Herman Kahn (August 13, 1907 – June 5, 1975) was an American archivist, and served as an Assistant Archivist of the United States between 1962 and 1968. Kahn was born in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, and studied history at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. He received his bachelor's degree from the university in 1928 and a master's degree in 1931. After graduating he worked briefly as a history professor and historian to the National Park Service. In 1936 Kahn joined the staff of the newly formed National Archives, with responsibility for the archives of the

Interior Department An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

. He later worked as director of the

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum holds the records of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States (1933–1945). Located on the grounds of Springwood, the Roosevelt family estate in Hyde Park, New ...

from 1948 to 1961. In 1968 he left governmental service to lead the archives and manuscripts program at the Yale University Library, where he remained until his death in 1975. He was also an active contributor to the archival profession, and served in the

Society of American Archivists The Society of American Archivists is the oldest and largest archivist association in North America, serving the educational and informational needs of more than 5,000 individual archivist and institutional members. Established in 1936, the organi ...

as a member of council (1959-1963) and as president (1969-1970).

References

External links

Herman Kahn Papers (MS 1742).
Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kahn, Herman 1907 births 1975 deaths University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni American archivists Yale University people Presidents of the Society of American Archivists