James Harvey Robinson (June 29, 1863–February 16, 1936) was an American historian.
Robinson was born Bloomington, Illinois. He taught history at the University of Pennsylvania (1891–95) and Columbia University (1895–1919), becoming a full professor in 1895. Following a series of faculty departures from Columbia in disputes about academic freedom, including that of his friend Charles A. Beard, Robinson resigned from Columbia in May 1919[1] to become one of the founders of the New School for Social Research and serve as its first director.
Through his writings and lectures, in which he stressed the "new history" — the social, scientific, and intellectual progress of humanity rather than merely political happenings — he exerted an important influence on the study and teaching of history. An editor (1892–95) of the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, he was also an associate editor (1912–20) of the American Historical Review and president in 1929 of the American Historical Association.