CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Robert Blakeley

American graphic designer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ42379139 ↗
Source-derived summary

Robert Wilson Blakeley (August 30, 1922 – October 25, 2017) was an American graphic designer, known for making the fallout shelter sign. While working for the Army Corps of Engineers, Blakeley designed the sign as a civil defense measure during the Cold War.

Born in Ogden, Utah, Blakeley attended public schools and served with the Marine Corps, seeing combat during World War II. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1954 and was the president of Toastmasters.

Personal life

Blakeley was born on August 30, 1922, in Ogden, Utah, to Robert G. Blakeley and Elsie Jean (Wilson) Blakeley. One of four children, he attended Weber College and Utah State University.

In 1944, he married Shirley Jeane Brown, with whom he had one son, David Bruce Eppenberger. Robert and Jeane divorced some time later. In 1952, he married Dorothy McArthur, with whom he had two children, Dorothy "Dot" Carver and Robert. She died in 1992. In 2003, he married Irene Allan Davis.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Robert Blakeley” as american graphic designer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Robert, Blakeley and American.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1922, 2017, 1954, 1944—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1922-08-30. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Robert, Blakeley and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Robert Blakeley”, the useful work is to connect “american graphic designer” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q42379139. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1922, 2017, 1954 and 1944.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Robert Blakeley”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Robert Blakeley primary sources, Robert Blakeley archive and Robert research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Robert Blakeley”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Robert Blakeley” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.