Warren M. Robbins

Warren Murray Robbins (September 4, 1923 – December 4, 2008) was an American art collector, whose collection of African art led to the formation of the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution.

Robbins was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on September 4, 1923, to Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. He attend the University of New Hampshire where he earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1945. He was awarded a master's degree from the University of Michigan in 1949, majoring in history. After graduating from college, he taught briefly at Nurnberg American High School and then became a cultural affairs officer for the Department of State.

While working as a cultural attaché for the State Department at the United States Embassy in Bonn, he was walking the streets of Hamburg in the late 1950s or early 1960s with future United States Senator S. I. Hayakawa when he impulsively entered into an antiques shop and spent $15 on a carved-wood figure of a man and woman, the work of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. Back in Hamburg a year later, he spent $1,000 on 32 African masks, textiles and other pieces in a different shop.

Returning to the United States, Robbins purchased a home in Washington, D.C. which he decorated with the 33 items he had brought back from Europe, and adorned the rooms with tropical plants to evoke the jungles of Africa. After an article was printed about his collection in The Washington Post, he invited in curious visitors who started appearing at his door to take a look. He created this informal museum in his basement as part of an effort to promote cultural communication during the Civil Rights Movement. Robbins was unapologetic in the face of complaints that he was a white man operating a museum of African art, noting that "I make no apologies for being white. You don't have to be Chinese to appreciate ancient ceramics, and you don't have to be a fish to be an ichthyologist."

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