Henry J. Meyer and Suzanne M. Meyer Papers include some material on his student days at the University of Michigan, files on his work for and controversial dismissal from the Washtenaw County Welfare Agency and his research and foreign travels. Suzanne Meyer's papers relate largely to he work with the Ann Arbor Human Relations Commission and her travels in Europe n 1950 and 1972. The Meyer Family collection is divided into three series: Henry Meyer, Travels and Foreign Activities, and Suzanne Meyer.
Henry Meyer, sociologist and educator, was born in 1913 in Birmingham, Alabama. From the age of 2, he lived in Meridian, Mississippi. Upon graduation from Meridian High School in 1930, he entered the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and proceeded to earn his B. A. (1934), M. A. (1937), and Ph. D. (1939) in sociology.
Upon completing his doctorate, Meyer taught at Washington State College in Pullman, Washington. In 1946, he was appointed associate professor, then professor, of sociology at New York University. In 1957 he became professor of social work and of sociology at the University of Michigan. He remained here for twenty years, retiring in 1978 as emeritus professor of sociology.
From 1957 to 1970, Meyer was the head of the first interdisciplinary doctoral program in social work and social science in the country. In 1970, he initiated under joint sponsorship of the Schools of Social Work and Public Health at the University of Michigan the Social Work Education and Population Planning Training Program for social welfare personnel in less-developed countries. From 1972 through 1978, this project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) saw him travel to Iran, India and Southeast Asia. The co-editor or co-author of several books and journal articles, he was in 1974 the first social work professor to receive the University of Michigan's Distinguished Service Award.
Throughout his career, and outside of the classroom, Meyer held a number of different and important positions. During 1935-1936, he worked for the Washtenaw County office of the Federal Emergency Relief Agency (FERA) where he was dismissed for rallying welfare recipients to demand more adequate relief allotments. His dismissal spawned a controversy in the community as reflected in local newspapers and attracted national attention. During World War II, he held various positions in the National War Labor Board and its successor, the National Wage Stabilization Board. After participating in mediation of a threatened nation-wide strike in the telephone industry in 1944, he was named vice chairman of the National Telephone Commission set up by the War Labor Board. Upon termination of the War Labor Board in December 1945, he was appointed chairman of the Fourth Regional Wage Stabilization Board (Atlanta office), leaving that position to return to teaching.
In 1949 he began what was to be a summer-long position as technical consultant for the Military Government of Germany that was undertaking a study of a severely-bombed small city, Darmstadt. As that training and research survey developed, it was extended for three years during which time Meyer continued to serve as a technical advisor.
Henry Meyer died on October 29, 2000, in Ann Arbor.
Suzanne Mahler Meyer was born in 1914, educated in the Detroit public schools and the University of Michigan (B. A. 1935). Since coming to Ann Arbor in 1957 she has been involved in civic matters. Participating vigorously in local civil rights activities, particularly with respect to discrimination in housing, she was the first employee of the Ann Arbor Human Relations Commission. Subsequently she held the post of Assistant to the Vice-President for Student Activities and Organization at the University of Michigan. She also took part in the University of Michigan's Tutorial Project and the Opportunity Awards Program.
