, his principle interest outside of his profession was aviation history, particularly lighter-than-air history. He became a close friend of Rear Vice-Admiral Charles E. Rosendahl, one of America's leading authorities on dirigible and blimp operations and author of several books on lighter-than-air topics. Robinson's attraction to this subject resulted in his authoring or co-authoring several works on that topic and gained him the unofficial title of “Dean of Airship Historians.”

Extent

18.2 Linear Feet (Forty-five manuscript boxes and one half-size manuscript box.)

Additional Description

Abstract

This collection contains materials related to lighter-than-air, that were created or collected by Douglas H. Robinson, MD.

Series Description

The archivist kept the original organization intact without any further arrangment.

Provenance Statement

The Douglas H. Robinson Collection was donated to the History of Aviation Archives, Special Collections and Archives Division, Eugene McDermott Library, The University of Texas at Dallas, by Merle S. Robinson, on 1998-02-20.

Additional Sources

Additional information can be found in the History of Aviation Archives in the following collections:

The Vice Admiral Charles E. Rosendahl Lighter-Than-Air Collection

Books/Magazines

Books and magazines were pulled and catalogued to be included into the HAC monograph and magazine collection.

Image ID

It is the researcher's responsibility to secure permission from copyright holders of materials to which this institution does not own copyright.

Images in this collection are identified by a unique number that provides information about the format, record group, collection, series, box, folder, and image numbers. Please use this number when ordering reproductions of images from this collection.

Record Group Code

1 = CAT/Air American Archives

2 = Doolittle Archives

3 = Lighter than Air Archives

4 = George H. Williams, Jr., World War I Aviation Library

5 = History of Aviation Archives

6 = University Archives

7 = HAC Stacks

8 = WPRL Stacks

9 = Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Collection

10 = Belsterling Collection

11 = Closed Stacks

12 = Unidentified

13 = Chance Vought Archives

14 = Twirly Birds Archives

Image Format Code

P = Photograph/Postcard

S = Slide

N = Negative

T = Positive Transparency

B = Black and White

C = Color

Example: 3DHR-1-1-PB1

3 = Lighter than Air Archives

DHR = Douglas H. Robinson Collection

= Series Number

1 = Box Number

1 = Folder Number

P = Photograph/Postcard

B = Black and White

1 = Image Number

Images archived in plastic image holders may also have a location code in the format: 1/TL. In this example, the number is the sheet number and the letters indicate the top left position on the sheet. Position indicators are T = top, L = left, R = right, M = middle, and B = bottom. Position indicators may be combined to describe the position on the sheet, as shown in this example.

Subjects

Aeronautical charts Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Aircraft accidents Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Airplanes--Design and construction. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Airplanes--Motors. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Airships Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Akron (Airship) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Aviation medicine. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
B-58 bomber Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Blériot aircraft Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Bombing, Aerial Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Curtiss aircraft Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Falkland Islands War, 1982. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Friedrichshafen (Germany) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Gliding and soaring Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Graf Zeppelin (Airship) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Harvard University Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Heinkel airplanes Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Helicopters Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Hindenburg (Airship) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Hydrogen. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Lakehurst (N.J.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Lakehurst (N.J.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Lighter than Air Archives Subject Source: Local sources
Los Angeles (Airship) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Macon (Airship) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Morane-Saulnier aircraft Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Psychiatry. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Robinson, Douglas H. (Douglas Hill), 1918-1998 Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Rosendahl, Charles E. (Charles Emery), 1892-1977 Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Seaplanes Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Shenandoah (Airship) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
United States. Army Air Forces Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
United States. Navy Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Waco airplanes Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1914-1918 Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1914-1918 Aerial operations Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1939-1945 Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
World War, 1939-1945 Aerial operations, American. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings