University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Archives Department.

Stern, Erich C. (Erich Cramer), 1879-1969.

Papers, 1868-1967.

Milwaukee Manuscript Collection EM

7.2 cubic ft. (18 archives boxes)

ABSTRACT: Papers of a Milwaukee lawyer and member of the Common Council (1908-1910) and State Assembly (1910-1912). Most of the papers pertain to his activities and Stern family matters during the first half of his life. Most of the Stern family correspondence (1868-1916) is in German, and illustrates the pro-German leanings of many German Americans before the U.S. entry into World War I. The correspondence breaks off prior to America's entry and was not resumed. Stern's personal correspondence (1884-1967) is mostly in English, and was largely written early in his life, before his public activites.

Stern's journals (1917-1919) reveal his impassioned opposition to U.S. involvement in the war, and his fears for the limitations of political freedom imposed as a consequence of the war. Also contains some records of Stern's activities as Council member, including the results of an informal nationwide survey on street maintenance procedures and financing. Collection includes some records on Stern's efforts to establish non-partisan politics in Wisconsin cities. The newsclippings pertain to Stern's youth, his election campaigns, World War I, and miscellaneous activities in which Stern was interested or involved.

ACCESS RESTRICTIONS: There are no access restrictions on the materials, and the collection is open to all members of the public in accordance with state law. However, the researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright which may be involved in the use of this collection (Wisconsin Statutes 19.21-19.39).

SCOPE AND CONTENT: Except for less than one-half cubic foot of the correspondence, Stern's papers pertain to his activities and to Stern family matters during the first half of Stern's life, before his marriage at the age of fifty-one. The papers are divided into correspondence and a subject file; only a small percentage relate to Stern's career and public life. However, there are a few records of a turn-of-the-century family wholesale drygoods business; and limited papers relating to Stern's concerns as a Milwaukee alderman, 1908-1910, and as a Wisconsin state assembly man, 1910-1912. Stern's papers as a practicing attorney are not with the collection.

The Correspondence series is subdivided as Stern Family correspondence and the correspondence of Erich Stern. Most of the Stern family letters, 1868-1916, are written in German. Family correspondence with friends and relatives living in Germany, c.1914-1916, is indicative of the pro-Germany leanings of many German Americans prior to America's entry into World War I. This correspondence breaks off prior to America's entry into the war and is not resumed. The Sterns were outspoken partisans of Germany's cause throughout the war, and were enthusiastic supporters of German war relief. Erich Stern remained a spokesperson for the Milwaukee German community throughout this period.

The Erich Stern correspondence, 1884-1967, is primarily in English. A few letters dated before 1905 are in German. Included are all know letters to and from Stern, beginning with his letters as an adolescent and continuing until a year before his death. There are two major gaps in this correspondence, 1929-1931 and 1938-1944, for which no explanation is available. Moreover, the correspondence is heavily weighted toward Stern's earlier years; more than half of it written before his greatest involvement in public life. Most of the later letters deal with private concerns, and there is little to indicate active interest in public affairs. There are, however, several letters from correspondents of public prominence. In answer to a letter from a youthful Erich Stern, former President Benjamin Harrison replied evasively on 25 March 1897 about his position on current issues. Werner Hegemann, the German city planner and author of a controversial revisionist biography of Frederick the Great, wrote Stern about his personal situation and about conditions in Germany on 11 October 1922, 4 October 1925, 10 January 1928, and 19 January 1935. All but the 1928 letter are written in German, at least in part. Translations by the processor with assistance from Eugen Pacher and Dr. Robert L. Koehl, Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison are included. A letter from Robert M. La Follette, Sr., 12 November 1917, relates to the antiwar movement; and a letter from former President Theodore Roosevelt, 2 May 1911, concerns Roosevelt's pleasure with the passage of bills in the Wisconsin legislature which had been supported by Stern. A letter of appreciation in German from Carl Schurz to General Frederick Winkler, head of the Carl Schurz Memorial Association of Wisconsin, dated 9 March 1899, is also filed here and has been translated.

