Working in The Vatican Archives
When, in 1880, Leo XIII opened the Vatican archives, Erhle was called to Rome to do some research on the official correspondence between the Holy See and Germany during the 30 years war. The work progressed very slowly as a large number of documents were not properly catalogued. Ehrle got more and more involved, but responding to Leo XIII's call for a renewal in thomistic studies his interests shifted to gathering and cataloguing books and manuscripts on scholasticism. To do so he visited other European libraries too. Publications began in 1885 with the Bibliotheca Theologiae et Philosophiae Scholasticae selectae (5 volumes). In the beginning of 1890 he began the publication of a Historia Bibliothecae Romanorum Pontificum, a comprehensive history of the Avignon and Rome's Papal libraries.
In September of the same year (1890) he was made a member extraordinary of the Board of Councilors of the Vatican Library from 1890 to 1895 and served as its prefect from 1895 to 1914. He resided in Münich from 1918 to 1919. He was from 1919 a faculty member of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome from 1919 to 1922 and of the Pontifical Gregorian University.
In 1898 (30 September-1 October), Franz Ehrle organized an international conference on the preservation of archives that was held at St Gall, Switzerland. As ca result a committee was established to:
In 1898 (30 September-1 October), Franz Ehrle organized an international conference on the preservation of manuscripts at St Gall, Switzerland. As a result a committee was established:
- to study the processes of preservation that had been suggested and to recommend those which seem appropriate,
- to publish the processes of preservation discussed at the conference,
- to liaise with libraries and technical experts.
Ehrle published an account of the meeting and the proceedings were also published This conference was particularly important as the first international meeting of those charged with the preservation of the historical heritage. It was not to be emulated again until the 1930s when the international museum committee of the League of Nations organized conservation conferences in Rome, Paris and Athens. Cardinal Franz Ehrle died on 31 March 1934 in Rome at the age of 88.
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