Archives West Finding Aid

The Western Canadian postcards donated to the University of Washington were part of a collection of more than 230,000 postcards that were collected over the past 70 years (and are now being donated to institutions around the country). Mr. Ehrmann’s collection began when he was 11 years old after his father brought him postcards from several business trips.

Michael Ehrmann was born in New York City, grew up predominantly in Boulder Colorado, with also with time in Berkeley, California and Paris, and has lived in New York, McLean, Virginia, Pittsburgh and, now, Jersey City. He has a BA from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut and Master Degrees from Cornell University and George Washington University.

During the first 15 years of professional life Mr. Ehrmann worked on various government housing programs. Then, he and his wife worked together in a real estate appraisal practice that they owned. The firm worked on a variety of assignments, but specialized in appraising historic properties around the country.

Ehrmann collected the cards donated to the University of Washington on trips to British Columbia in 1993 and 2007 and a trip to Alaska and Yukon in 2008.