Editing Max Ehrmann

{{short description|American writer, poet, and attorney (1872–1945)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Max Ehrmann
| image              = Mehrmann.jpg
| image_size         = 
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1872|9|26}}
| birth_place        = [[Terre Haute, Indiana]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1945|9|9|1872|9|26}}  <!--September 26, 1872 – September 9, 1945-->
| death_place        = Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.
| body_discovered    = 
| death_cause        = 
| resting_place      = [[Highland Lawn Cemetery]], Terre Haute, Indiana
| resting_place_coordinates = {{coord|39.476398|-87.347801|display=inline,title}}
| nationality        = 
| citizenship        = 
| other_names        = 
| known_for          = [[Prose poem]] "[[Desiderata]]" (1927)
| education          = 
| alma_mater         = [[DePauw University]]<br>[[Harvard University]]
| employer           = 
| occupation         = Attorney, businessman
| years_active       = 
| networth           = 
| height             = 
| title              = 
| term               = 
| predecessor        = 
| successor          = 
| party              = 
| opponents          = 
| boards             = 
| spouse             = Bertha Pratt King Ehrmann
| partner            = 
| children           = 
| relations          = 
| callsign           = 
| signature          = 
| website            = 
| footnotes          = <ref name=VigoHistSociety1992/><ref name=VigoCountyLibBio>
{{cite web
 |url=http://www.vigo.lib.in.us/archives/inventories/authors/ehrmannpamph.php
 |title=Max Ehrmann Pamphlets – Biography
 |access-date=2009-03-29 
 |publisher=[[Vigo County Public Library]]
 |location=Terre Haute, Indiana
 }}</ref>
}}

'''Max Ehrmann''' (September 26, 1872 – September 9, 1945) was an American writer, poet, and attorney from [[Terre Haute, Indiana]], widely known for his 1927 [[Prose poetry|prose poem]] "[[Desiderata]]" ([[Latin]]: "things desired"). He often wrote on spiritual themes.

==Education==
Ehrmann was of German descent; both his parents emigrated from [[Bavaria]] to the United States in the 1840s.  Young Ehrmann was educated at the Terre Haute Fourth District School and the German Methodist Church.

He received a degree in English from [[DePauw University]] in [[Greencastle, Indiana]], which he attended from 1890 to 1894. While there, he was a member of [[Delta Tau Delta]]'s Beta Beta chapter<ref name=DTKalumni>{{cite web|url=http://www.delts.org/alumni/awards-distinguished-recipients.html |title=Alumni: Subpage – Distinguished Service Chapter Citation |access-date=2009-03-30 |publisher=[[Delta Tau Delta]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627154245/http://www.delts.org/alumni/awards-distinguished-recipients.html |archive-date=June 27, 2009 |quote=Max Ehrmann, Beta Beta (DePauw), 1894 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and was [[editor in chief|editor]] of the school newspaper, ''Depauw Weekly''.<ref name=VigoCountyLibBio/>

Ehrmann then studied philosophy and law at [[Harvard University]], where he was editor of [[Delta Tau Delta]]'s national magazine ''[[The Rainbow (fraternity magazine)|The Rainbow]]'', circa 1896.<ref name=DTKRainbow1897/>

==Professional life==
Ehrmann returned to his hometown of [[Terre Haute, Indiana]], in 1898 to practice law. He was a deputy [[state's attorney]] in [[Vigo County, Indiana]], for two years.  Subsequently, he worked in his family's [[meatpacking]] business and in the [[overalls]] manufacturing industry (Ehrmann Manufacturing Co.)<ref name=TribStar20020908>
{{cite web |url=http://specials.tribstar.com/Columns/Historical/2002/September8.html |url-status=dead |title=Idealist, philosopher, 'word technician' Max Ehrmann a Terre Haute treasure |access-date=2014-11-22 |first=Mike |last=McCormick |date=September 8, 2002 |work=Terre Haute Tribune Star |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081123090929/http://specials.tribstar.com/columns/Historical/2002/September8.html |archive-date=November 23, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> At age 40, Ehrmann left the business to write. At age 55, he wrote ''Desiderata'', which achieved fame only after his death.<ref name=VigoHistSociety1992>
{{cite web
|url=http://web.indstate.edu/vchs/ht/ht030192.htm |url-status=dead
|title=Historical Treasure Article: Terre Haute writer-philosopher remembered
|access-date=2009-03-29
|first=Deborah Curtis |last=Drummy 
|date=March 1, 1992 |work=Vigo County Historical Society
|publisher=[[Indiana State University]]
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627164850/http://web.indstate.edu/vchs/ht/ht030192.htm
|archive-date= June 27, 2009 
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite news|first=Barbara J.|last=Katz|title=Popular Prose-Poem is No Work of the Ages. 'Desiderata': a Product of an Obscure Lawyer|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/138227252.html?dids=138227252:138227252&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Nov+27%2C+1977&author=By+Barbara+J.+KatzWashington+Post+Staff+Writer&pub=The+Washington+Post++(1974-Current+file)&edition=&startpage=31&desc=Popular+Prose-Poem+is+No+Work+of+the+Ages%26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627155256/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/138227252.html?dids=138227252:138227252&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Nov+27%2C+1977&author=By+Barbara+J.+KatzWashington+Post+Staff+Writer&pub=The+Washington+Post++(1974-Current+file)&edition=&startpage=31&desc=Popular+Prose-Poem+is+No+Work+of+the+Ages%26|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 27, 2009|format=Fee|newspaper=[[Washington Post]]|page=31|date=November 27, 1977|access-date=2009-03-29}} [http://www.vbraren.de/washington_post771127.htm#Desiderata Reproduced by Volkert Braren] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226000543/http://www.vbraren.de/washington_post771127.htm |date=December 26, 2008 }}</ref>

