Guide to the Falk Family Papers, 1900-1996 (bulk 1900)
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Falk Family Papers,
- Creator
- Falk Family
- Collection Number
- MSS#546
- Extent
- 1 linear feet (1 box and 1 shelf volume)
- Date
- 1900-1996 (bulk 1900)
- Abstract
- Members of the Falk family have made significant contributions to Pittsburgh's steel industry and to philanthropy in the Pittsburgh community. The Falk Family Papers consist of correspondence related to the engagement of Leon Falk and Fanny Edel in 1900; a small selection of correspondence and reports documenting the business and civic activities of Leon Falk, Sr., Leon Falk, Jr., and Katharine Sonneborn Falk; and genealogical material.
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
History
Leon Falk (1869-1928) was an industrialist and philanthropist who made his fortune in Pittsburgh in the steel business. Leon's parents, Charles and Sara (Sanders) Falk, immigrated in the 1850s from Erpol, Germany, to Allegheny (later the North Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania. Around 1868 the family moved to Irwin Station (later Greensburg), Pennsylvania, where their son Leon was born in 1869. In 1893 Leon's older brother Maurice established the Duquesne Reduction Company and the Crown Chemical Company. The two companies later merged with the Federated Metals Corporation, and Leon was the vice president and director. In the 1920s, Leon and Maurice Falk helped set up the Weirton Steel Company, which later became the National Steel Corporation. Leon Falk was also the director of the Edgewater Steel Company and treasurer of the Falk Products Company.
Fanny Edel Falk (1879-1910), daughter of Freda and Jacob Edel, was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, and raised in Richmond. She was graduated from the Richmond Women's College at the age of fourteen and later attended Madame Isaac's School in Auteuil, France. This school was established to educate the daughters of the Jewish elite in France, England and America. After spending a year in France, Fanny moved with her family to San Francisco, where she spent the following two years.
At the wedding of her cousin in January of 1900, Fanny Edel, the maid of honor, met Leon Falk, the best man. They were married the following November. Their first child, Leon Falk, Jr., was born in 1901, followed by a daughter, Marjorie Falk (later Marjorie Falk Levy) born in 1904. Both Leon and Fanny Falk were very involved in Jewish community life in Pittsburgh. Leon was a life trustee of Rodef Shalom Congregation, as well as a director of the Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association and a trustee of the Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. Leon was also very interested in progressive education; he made significant financial contributions to the Community School in Pittsburgh. Leon and Maurice Falk together established the Falk Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh.
After the death of Fanny Edel Falk in 1910, Leon Falk donated money for the creation of The Fanny Edel Falk Memorial at Rodef Shalom; it contained a library, gym and swimming pool. Leon Falk's second marriage was to Ruth Levy, a daughter of Rabbi J. Leonard Levy. Leon Falk, Sr. died in 1928. His children carried on his support of progressive education by establishing, in 1931, the Fanny Edel Falk Elementary School, an alternative, progressive institution which absorbed the earlier Community School.
Leon Falk, Jr. (1901-1988) became a well-known philanthropist in the Pittsburgh area. He graduated from Yale University before beginning to work for his family's companies, eventually becoming director of the National Steel Corporation. Falk was a trustee of the University of Pittsburgh for forty-four years, and he made large donations to various medical programs at the university, notably the Falk Clinic. He aided Jews in their escape from Nazi Germany. He and his uncle established the Maurice and Laura Falk Foundation, which, from 1929 to 1967, funded philanthropic projects in Pittsburgh as well as economic research through the Brookings Institute in Washington, DC.
Leon Falk, Jr. married Katharine Sonneborn, a New Yorker, in 1926; they were divorced in 1947. He married Katharine Sonneborn's sister Josephine S. Ross in 1948. Josephine Falk died in 1962. Leon Falk, Jr. married Loti Grunberg Gerard of New York in 1963. Leon Falk, Jr. died in 1988, survived by Loti Falk, three daughters (Ellen Falk Hirsch, Sara Falk Moser and Susannah Falk Shopsin) and two sons (Sigo Falk and David Falk).
Scope and Content Notes
The collection consists of business and personal correspondence, reports, reproductions of newsclippings, a video script, and a few family photographs. Most of the papers in this collection date from 1900 and document the engagement of Leon Falk and Fanny Edel. These papers do not constitute a full representation of the extended Falk family or of the Falk family's business and philanthropic activities in Pittsburgh. Within each series, the folders are arranged in roughly chronological order.
Arrangement
The Falk Family Papers are housed in one archival box and arranged in two series. Within each series, the folders are arranged in roughly chronological order. Additional scope and content notes are provided at the following series levels:
- Series I: Leon Falk, Sr. and Fannie Edel Falk
- Series II: Leon Falk Jr. and Katharine Sonneborn Falk
Conditions Governing Access
No Restrictions.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gifts of Sigo Falk on April 8, 1997, November 8, 2001.and May 1, 2002
Preferred Citation
Falk Family Papers, 1900-1996, MSS#546, Rauh Jewish Archives, Library and Archives Division, Senator John Heinz History Center
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Karen Frenchu and Nora Devlin on June 2, 2009.
Further additions and revisions by Martha L. Berg on April 19, 2010.
Further additions and revisions by Kelly J. Smith on November 18, 2011.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Library and Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center.
Related Materials
The Records of the Maurice Falk Medical Fund and "The Sonneborn Story" VIDEO 0070.
Subjects
- Duquesne Reduction Company
- University of Pittsburgh
- Rodef Shalom Congregation
- Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, Rauh Jewish Archives
- Falk
- Falk, Leon, Sr. , 1869-1828
- Falk, Fanny Edel, 1879-1910
- Falk, Leon, Jr., 1901-1988
- Falk, Katharine Sonneborn
- Falk, Ellen Hirsch
- Levy, J. Leonard
- Steel industry and trade--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh
- Philanthropy--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh
- Jews--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh