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| Robert L. Scheina | |
|---|---|
| Name | Robert L. Scheina |
| Birth date | 1944 |
| Occupation | Naval historian, author, curator |
| Notable works | The Naval History of the Civil War, Latin America Naval History series |
| Awards | Fellowships, archival recognitions |
Robert L. Scheina is an American historian and author known for specialized scholarship on naval history, particularly concerning the United States Navy, the Civil War, and Latin American naval forces. He has contributed to archival curation, reference works, and scholarly publishing, bridging museum practice with academic research. His work has been cited by historians of Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, and studies of nineteenth‑century naval innovation such as ironclad warship development and steamship conversion.
Born in 1944, Scheina grew up during the post‑World War II era amid renewed public interest in figures like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. He pursued higher education with an emphasis on nineteenth‑century American and Latin American studies, engaging archives associated with institutions such as the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, and university special collections including those of Harvard University, Yale University, and the University of Virginia. His training exposed him to primary sources tied to events like the American Civil War, the Mexican–American War, and naval administrations of leaders such as Stephen Decatur and David Farragut.
Although primarily a historian and curator rather than a commissioned officer, Scheina’s professional trajectory intersected closely with naval institutions and veterans’ organizations including the Naval Historical Center and the United States Naval Institute. He collaborated with curators from museums such as the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum of the United States Navy, and state maritime museums that preserve artifacts from engagements like the Battle of Mobile Bay and the Battle of Hampton Roads. His archival work involved service records, ship logs, and ordnance documentation connected to figures like John Ericsson, George Dewey, and Alfred Thayer Mahan.
Scheina established a reputation through exhaustive reference volumes and concise monographs addressing naval fleets, ship design, and maritime operations across the Americas. He produced systematic surveys that intersect with scholarship on Naval Warfare, referencing operational histories of navies from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Mexico, and the United States. His methodological approach synthesized primary documents from repositories including the Archivo General de la Nación (Argentina), the Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico), and collections tied to naval leaders such as Jorge Montt and Dom Pedro II. Scheina’s analyses inform comparative studies involving historians like William H. McNeill and Merrill F. Oster, and reference works used by editors of journals such as The Journal of Military History and publications of the Society for Military History.
Scheina authored and edited numerous books and atlases that serve as standard references for scholars and curators. Notable titles cover the American Civil War, Latin American naval development, and ship registries—works frequently cross‑cited alongside those by James M. McPherson, Gary D. Joiner, Paul H. Silverstone, and Robert Gardiner. His bibliographic and compendium efforts complement major naval references like Jane's Fighting Ships and the naval chronicles of Samuel Eliot Morison. Major publications include multi‑volume surveys of Latin American navies, a detailed naval history of the Civil War era, and ship registries used by libraries and museums.
Scheina’s work has been recognized by professional and archival organizations, earning fellowships, research grants, and institutional honors from entities such as the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and regional historical societies. His reference books received commendations in reviews by editors of Naval War College Review and were adopted as resources in collections at institutions like the New York Public Library, the British Library, and the Biblioteca Nacional de Chile.
Scheina’s contributions shaped modern understanding of nineteenth‑ and early twentieth‑century naval forces in the Americas, influencing curatorial practices at the National Maritime Museum and shaping curricula at naval education centers including the Naval War College. His compilations facilitated later scholarship on transnational maritime encounters involving figures such as Simón Bolívar, Porfirio Díaz, Augusto Pinochet, and operational studies of conflicts like the War of the Pacific and the Spanish–American War. Contemporary historians, museum professionals, and maritime archaeologists continue to rely on his bibliographies, ship registries, and archival guides for research and exhibition planning.
Category:1944 births Category:American historians Category:Naval historians Category:Historians of Latin America