==Legacy==
Ehrmann was awarded [[Doctor of Letters]] honorary degree from DePauw University in about 1937.<ref name=WabashRemembers1938>
{{cite book
 |title=The Wabash Valley Remembers: A Chronicle, 1787–1938
 |author=Northwest Territory Celebration Committee, 1938
 |url=http://www.vigo.lib.in.us/archives/genhistories/wabvalrem/index.php
 |format=PDF
 |access-date=2009-03-30
 |year=1938
 |location=Terre Haute
 |pages=52
 |chapter=Max Ehrmann Poet, Prophet, Philosopher
 |chapter-url=http://www.vigo.lib.in.us/archives/genhistories/wabvalrem/pt44.pdf
 }}</ref> He was also elected to the Delta Tau Delta Distinguished Service Chapter, the fraternity's highest alumni award.<ref name=DTKalumni/>

Ehrmann died in 1945 and is buried in [[Highland Lawn Cemetery]] in Terre Haute, Indiana.

In 2010 the city honored Ehrmann with a life-size bronze statue by sculptor Bill Wolfe. He is depicted sitting on a downtown bench, pen in hand, with a notebook in his lap. "Desiderata" is engraved on a plaque next to the statue and lines from the poem are embedded in the walkway.  The sculpture is in the collection of [[Art Spaces|Art Spaces, Inc.]] – Wabash Valley Outdoor Sculpture Collection.<ref>
{{cite news |first=Sara |last=Wittmeyer
 |title=Max Ehrmann Statue Unveiled in Terre Haute
 |url=http://indianapublicmedia.org/news/max-ehrmann-statue-unveiled-terra-haute/
 |work=Indiana Public Media
 |date=August 31, 2010|access-date=2010-09-15
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718111940/http://indianapublicmedia.org/news/max-ehrmann-statue-unveiled-terra-haute/ |archive-date=July 18, 2011 }}</ref> Art Spaces also holds an annual [[Max Ehrmann Poetry Competition]].<ref name="artSpaces">{{cite web | url=http://www.wabashvalleyartspaces.com/upcomingevents.html | title=2014 Max Ehrmann Poetry Competition Winners Announced | publisher=Wabash Valley Art Spaces | access-date=September 25, 2014 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012070131/http://www.wabashvalleyartspaces.com/upcomingevents.html | archive-date=October 12, 2014 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>

