Rollin D. Salisbury
American geologist and educator (1858-1922)

Rollin Daniel Salisbury (August 17, 1858 – August 15, 1922) was an American geologist and educator.
Biography
Salisbury was born at Spring Prairie, Wisconsin, in 1858. He studied at Whitewater State Normal School in Whitewater, Wisconsin, graduating in 1877 after completing the four-year course in just two-and-one-half years. He taught in a village school in Port Washington, Wisconsin, for one year before entering Beloit College as a sophomore in the fall of 1878. At Beloit, he studied geology with T.C. Chamberlin as his professor. After graduating from Beloit in 1881, he spent one year working for the U.S. Geological Survey as Chamberlin's field assistant, during which time he lived in the Chamberlin household. After Chamberlin left Beloit in 1882, Salisbury joined the college faculty, becoming an assistant professor in 1882 and full professor and chair of the geology department in 1884, remaining there for several years.
In 1892 he was one of the scholars on the Peary Relief Expedition to Greenland.
After working at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for one year, he was called to the University of Chicago in 1892. At Chicago he became dean of the Ogden Graduate School of Science in 1899, a position he held at the time of his death in 1922.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Rollin D. Salisbury” is american geologist and educator (1858-1922). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Rollin, Salisbury and American, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “american geologist and educator (1858-1922)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7361153. VIAF identifies the subject as 3255945. The Library of Congress control number is n86873172. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1858, 1922, 1877 and 1878.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. 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
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Rollin D. Salisbury”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Rollin D. Salisbury primary sources, Rollin D. Salisbury archive and Rollin research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Rollin D. Salisbury”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Rollin D. Salisbury” 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.