Dr. Ernest Wolf was born in Germany and attended the Universities of Berlin and Munster and the Sorbonne, where he majored in Romance languages and literature, German and English literature, philosophy and art history. He received his Ph.D. Summa Cum Laude from the University of Bonn in 1934. Dr. Wolf came to the United States in 1940, and taught from 1947 to 1976. He helped found the German Department at San Diego State University. Dr. Wolf died in 1994.

• Dr. Ernest Wolf discussing the Amelang Collection (12/2/1977)

In this 55 minute-long talk given to the Friends of the Library, Wolf discusses the SDSU Library's significant 1976 acquisition of the Amelang Collection, a large collection of rare books containing many 16th, 17th, and 18th century imprints from Germany and elsewhere. It also contained religious and historical works, children's books, and many other types of books, totaling 7,000 volumes. The collection was named after Max Amelang, a book collector from Los Angeles who collected heavily in all things German. (Introduction to Dr. Wolf provided by Dr. Sue Earnest.)

Image credit: Dr. Ernest Wolf, Professor Emeritus of German, University Archives Photograph Collection, Special Collections and University Archives.

View several slides from the Amelang collection, mentioned in Dr. Wolf's presentation, below.