Roanoke Colonies Research Newsletter
Volume 8, Numbers 1 & 2 (November 2002/ May 2003)

David Beers Quinn (1909-2002)
Dean of Roanoke Colonization Studies
by E. Thomson Shields, Jr., Roanoke Colonies Research Office

On March 19, 2002, David Beers Quinn passed away at the age of 92. Quinn arguably created the modern study of the Roanoke colonization efforts by the English. At least as early as the publication of Raleigh and the British Empire in 1947, he began a long career of publishing on Roanoke colonization-related subjects that most recently saw the 1998 publication of European Approaches to North America, 1450-1640, a collection of his essays on North American exploration. Quinn’s legacy will even continue with one last article to be published, part of In Search of the Roanoke Colonies, the forthcoming volume I have edited with Charles Ewen. Having begun his career studying Irish history and English colonization of Ireland, Quinn connected that colonization effort to the wider English attempts to set up other colonies in the Atlantic world, then went on to become one of the most prolific scholars on European colonization of the New World.

Quinn’s work on Roanoke colonization was among his most important. His 1955 collection of primary documents for the Hakluyt Society, The Roanoke Voyages, 1584-90, continues to be the standard edition for most of the documents. His editing work on Roanoke colonization and other European colonization efforts led to the monumental five volume New American World: A Documentary History of North America to 1612, published in 1979. Additionally, Quinn made available facsimile editions of many of the works of Richard Hakluyt, including a 1968 edition of Hakluyt’s 1582 Divers Voyages, a 1965 edition of Hakluyt’s 1589 edition of The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoueries of the English Nation, and a 1993 edition of Hakluyt’s 1584 Discourse of Western Planting. Quinn was not known just an editor. His own 1985 Set Fair for Roanoke remains the standard history of the Roanoke colonization efforts of the 1580s.

Several obituaries and remembrances of Quinn have appeared since his death. Some of those available through the world wide web are H. G. Jones’s remembrance of Quinn written originally on the occasion of Quinn’s being made a fellow of the Society of the History of Discoveries, as well as the obituaries from the British newspapers the Guardian and The Independent. Other obituaries that help provide a richer picture of Quinn than many people may know about are from the Times of London and the Irish Times, both available through the newspapers’ online archive sites. (See page 4 for more information.) Additionally, William and Mary Quarterly is planning a tribute to Quinn in an upcoming issue.

Top
Contents Page