The Subject File series includes papers directly concerned with Erich Stern as well as other Stern family records. The ledger book of the Carl Schurz Memorial Association of Wisconsin contains both minutes and financial records for the organization's Fellowship Committee. Henry Stern, Jr. and Brothers Company was a Milwaukee wholesale drygoods firm founded by Erich Stern's grandfather in 1852. Stern's Journals include press clippings. In most cases the clippings and notations in the journals are interrelated, but occasionally clippings have been included in the journals about which Stern made no further comment. The journals plainly reveal Stern's impassioned opposition to American entry into World War I, and his fears for the limitations on political freedom in this country imposed as a consequence of the war. The papers relating to the Milwaukee Common Council are those collected by Stern during his term as a Milwaukee alderman. They include election records for the 1908 and 1910 Milwaukee election and, most significantly, papers relating to street maintenance, including the results of an informal nationwide survey conducted by Stern to ascertain street maintenance procedures and financing in other cities. The Speeches are contemporary with, and similar in content to, the position expressed by Stern in his journals. Stern's most noteworthy contribution as a state assemblyman, his advocacy of the 1912 bill (and later law) to establish non-partisan politics in Wisconsin cities, is partially documented in the Wisconsin State Assembly materials. The Clippings pertain to Stern's youth, his election campaigns, World War I, and miscellaneous activities in which Stern was interested or involved.

All press clippings and the journals have been photocopied because of their deteriorating condition at the time of processing. The originals have not been retained.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: Stern was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, February 8, 1879, son of Charles Gabriel and Alma (Cramer) Stern and grandson of Henry Stern, a native of Germany. His father was a businessman. Erich C. Stern received his preliminary education at public schools and the University School in Milwaukee and graduated A.B. in 1901 and LL.B. in 1904 at Harvard University and Ph.D. in 1905 at the University of Paris, France. Admitted to the Wisconsin bar in the latter year, he entered general practice in Milwaukee, and for some years until the close of his life was a member of the law firm of Stern, Croen & Bodner. Stern was particularly involved in trust and probate law. His firm's clients included the Summit Mineral Co., for which Stern served at one time as president. In addition to his practice, he was a professor of law at Marquette University during 1915-1920. Stern also held public office, serving as a member of the Common Council of Milwaukee during 1908-1910 and a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly during 1910-1912. While in the assembly, he was a member of the committee on cities and helped to introduce legislation for autonomy for cities. He also participated in the drafting of the state income tax law, was floor leader, and sponsored election laws and civil service reform. Stern participated in civic and cultural activities, serving as treasurer of the Milwaukee Orchestral Association and trustee of the Milwaukee Civic Music Association and Milwaukee Art Institute for many years. He also donated many works of art to the institute and the University of Wisconsin, including a set of original Piranesi engravings to the latter. He was instrumental in bringing to Wisconsin many avant-garde art shows. Interested in the Indians of the Southwest, he made many trips to New Mexico and Arizona. In 1926 he was elected a member of the Navajo tribe so that he could help record chants and songs of a medicine man for the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. For some years he was president of the Milwaukee Central Council of Social Agencies, predecessor of the United Fund, and of the Milwaukee Citizens' Bureau for Municipal Efficiency. For many years he was a member of the Wisconsin University Settlement Club, and he helped to establish the first camp in connection with the university's settlement house, a camp located at Lake Beulah, near East Troy, Wisconsin. Stern was a member of the American, Wisconsin, and Milwaukee County bar associations and the City Club of Milwaukee. In politics he was a Republican. In his early years he was a figure skater, a skier, and a hiker. He was interested semi-professionally in music throughout his life and was also a translator of manuscripts from German and French. For recreation he enjoyed bridge and travel. He was married in Milwaukee, March 8, 1930, to Lucia Martha, daughter of John Karker of that city, a merchandiser. Erich C. Stern died without issue in Milwaukee, February 18, 1969.

[Biographical sketch from The National Cyclopedia of American Biography (Clifton, New Jersey, 1973), v. 54, p. 434. Stern's work with the University Settlement Club is mentioned in Ruth Harman and Charlotte Lekachman, "The Jacobs House," Wisconsin Magazine of History, Vol. 16, No. 3 (March 1933), pp. 252-284. The work of Stern's grandfather, Henry Stern (1825-1903), is described in Henry Stern, "The Life Story of a Milwaukee Merchant," Wisconsin Magazine of History, Vol. 9, No. 1 (September 1925), pp. 63-79.]

COLLECTION CITATION: This collection should be cited as:

Stern, Erich C. (Erich Cramer), 1879-1969. Papers, 1868-1967. Milwaukee Manuscript Collection EM. Wisconsin Historical Society. Milwaukee Area Research Center. UWM Libraries. University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee.

