Warner, Robert Mark, 1927-

Archivist, historian and professor, Robert Mark Warner was born on June 28, 1927 in Montrose, Colorado, son of Mark Thomas and Bertha Margaret (Rich) Warner. Warner completed his undergraduate work in history at Muskingum College in 1949. It was here he met Eleanor Jane Bullock, whom he married in 1954. After a year as a high school teacher of history and speech in Montrose, he was drafted into the U.S. Army where he served in Germany, from 1950 to 1952, during the Korean War. Upon his return, Warner continued his education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he earned an M.A. (1953) and a Ph.D. (1958) in history. Warner's studies concentrated on "recent" history (then defined as 1876 to the 1950s). After completing his doctoral degree, Warner joined the faculty of the history department of the University of Michigan where he taught Michigan history. In 1974, he was invited by Dean Russell Bidlack to join the faculty of the University of Michigan School of Library Science and inaugurate the archival studies program.

Warner's association with archives began during his early years as a graduate student, when he used the University of Michigan's Michigan Historical Collections (MHC) to do research. When a position as a research assistant in the Collections became available, Warner took his first step down a completely different road than he had imagined his career would take. During his years at the MHC, he was active in several professional archival organizations, including the International Council on Archives (ICA) and the Society of American Archivists (SAA). Warner was particularly active in SAA, where he served on the Council, as secretary, director, vice president and president, as well as many committees. By 1966, Warner had become director of the MHC (now known as the Bentley Historical Library), a position which he held until his appointment as Archivist of the United States in 1980.

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