==Bibliography==
* Max Ehrmann (1898). ''A Farrago'' Cooperative publishing co. Cambridge Mass <ref name=DTKRainbow1897>
{{cite book
 |first=James Newton |last=Matthews 
 |others=(DTK Beta Upsilon 1878)
 |title=The Rainbow of the Delta Tau Delta
 |access-date=2009-03-30 |year=1897 |publisher=Delta Tau Delta Fraternity
 |pages=298–299
 |chapter=Deltas in Literature
 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JykUAAAAIAAJ&q=ehrmann+%22delta+tau+delta%22&pg=PA298
 }}  V. 21.  Original from the [[New York Public Library]].  Digitized October 25, 2006.</ref>
* Max Ehrmann (1900).  ''The Mystery of Madeline le Blanc'' Cooperative publishing co. Cambridge Mass
* Max Ehrmann (1901).  ''A Fearsome Riddle'' Bowen-Merrill Co., Indianapolis
* Max Ehrmann (1904).  ''Breaking Home Ties'' Dodge Publishing Co. New York
* Max Ehrmann (1906).  ''A Prayer and Selections'' New York
* Max Ehrmann (1906).  ''Max Ehrmann's Poems'' Viquesney Publishing Co
* Max Ehrmann (1907).  ''Who Entereth Here'' Dodge Publishing Co.
* Max Ehrmann (1910).  ''The Poems of Max Ehrmann'' Dodge Publishing Co. New York
* Max Ehrmann (1911).  ''The Wife of Marobius and Other Plays'' Mitchell Kennerley, New York
* Max Ehrmann (1912).  ''Fort Harrison on the Banks of the Wabash, 1812–1912'' (contributor) by Fort Harrison Centennial Association
* Max Ehrmann (1912).  ''Eugene V. Debs, what his neighbors and others say of Him'' (contributor) Edited by James H. Hollingsworth
* Max Ehrmann (1915).  ''Jesus: A Passion Play'' Baker & Taylor Co. New York
* Max Ehrmann (1915).  ''In Memoriam Elbert and Alice Hubbard'' (contributor) Ed. Elbert Hubbard Jr., The Roycrofters, East Aurora, Erie County, New York
* Max Ehrmann (1916).  '' An Invitation to You and your Folks from Jim and Some of the Home Folk'' (contributor) Compiled by George Ade, Bobbs-Merrill Co.
* Max Ehrmann (1917).  ''David and Bathsheba'' The Drama vol. 7 Edited by Vandervort Sloan
* Max Ehrmann (1922).  ''A Virgin's Dream and Other Verses of Scarlet Women'' Henry J Fuller
* Max Ehrmann (1922).  ''The Bank Robbery'' in A Book of One Act Plays edited by Barbara Louise Schafter
* Max Ehrmann (1924).  ''Paul Dresser: Composer of 'On the Banks of the Wabash' A Sketch'' Paul Dresser Memorial Assoc.  Terre Haute
* Max Ehrmann (1925).  ''The Gay Life'' Indiana Publishing Co. Terre Haute (Scarlet woman series)
* Max Ehrmann (1925).  ''A Goose with a Rose in Her Mouth'' Indiana Publishing Co. Terre Haute (Scarlet woman series)
* Max Ehrmann (1925).  ''His Beautiful Wife and Other Stories '' Indiana Publishing Co. Terre Haute (Scarlet woman series)
* Max Ehrmann (1925).  ''Scarlet Sketches'' Indiana Publishing Co. Terre Haute (Scarlet woman series)
* Max Ehrmann (1925).  ''Be Quiet, I'm Talking, Being Conversations '' ed. Edna Smith, Indiana Publishing Co. Terre Haute (Scarlet woman series)
* Max Ehrmann (1926).  ''Love From Many Angles '' Haldeman-Julius Co., Girard, Kansas (Little Blue Book No. 1113)
* Max Ehrmann (1927).  ''Book of Farces: The Bank Robbery; The Plumber'' Indiana Publishing Co. Terre Haute
* Max Ehrmann (1934).  ''Worldly Wisdom: Being the Wisdom of Jesus Sirach'' Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Company (Little Blue Book No. 1735)
* Max Ehrmann (before 1938).  ''The Plumber''<ref name=WabashRemembers1938/>
* Bertha Pratt King Ehrmann (1948). ''The Poems of Max Ehrmann'' (includes Desiderata) Bruce Humphries Inc. Boston
* Bertha Pratt King Ehrmann (1951). ''Max Ehrmann: A Poet's Life'' Bruce Humphries Inc. Boston
* Bertha Pratt King Ehrmann (1952). ''The Journal of Max Ehrmann'' Bruce Humphries Inc. Boston
* Max Ehrmann (1972).  ''Desiderata'' illustrated by Emil Antonocci, Brooke House, New York, distributed by Crown Publishers Inc.
* Max Ehrmann (1992).  ''Randy The Reckless Reindeer'' A children's pop-up book, GoodTimes Publishing

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
{{Wikisource|Author:Max Ehrmann|Max Ehrmann}}
* {{Internet Archive author|sname= Max Ehrmann}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110707185247/http://www.aumara.com/inspirations/authors/mehrmann.html Max Ehrmann biography], archived from [http://www.aumara.com/inspirations/authors/mehrmann.html the original]
* [https://allpoetry.com/Max-Ehrmann Short biography and poems]
* [https://www.poetseers.org/the-great-poets/american-poets/max-ehrmann/desid/ Desiderata by Max Ehrman]
* {{Find a Grave|9373789}}
* {{Librivox author |id=15503}}
* [https://replica.palni.edu/digital/collection/archives/search/searchterm/Max%20ehrmann Max Ehrmann papers at DePauw University]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ehrmann, Max}}
[[Category:1872 births]]
[[Category:1945 deaths]]
[[Category:DePauw University alumni]]
[[Category:Indiana lawyers]]
[[Category:American prosecutors]]
[[Category:Harvard Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Terre Haute, Indiana]]
[[Category:American people of German descent]]
[[Category:20th-century American poets]]
[[Category:American male poets]]
[[Category:20th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]