Robert S. Lopez Collection

Robert Sabatino Lopez was born in Genoa, Italy on October 8, 1910, the son of a distinguished Italian playwright and university professor. After receiving a Litt.D. degree from the University of Milan in 1932, he taught at several Italian universities before coming to the United States in 1939. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1942 and taught at Brooklyn College and at Columbia University before taking up his first post at Yale University in 1946.

When Lopez retired 35 years later, he held the title of Sterling Professor of History. He founded and directed the graduate program in medieval studies at Yale, served as a visiting professor at Harvard University, at the College de France, and at other major universities, and had been awarded several honorary degrees. Lopez was widely regarded as one of the foremost scholars of Medieval and Renaissance history with a publication record that included twelve major books and over one hundred scholarly articles. He died in New Haven, Connecticut on July 6, 1986 and his entire library was purchased by the Arizona State University Libraries shortly thereafter.