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 assemblyman, 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 known 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 positions 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.
