Richard Gilson was born in Eugene, Oregon in 1925. He was awarded a Fullbright Scholarship to New Zealand in 1949 and was enrolled at the Victoria University College in Wellington where he began his studies of New Zealand, the Cook islands and Western Samoa. Gilson left Wellington in August 1950 and completed his Masters thesis on the Cook Islands at the London School of Economics. He was appointed Research Fellow, Department of Pacific History, Research School of Pacific Studies 1952-1957. Gilson died on 29 April 1963, as a result of a heart attack. His research on Samoa culminated in the book, Samoa 1830-1900, published posthumously in 1970. Gilson’s thesis on the Cook Islands was also prepared for publication as The Cook Islands 1820-1950 (1980).