William Kurrelmeyer, professor of German, collector of rare books and manuscripts and one of America's leading scholars in the field of German studies, was born in Osnabruck, Germany on January 17, 1874. He was brought to Baltimore by his father, Eberhard Kurrelmeyer, in 1882 and attended Baltimore City College, and later The Johns Hopkins University where he received his A.B. degree in 1896 and his Ph.D. in 1899. From 1899-1900 he was professor of Modern Languages at Franklin and Marshall College. In 1900 he came to Hopkins where he rose from instructor to professor until 1927 when he was appointed head of the German Department, a position he held until his retirement as professor emeritus in 1944. In 1902 he married Carrie May Herrman, and they were the parents of Bernhard Kurrelmeyer and Carrie May Kurrelmeyer Zintl. William Kurrelmeyer died in Baltimore, October 9, 1957.

Kurrelmeyer's writings included more that 100 books and articles in his field. He did extensive research and writing as part of his many travels to Germany. In 1916, he became editor of Modern Language Notes. He edited a ten-volume translation of the pre-Lutheran German Bible and a multi-volume work of German lexicography. Modern Language Notes dedicated its May 1953 issue to Kurrelmeyer and expressed the opinion that the Baltimore professor had brought to light more German words than anyone in recent years. Kurrelmeyer acquired a library of more than 25,000 volumes primarily German literature of the 18th and 19th centuries. In seven gifts between 1950 and 1957, he presented most of these books to The Johns Hopkins University. Of particular interest is Kurrelmeyer's Wieland collection said by many to be the finest collection of Wieland in the world. This includes holography letters of Christoph Martin Wieland and the first editions of all his works, the result of more than 30 years of collecting by Kurrelmeyer.