The Lehman family is descended from one of the first Jewish families to settle permanently in Pittsburgh. William and Pauline Wormser Frank arrived in the late 1840s. They and their descendants have been philanthropists and founders of Jewish communal institutions and have contributed to the development of Pittsburgh businesses and industries. This collection documents primarily the personal lives of members of the Frank, Anathan, and Lehman families.

William and Pauline Wormser Frank arrived in Pittsburgh in the late 1840s, becoming part of the nucleus of the first permanent Jewish community in Western Pennsylvania. The Frank, Wertheimer, Klee, Anathan, Lehman, Spear, and Apt families are all represented in this collection, beginning with a copy of the 1846 naturalization record for William Frank. His grand-daughter Bessie Frank married Simon Anathan, a businessman and philanthropist. The couple had two daughters: Jane Anathan Lehman and Frances Anathan Rosenbaum Spear. After Simon’s death, Bessie endowed a senior citizen center in his memory through the National Council for Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Chapter.

Jane Anathan, a daughter of Bessie and Simon, married Alan “Bud” Lehman, who was originally named Morton Herzog, Jr. His mother, Adele Guckenheimer Herzog Lehman Oppenheimer, was also descended from the Frank family. Her second husband, Albert C. Lehman, who adopted Bud and changed his name, was the president of Blaw-Knox Company, originally a manufacturer of steel concrete forms and later of road paving equipment. Albert Lehman was active in many Jewish organizations, such as Montefiore Hospital, Rodef Shalom Congregation, and the United Jewish Federation, and was a major patron of the Carnegie Museum of Art.

After Alan Lehman returned from his World War II service in the Pacific Theater, he worked in the metals industry and then became a venture capitalist. He and Jane Anathan Lehman were involved in philanthropy in the Jewish community, especially through the Bessie F. Anathan Foundation. They also supported educational and cultural institutions in the wider Pittsburgh community. Their children are Ellen Lehman and Joanne Lehman Brandt.

Ellen Lehman attended Vassar College and Cornell University for her doctorate, and works as a psychoanalyst in Santa Monica, CA. She married Charles Kennel, Executive Vice Chancellor at UCLA, Associate Administrator at NASA, and Vice Chancellor and Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD.

Joanne “Jo” Lehman has a Master’s degree in Decorative Arts from the University of London, and lived in England from about 1987-2007. She married William Russell Brandt, and the couple has two sons, William Tyler Brandt and Peter Bentley Brandt.

Frances Anathan Rosenbaum Spear, daughter of Bessie and Simon Anathan, had three children: Carol Ann Rosenbaum Spear Williams, Stanley Joseph Rosenbaum Spear, and Dale Sue Spear Sussman Garson.

Other Frank descendants and family members not named above who are represented in this collection either by documents, photographs, or both, include Emanuel Wertheimer, Isaac W. Frank, Tinnie Klee Frank, Isaac Guckenheimer, Adele Guckenheimer Herzog Lehman Oppenheimer, Morton Herzog, Robert Frank, William K. Frank, Mary Frank, Alan Frank, Frances Anathan Rosenbaum Spear, Joel Spear, Jr., Carol Ann Rosenabum Spear, Charles Kennel, Dale Spear Susman Garson, Jerry Apt, Joan Frank Apt, Jay Apt, and Judy Apt Nathenson