Vigo County Historical Society

Ehrmann scrapbook intriguing

An interesting scrapbook in the museum’s collection came to my attention recently. It is a 39-cents Sterling, four-column, bound journal filled with news clippings, bulletins, programs, cards and other information about Max Ehrmann, his poems, plays and other publications. They were collected by his wife, Bertha Pratt King Ehrmann.

The first page has an inscription: "The Poems of Max Ehrmann 1948/ Poems. The wife of Marobius/ Max Ehrmann: A Poet’s Life Journal/ Press Notices/ This book is to be kept up to date and given to Vigo Historical Society."

Newspapers, magazines, literary publications, and other sources are included in this scrapbook--some familiar, some not. There are clippings from our own Spectator, Tribune and Star along with the Smith College News, Poet Lore, Indianapolis Star, Riverside (Calif.), Enterprise, Sunshine Magazine, New York Times, Atlanta Constitution and many, many more.

A review by Sam F. Lucchese from the Sunday Atlanta Journal, Aug. 3, 1952, caught my eye. "All Is Not Lost" is the headline. "Max Ehrmann Predicted World War II in 1927" followed in bold print. The review is of "The Journal of Max Ehrmann," edited by Bertha K. Ehrmann (Boston: Bruce Humphries Inc., 344 pages, $3.75).

He writes, "Despite an overdose of platitudinous writings and quotations, Max Ehrmann’s journal as edited by his wife is an interesting document. He surveys life and the world during his span of years and, throughout it all, never quite gives up hope that all is not lost."

Quite a statement considering an entry Ehrmann made in 19927. "In a generation or two there will be another world war, because the people in the United States are too busy enjoying themselves to care about the World Court and League of Nations. So the world is where it was, except that now we are disliked by nearly all the world, and dislike turns easily to hatred. We stand in contemptible isolation. When your son is grown to manhood, the dogs of war will be snapping at us from every side."

Those words sent a chill up my spine. They could have been written today. Not too many years after they were written, the world was engaged in another world war, "the war to end all wars."

Lucchese seemed to like Ehrmann’s Journal. He began his review by saying, "This book contains the reflections, over a 20-year period, of a better-than-ordinary author-poet and successful businessman."

Max Ehrmann was born in Terre Haute, graduated from DePauw University and did two years of graduate work in law and philosophy at Harvard. His wife Bertha ran the King Classical School on Sixth Street in Terre Haute.

In this, the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, we all should take time to remember the "war to end all wars" so that maybe history will not repeat itself. Take time to visit the final exhibit on World War II at the museum. "Home for the Holidays" will run through the end of December.