Edwyna Condon Gilbert was born in 1936 in Maryville, Missouri, to Edward and Edwyna Condon. Dr. Gilbert received her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Missouri in 1958 and 1960. She earned her PhD. from the University of Kansas in 1965. Dr. Gilbert served as an associate professor in the English Department at the University of Kansas from 1965-1993. She also served as an associate dean in the KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Dr. Gilbert was married to Willian Gilbert, distinguished scholar-teacher of the Renaissance at the University of Kansas. They established the Gilbert Collection Endowment to support the acquisition, preservation, processing and the digialitzation of materials related to the Renaissance and Reformation. The "William and Edwyna Gilbert Award" recognizes outstanding contributions to the teaching of history through the publication of journal and serial articles. Edwyna Condon Gilbert died in 2011.