Papers

Restrictions: Restricted: contains personally identifiable information of a sensitive nature. Closed for 50 years until 2047.

Biog. Sketch (Full): Louis M. Herman was born in 1942 in New Jersey and spent most of his childhood and youth in Miami, Florida. The son of Samuel and Helen Herman, Lou had two brothers, Neil and Alan.

Lou Herman received his bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Florida in 1963 and 1965, and in 1970 he earned his PhD in mathematics from the University of Massachusetts. Directly after that he moved to Manhattan, Kansas and taught at Kansas State University for the following 27 years. He was a member of the Manhattan Jewish Congregation.

Herman's professional interests lay in functional analysis, revolving around Hilbert spaces and linear operators. He regularly coordinated and taught large multi-sectioned courses such as introductory calculus courses, as well as more advanced courses.

After a five-month battle with lymphoma, Louis M. Herman died on 19 August 1997 at the age of 55.

Scope and content: Most of Herman's collection of papers consist of journals he kept from the late 1970s through 1995, documenting his relationship with an art gallery owner usually labeled "J." in his journals and other friends and acquaintances, including George, Ted, and Cheri. Topics related to those in the journals include his alcoholism and various individuals' movements. Other materials include personal financial records, such as receipts, tax documents, earnings statements, etc.; love letters and greeting cards; mementos and ephemera; event and theatre programs, etc. Herman occasionally uses the Yiddish terms Farblonjet and Mechaieh to describe himself and J.

Restrictions: Restricted: contains personally identifiable information of a sensitive nature. Closed for 50 years until 2047.