Thomas Robbins

Rev. Thomas Robbins, D.D. (August 11, 1777 – September 13, 1856) was a Congregational minister, a bibliophile, and an antiquarian. He became the first librarian of the Connecticut Historical Society. Early years Robbins was born in Norfolk, Connecticut, the ninth child of the Rev. Ammi Ruhamah Robbins, and Elizabeth (Le Baron) Robbins. Ammi was the first minister of Norfolk. He had 12 siblings. Robbins entered Yale University at the age of 15. In January 1796, he began a diary which he kept up through 1854. While in college, Robbins also began collecting books, a passion that would eventually define his life. He graduated from Yale in 1796, though he spent his senior year at Williams College, where his father was a trustee, and is listed as a 1796 alumnus of Williams as well.