A “NEW HISTORY” IN AMERICA: Robinson and Beard

Abstract

[James Harvey Robinson (1863–1936) spent his lifetime battling against the conventional history taught in American schools, and sought to replace it with “The New History.” Trained both in this country and in Germany in the exacting methods of nineteenth century historiography, Robinson became dissatisfied with its exclusively political, constitutional, and military emphasis. After writing an orthodox doctoral dissertation on the German Bundesrath, he edited and translated a series of original sources in European history. A highly effective teacher at Pennsylvania and Columbia Universities, he introduced a novel course on the History of the Intellectual Class of Europe and inspired some of his graduate students—among them Lynn Thorndike, C. J. H. Hayes, Preserved Smith, and James T. Shotwell—to embark on a study of intellectual history. But his greatest influence came through his many, widely-used textbooks, beginning with An Introduction to the History of Western Europe (2 vols. 1902–1903). These high school and college texts stressed the intellectual and social trends of a particular age, and were designed to be more popular in their appeal than the older political chronicles.