9/27/2007:
Robert H. Bahmer served as the fourth archivist of the National Archives.
Born near Gardena in north central North Dakota on this date in 1904, Bahmer attended high school at Omemee and a year at the University of North Dakota. He transferred to Valley City State University where he earned his B.A. degree in 1928 and then served as principal at the Bentley school in Hettinger County for three years.
He later returned to college, earning a M.A. degree from the University of Colorado in 1938 and a Ph. D. in American history from the University of Minnesota in 1941. He received an honorary UND Doctor of Laws degree in January 1968.
Bahmer joined the National Archives in 1936 and, during World War II, he was chief of archival services for the U.S. Navy and later deputy chief of the records management branch of the Army Adjutant General’s office, where he developed the first comprehensive records management program for the entire War Department.
In 1948, Bahmer was named a consultant to the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government (The Hoover Commission), serving as a member of the Commission’s Task Force on Records Management.
Bahmer returned to the National Archives and Records Service as deputy archivist in June 1948, in charge of the records for several governmental agencies, including the Navy and War departments.
He served as head archivist from 1966 through 1968, where he coordinated government-wide records management, published the daily Federal Register and developed the modern presidential libraries system, directing the offices of the Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower presidential libraries.
As one of the early archivists, Bahmer was instrumental in promoting the idea of archiving records. An archivist’s responsibility is collecting, organizing and preserving the nation’s important records, documents and objects and making them available for researchers and others to view.
Bahmer received the Distinguished Service Award of the General Services Administration in 1960, the George Norlin Award from the University of Colorado’s Alumni Association in 1967 and North Dakota’s Rough Rider Award in July 1970.
He served as president of the Society of American Archivists in 1962, Secretary General of the International Council on Archives for several years and chairman of the National Historical Publications Commission.
Bahmer died in Las Vegas on March 14, 1990, at age 86.
by Cathy A. Langemo, WritePlus Inc.