R. A. (Rudolph Adams) Van Middeldyk

R. A. Van Middeldyk, also written as Rudolph Adams Van Middeldyk, is known for The History of Puerto Rico: From the Spanish Discovery to the American Occupation, first published in 1903. The book became his best-known work and was presented as one of the earliest substantial histories of Puerto Rico available in English.

Contemporary descriptions of the book say Van Middeldyk was serving as librarian of the Free Public Library of San Juan when he wrote it. That role likely gave him access to important historical material, and readers have long valued the book for bringing together Spanish-language sources and earlier chronicles for an English-speaking audience.

Reliable biographical details about his personal life appear to be scarce in the sources I could confirm, so it is safest to remember him mainly through that landmark historical work and its lasting place in Puerto Rican historiography.