ELWYN B. ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
CHESTER FRITZ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA

3051 UNIVERSITY AVENUE STOP 9000
GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA 58202-9000

ROBERT MULLINS PAPERS

COLLECTION: OGL# 249

DATES: 1926 - 1936

SIZE: .25 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

ACQUISITION: The Robert Mullins Papers were deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection. The acquisition records are unavailable.

ACCESSION: Open for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Department of Special Collections.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Robert Mullins was born December 5, 1913. He attended Providence (Rhode Island) College in 1931-32 before transferring to Marquette University in Milwaukee, where he would earn his A.B. in Philosophy with a minor in Latin in 1940. Between his studies at Marquette, he also attended St. Albert’s College in Oakland, California for five years. He was ordained as a Catholic priest at St. Matthew’s Church in Milwaukee on September 29, 1945. That same year, he took an appointment as priest of the St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center in Grand Forks, which included a position teaching religion at UND.

While in Grand Forks, he finished work on his M.A. in Philosophy from Marquette in 1949. He was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1972, Associate Professor in 1976, and full Professor in 1980. He also served as priest at St. Michael’s Parish in Grand Forks, and St. Jude’s in Thompson, North Dakota. He was chaplain at St. Michael’s Hospital and the Grand Forks Air Force Base. He retired from UND and his church appointments in 1984.

Mullins was much revered as an instructor of philosophy and religious studies. He was fluent in at least six languages, and could read texts in three ancient languages. His students often kept in contact with him years after they had graduated. Former student Julie Imgrund referred to Mullins as her “spiritual grandfather” in a Grand Forks Herald article following his death. “He would always be available to people, far and wide, who would come to him for help,” she said. He offered “guidance with such intelligence, humor and humility.”

Mullins died March 4, 2004 in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Robert Mullins Papers consist of a list of donations and pledges made by members of the St. Jude's Roman Catholic Church in Thompson, North Dakota, 1926-1936.

BOX AND FOLDER INVENTORY

Box 1
Folder

  1. Donations and Pledges, St. Jude's Roman Catholic Church, Thompson, North Dakota, 1926-1936.


Original Donation

Return to: Faculty Papers

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