Howard Henry Peckham

Howard Henry Peckham, (July 13, 1910 – July 6, 1995) was a professor and historian and an authority on colonial and early American history who published a number of works on those subjects.

His academic career encompassed a wide variety of involvements in educational institutions and various historical societies.

Peckham played a fundamental role in establishing professional academic standards for the management of historical manuscripts and historical society work in the 20th century that have endured to this day.

He was a founding member of the Society of American Archivists and the Director of the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan.

The Clements Library had first opened its doors in 1923.

When Mr. Clements was active, funding for the library was plentiful and the University's library had amassed an extensive collection of Revolutionary era manuscripts, journals, documents, pamphlets, and books, along with a huge assortment of atlases and maps.

In the process, the library's collection had become much greater than collections of older institutions, and Peckham devoted much time to sorting and organizing these documents.

Under his management, the library provided a rich environment of archival knowledge and education for students and scholars pursuing the study of early American history.

When the Great Depression came, however, William Clements suffered severe financial loss and subsequently made out his will, reluctantly asking that the university purchase the valuable collection of manuscripts.

As an undergraduate, he worked as a student reporter for The Michigan Daily newspaper and began his association with the William Clements Library in 1929.

Returning to his home town of Lowell, Peckham began his literary career as an editorial writer for The Grand Rapids Press.

Peckham earned his B.A. degree in 1931 and his M.A. in English in 1933.

Clements died in 1934.

An optimistic Adams, still the library's director, saved the collection by prevailing upon Tracy W. McGregor, who had joined the Library's Committee of Management the year before Clements' death.

McGregor donated $100,000 to the library, saving the collection from sale and ultimate dispersal among the private sector.

In 1935, on a chance return visit to Ann Arbor and Michigan University, Randolph G. Adams, the Clements Library's first director who had been always been impressed with Peckham as a student, offered him the position of Assistant Curator of the library.

In 1936 he married Dorothy Koth Peckham, with whom he had a son and daughter.

His wife, also a lover of books, had considerable academic and literary abilities herself.

When Peckham was diagnosed with diabetes in mid career, Dorothy's culinary ability and vigilant eye minimized the effects on his daily routine and allowed him to perform throughout the remainder of his life.

Peckham was an alumnus of the University of Michigan.

In 1937 the Clements Library acquired a collection of manuscripts and papers belonging to British Generals Thomas Gage and Sir Henry Clinton, and to American General Nathanael Greene and other such revolutionary notables.

Most of the documents were untouched, still in original packages and bundles.

It was the most notable collection of Revolutionary War documents ever acquired by an American library at one time.

Peckham was given the rare opportunity of being the first person to oversee, sort, and manage this abundance of historical material.

Under Peckham, the library had established an international reputation as a leading institution for the study of the Revolutionary War and British Colonial America, and in the process established professional standards for the management of manuscripts.

In 1937 he was a founding member of the Society of American Archivists.

He was the first person to unfold, sort, and read the most historically significant collection of Revolutionary War documents ever to come into the possession of an American library, about which Life did an exclusive story.

Peckham authored informative histories of the colonial wars and the American Revolutionary War that wielded much scholarly influence.

His works also included histories of the state of Indiana and the University of Michigan.

Peckham was a founder and contributor to American Heritage and president of the American Association for State and Local History.

Peckham and his associate, Lloyd A. Brown, were the first historians to publish the American Revolutionary War journals of Henry Dearborn, in 1939, making them available to the general public for the first time.

He is also noted for establishing more accurate numbers of American Revolutionary War deaths, which were much greater than previously assumed.

Howard Henry Peckham was a native of Lowell, Michigan.

He grew up in a typical small American town—his family having emigrated from New England and New York.

Peckham's father, on his way in establishing a successful business career, died when Howard was an infant.

After graduating from Lowell High School, Peckham first attended Olivet College, then transferred to the University of Michigan just as the Great Depression began.

American history was one of his main interests, but English was his greatest enthusiasm.

Peckham worked closely with Carl Van Doren on his Secret History of the American Revolution (1941), editing documents from the Clinton Papers that revealed Benedict Arnold's treason.

Within a year Peckham had become the head curator, holding this post until 1945.

In little time he essentially created the Manuscript Division, making it a separate department of the library.