ACQUISITION: Presented by Mrs. Erich Cramer (Lucia) Stern in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on December 7, 1977 (accession number M77-492).

MARC RECORD SEARCH TERMS: The following terms were used in the online bibliographic MARC record to this collection:

Elections, Nonpartisan--Wisconsin.
German Americans--Wisconsin--Milwaukee--History.
Hegemann, Werner, 1881-1936.
Milwaukee (Wis.)--History--Sources.
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919.
Stern and Brothers Company (Milwaukee, Wis.)
Stern family.
Streets--Wisconsin--Milwaukee--Maintenance and repair.
World War, 1914-1918--Wisconsin--Milwaukee--Public opinion.

MILWAUKEE MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION EM	BOX	FOLDER
Correspondence, Erich Stern, 1884-1897	6	1-18
Correspondence, Erich Stern, 1898-1899	7	1-9
Correspondence, Erich Stern, 1900-1901	8	1-9
Correspondence, Erich Stern, 1902-1904	9	1-9
Correspondence, Erich Stern, 1905-1908	10	1-10
Correspondence, Erich Stern, 1909-1914	11	1-10
Correspondence, Erich Stern, 1914-1920	12	1-12
Correspondence, Erich Stern, 1920-1923	13	1-8
Correspondence, Erich Stern, 1923-1927	14	1-10
Correspondence, Erich Stern, 1928-1967	15	1-9
Correspondence, Stern Family, 1868-1883	1	1-16
Correspondence, Stern Family, 1884-1891	2	1-8
Correspondence, Stern Family, 1891-1897	3	1-9
Correspondence, Stern Family, 1898-1907	4	1-10
Correspondence, Stern Family, 1908-1916	5	1-11
Subject File, Carl Schurz Memorial Association of Wisconsin, Ledger Book, 1906-1907	16	1
Subject File, Henry Stern, Jr. and Brothers Company, Financial Reports, 1923-1928	16	2
Subject File, Henry Stern, Jr. and Brothers Company, Ledgers, 1888-1902	16	3
Subject File, Henry Stern, Jr. and Brothers Company, Ledgers, 1902-1908	16	4
Subject File, Henry Stern, Jr. and Brothers Company, Miscellaneous Financial Papers, 1888-1902	16	5
Subject File, Henry Stern, Jr. and Brothers Company, Miscellaneous Financial Papers, 1927-1928	16	6
Subject File, Journals and Press Clippings, Volume 1, 1917-1918	16	7-8
Subject File, Journals and Press Clippings, Volume 2, 1918	16	9-11
Subject File, Journals and Press Clippings, Volume 3, 1918	17	1
Subject File, Journals and Press Clippings, Volume 4, 1918-1919	17	2-3
Subject File, Journals and Press Clippings, Volume 5, 1919	17	4-6
Subject File, Milwaukee Common Council, Election, 1908	17	7
Subject File, Milwaukee Common Council, Election, 1910	17	8
Subject File, Milwaukee Common Council, Schools, 1908-1910	17	9
Subject File, Milwaukee Common Council, Streets, 1908-1910	17	10
Subject File, Milwaukee Common Council, Streets Survey, 1908	17	11
Subject File, Milwaukee Common Council, Miscellaneous Papers, 1908-1910	17	12
Subject File, Progressive Republican Club, Register of Members, 1912	17	13
Subject File, South Side Community Club, Resolution of Thanks to Erich Stern for Procuring Lecturers for Club Meetings, 1919	17	14
Subject File, Speeches, 1916, 1919	17	15
Subject File, Wisconsin State Assembly, Committee on Cities, 1911	17	16
Subject File, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1910	17	17
Subject File, Wisconsin State Assembly, Non-Partisan Elections for Cities Law, 1912	17	18
Subject File, Wisconsin State Assembly, Miscellaneous, 1910-1912	17	19
Subject File, Clippings, c.1889, 1896, undated	18	1
Subject File, Clippings, c.1893-1903	18	2
Subject File, Clippings, 1908, 1910-1913, 1915	18	3
Subject File, Clippings, 1916-1920	18	4-8
Subject File, Clippings, c.1914-1920, undated	18	9
Subject File, Miscellaneous Stern Family Papers, 1873, 1901-1902	18	10-11