Robert Abbe (April 13, 1851 – March 7, 1928) was an American surgeon and pioneer radiologist in New York City.

During this time, he would spend summers travelling, and he amassed a large collection of Native American artifacts and archeological materials.

He was an attending surgeon at Roosevelt Hospital[3] (now Mount Sinai West) in New York, where the plastic surgical laboratory is named for him.

In later years, at his Bar Harbor summer home, "Brook End," Abbe created a garden in whose pool floated two swans – Pierre and Marie.

While summering in Bar Harbor, Abbe was fascinated by the ancient Native American tools found in nearby shell heaps.

His dreams of a museum became reality with the help of friends such as George Dorr and Charles Eliot, the founding fathers of Acadia National Park.

Abbe amassed a sizeable collection of Native American archaeological material during his summers on Mount Desert Island.