Fritz Victor Lenel Family Collection 1773-2010 bulk dates: 1890s-1980s

The collection consists of a 'Lenel family archive' created by Fritz Victor Lenel. It documents his ancestry back to his great-grandparents, and includes extensive correspondence with their contemporary descendants as well as Lenel's extensive research notes. In addition to materials common in genealogical collections, such as genealogical tables and photocopies of archival documents, this collection also includes original material relating to Lenel's ancestors and relatives, such as correspondence, diaries, and vital records. In addition, virtually all of the hundreds of photographs in this collection, ranging in date from 1848 to the 1980s, are identified. A dedicated genealogist, Lenel organized his materials by family branch. Ancestors documented by this collection include his great-grandparents Friedrich Kapp (1824-1884) and Louise (Engels) Kapp, his great-grandparents Friedrich Ludwig Borckenhagen (1818-1870) and Julie (Seydel) Borckenhagen, his great-grandparents Moritz (1810-1876) and Caroline (Scheuer) Lenel (1814-1867), and his paternal grandmother Helene (Michaelis) Lenel (1844-1917). The descendants of Lenel's great-grandparents live, among other places, in Germany, the United States, England, France, and South Africa. The collection includes Lenel's extensive correspondence during the 1970s and 1980s with many of these people.Many of the Lenels were prominent members of the Mannheim Jewish community. Industrialist Viktor Lenel (1838-1917) and his son Richard Lenel (1869-1950) served in the local chamber of commerce and were also noted philanthropists. In addition to material on these and other Lenel family members, the collection contains materials about Fritz Victor Lenel's father, historian Walter Lenel, and his immediate family, and the journals of his mother Luise (Borckenhagen) Lenel.Items that may be of particular interest include documents appointing Jonas Michaelis as a member of the Israelite Consistory in Nieheim in the Kingdom of Westphalia (1809); Walter Lenel's personal documents, such as his 1905 certificate of baptism by Albert Schweitzer and documents about being hired by the university in Heidelberg in 1932 and fired in 1933; and the many well-labeled photographs in a variety of formats.Fritz Victor Lenel (1907-2003) was born to Walter and Luise Lenel in Kiel, Germany. He studied chemistry at the universities of Breslau and Munich. In 1931, Lenel emigrated to the United States and embarked on a successful career in powder metallurgy. He was a professor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from 1947 until his retirement in 1973. He spent much of the rest of his life creating this collection, the 'Lenel Family Archive.'See also the Lenel Family Collection, AR 3164Processeddigitize