The Howard M. Ehrmann Papers document the period 1927-1968, the length of Ehrmann's tenure at the University of Michigan. The collection includes correspondence relating in part to his chairmanship of the department of history at the University of Michigan, materials used in his classes such as tests and syllabi, materials documenting his activities as reviewer and editor, and materials documenting his writings, including a manuscript for a book The Second World War: A Political History of the Immediate Origins of the War, 1939-1941 which was never published. Of special interest are two folders of autographs of 20th century political figures such as Ralph Bunche, Herbert Hoover, and Alger Hiss, which were gathered by Professor Ehrmann when he was arranging a conference on the postwar world.
The collection has been arranged into the following series: Biographical/Personal; Courses; Correspondence - University of Michigan; General Correspondence; Research/Grants; Editing and Reviews; Writings; and Miscellaneous
Howard Meredith Ehrmann was born in Terre Haute, Indiana on February 16, 1898. He attended DePauw University from 1916 to 1917, and then went to Yale University where he earned his B.A. in history (1921), M.A. in history (1922), and Ph.D. in history (1927). He joined the faculty of the University of Michigan in 1927 as an instructor, and then served as assistant professor, associate professor, and full professor. From 1942 to 1945 Ehrmann served in the U.S. Naval Reserve as a lieutenant and a lieutenant commander. After the war, he returned to the University of Michigan as professor of history. From 1953 to 1959, he served as chairman of the university's department of history. Ehrmann's last year of teaching was 1966/67; he retired in 1968.
Ehrmann's fields of interest were modern European history, European diplomatic history and international relations since 1871, recent Italian history, United States and world sea power, and the foreign policy of the United States. In addition to teaching in the department of history at the University of Michigan, he taught summer sessions at the University of Virginia, the University of Southern California, Stanford University, Centre Universitaire Mediterranean, Summer Seminar, Universite d'Aix Marseille, and the School of Advanced International Studies, Bologna Center, The Johns Hopkins University. Ehrmann was a member of the American Historical Association and directed the Whaddon Hall Project, the microfilming of the captured German Foreign Ministry Archives, in addition to co-directing the microfilming of the captured German Naval Archives. He published widely in the areas of concentration mentioned above, and also edited and reviewed many publications. From 1972 to 1975 he was historian at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, and from 1975 to 1980 he was office historian for the office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense. Howard Ehrmann died in 1989.
