Key Figure Profile

Arthur Greenwood Robinson (Colby Class 1906)

Arthur Greenwood Robinson's official Colby Oracle 1906 entry places him inside campus YMCA leadership before his China work, which makes him one of the clearest Colby-to-China bridges in the site's early YMCA network.

A Colby Libraries research paper then connects his 1906 graduation to four years of teaching, boys' education work in Kansas City, and a 1913 YMCA call to China. UMedia annual reports from 1914 and 1919 place him directly inside YMCA administration in Nanking and Tientsin, extending the record beyond alumni reminiscence into recurring institutional reporting.

  • Education: Colby College, Class of 1906
  • Key contribution: boys' work, language-study, and youth-education administration inside YMCA China networks
  • Documented geography: Nanking (Nanjing), Shanghai, Tientsin (Tianjin)
  • Historical importance: early Colby-to-China bridge linking campus YMCA leadership, U.S. boys' work, and YMCA educational work in China
Portrait of Arthur Greenwood Robinson from The Colby Oracle 1906
Official portrait rendered from The Colby Oracle 1906, printed page 30 / official PDF page 34.

Research Summary

Robinson now matters in a more precise way than before because the official yearbook source resolves his full name and shows that his YMCA connection did not begin only after arrival in China. The portrait and class entry make him legible as Arthur Greenwood Robinson, not just a recurring byline in alumni magazines.

The stronger public chronology now runs from campus YMCA cabinet work at Colby to post-graduation teaching, then to boys' education work in Kansas City, and finally to YMCA service in China. That trajectory makes him useful for showing how religious, educational, and youth-work networks connected Maine, the American Midwest, and reform-era China before the better-documented 1920s cohort.

His 1914 article still provides the first-person China voice, but the institutional annual reports are what anchor the page: they move him from one reflective alumni article into verifiable YMCA administration in Nanking and Tientsin.

Primary and Secondary Source Layers

Primary Sources

  • verified First Impressions of the Far East (Colby Alumnus, Vol. 3, No. 4)
    A. G. Robinson. 1914. First Impressions of the Far East (Colby Alumnus, Vol. 3, No. 4). Colby College Digital Commons. Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 78-79 (see OCR page image 011). https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=alumnus (accessed 2026-02-20).
    Locator: Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 78-79

  • verified Class Notes Entry for A. G. Robinson in Tientsin, China (Colby Alumnus, Vol. 5, No. 5)
    Colby Alumnus Editorial Office. 1916. Class Notes Entry for A. G. Robinson in Tientsin, China (Colby Alumnus, Vol. 5, No. 5). Colby College Digital Commons. Vol. 5, No. 5, p. 105 (see OCR page image 019). https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=alumnus (accessed 2026-02-20).
    Locator: Vol. 5, No. 5, p. 105

  • verified A. G. Robinson, Secretary on Language Study, Nanking, China. Annual Report for the year ending Sept. 30, 1914
    A. G. Robinson. 1914. A. G. Robinson, Secretary on Language Study, Nanking, China. Annual Report for the year ending Sept. 30, 1914. University of Minnesota Libraries. Annual and Quarterly Reports of YMCA International Work in China, item p16022coll358:7866. https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll358:7866 (accessed 2026-04-06).
    Locator: UMedia item p16022coll358:7866

  • verified Sixth Annual Letter of A. G. Robinson, Year 1919, Tientsin, China, Sept. 1, 1919
    A. G. Robinson. 1919. Sixth Annual Letter of A. G. Robinson, Year 1919, Tientsin, China, Sept. 1, 1919. University of Minnesota Libraries. Annual and Quarterly Reports of YMCA International Work in China, item p16022coll358:6617. https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll358:6617 (accessed 2026-04-06).
    Locator: UMedia item p16022coll358:6617

  • verified Arthur Greenwood Robinson
    Colby College. 1906. Arthur Greenwood Robinson. Colby College Digital Commons. The Colby Oracle 1906, printed page 30; official PDF page 34. https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/oracle/111/ (accessed 2026-04-07).
    Locator: Printed page 30; official PDF page 34

Secondary Sources

  • partial Colby Missionaries in East Asia, 1822-1949
    Stephanie Ruys de Perez. 2023. Colby Missionaries in East Asia, 1822-1949. Colby College Libraries. pp. 15-16, Arthur Greenwood Robinson section. https://libraries.colby.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Colby_Missionaries_in_Asia_by_Stephanie_Ruys_de_Perez__13.pdf (accessed 2026-04-07).
    Locator: pp. 15-16

Image Evidence

Arthur Greenwood Robinson portrait and class entry in The Colby Oracle 1906
Official Colby Oracle 1906 entry identifying Arthur Greenwood Robinson, listing his Waterville address and campus YMCA cabinet service.
First Impressions of the Far East article page by A. G. Robinson
Article byline and opening section, 1914.
Class notes page referencing A. G. Robinson in Tientsin, China, 1916
Class notes mention placing Robinson in Tientsin, 1916.
A. G. Robinson annual report title page, Nanking, 1914
UMedia annual report placing Robinson in Nanking as Secretary on Language Study for the year ending September 30, 1914.
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Evidence Sources