Albert Kahn Family papers, 1869-1989

Start Over Collection Albert Kahn Family papers, 1869-1989

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4.2 linear feet (in 5 boxes)

The Albert Kahn Family Papers include the personal correspondence of Albert, his wife Ernestine Krolik Kahn, his son Edgar Adolph Kahn, and his daughter Ruth Kahn Rothman, miscellaneous materials which document the personal and professional lives of family members, and photographic images from the 1870s to 2015.

The Kahn Family Papers have come to the library from five sources: from Carol Kahn, the granddaughter of Albert and Ernestine Kahn and daughter of Edgar A. Kahn; from William R. Brashear, who was married to Albert's and Ernestine's granddaughter, Lydia Rothman Brashear; from William Brashear's daughter, Ruth Brashear Carrigan; from Edgar Kahn's daughter, Elizabeth Kahn Lehndorff; and from Richard Addison Chamberlin, Jr., the grandson of Moritz Kahn. The Albert Kahn Family Papers received from Carol Kahn include letters and photographs which contribute to our understanding of Kahn's relationship with his wife, children and grandchildren. The materials also illuminate the distinguished military and professional careers of his son Edgar (1900-1985), who served as Chairman of Neurosurgery at the University of Michigan Hospital from 1949 to 1971. The papers received from William R. Brashear and his daughter Ruth Carrigan document the personal and professional lives of Albert and Ernestine Kahn, Ruth Kahn Rothman, Edward E. Rothman and other members of the extended Kahn family, including Albert Kahn's granddaughters, Josephine Rothman Treutner and Lydia Rothman Brashear. Mr. Brashear's collection also encompasses family letters and photographs, which are contained in his book, Albert Kahn and His Family in Peace and War, published by the Bentley Historical Library in 2006. The materials donated by Elizabeth (Betsy) Lehndorff relate to her recent careers as a journalist in Colorado and as a jewelry artist in Alpena, Michigan, and document the internationally acclaimed art collection of Lydia Winston Malbin, Albert Kahn's daughter. Mr. Chamberlin has donated an original copy of a book by his grandfather Moritz Kahn, published in 1917 and entitled The Design and Construction of Industrial Buildings.

Kahn Family Papers, Carol Kahn, collector

The first series, Carol Kahn, collector, encompasses four sub-series, related to the lives of Albert and Ernestine Kahn, Mollie Kahn Fuchs, Edgar A. Kahn and Carol Kahn. Researchers will find a number of interesting early letters within the Albert and Ernestine Kahn Correspondence sub-series. While the letters from Albert number only four, his letter to his sister-in-law Amy of 11/9/1900 is of particular interest. In this hand-written piece of correspondence, Kahn recounts his delight in visiting Paris, Genoa, and Florence in 1891 and includes a sketch of an Italian arch. He also expresses pride and delight in his baby son, Edgar. Two late letters of 6/26/1940 and 7/17/1942 to Edgar, who was posted for military duty in Spain and Little Rock, Arkansas, are also significant. In these documents, Kahn describes his own war defense work and expresses concern for his son's welfare. He gives us a glimpse of paternal emotion when he ends the 1940 letter with these words to Eddie: "You mean everything to all of us." The four letters to Kahn in this sub-series include two from his brother Julius (one dated 1/14/1900), with whom he collaborated on the use of reinforced concrete in structural design. And a letter from his first partner Alexander Buel Trowbridge (10/17/1898), who had recently become the dean of the Cornell University College of Architecture, documents this early professional relationship.

Albert and Ernestine Kahn

Within the Albert and Ernestine Correspondence sub-series, the letters written by Kahn's future wife Ernestine Krolik, at the age of 16, give researchers a view of the personality of this intelligent, young woman, who shows herself to be cultured, confident and family-oriented. Twenty-one letters were written by Ernestine during her summer visit in St. Paul, Minnesota, from 6/29/1885 to 9/1/1885. They were addressed to her mother, sister Bell, brother Day and father Adolph Krolik, a dry goods merchant who would later become a client of Albert Kahn. In addition to her descriptions of her train trips to such tourist destinations as Lake Johanna, White Bear Lake and Lake St. Croix, she provides detailed walking-tour portraits of the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1885. Her letters show her to have a game sense of adventure, as well as a strong devotion to her parents, whose "kindness and warm-heartedness" she praises. Included in the letters to Ernestine is a 1942 Western Union telegram from V. A. Vernin, a Russian architect-academician, expressing "sympathy in connection with the death of your husband Mr. Albert Kahn, who rendered us great service in designing a number of large plants and helped us to assimilate the American experience in the sphere of [the] building industry."

A Kahn family tree gives researchers an understanding of the legacy of Albert and Ernestine Kahn, as well as that of Kahn's siblings, Julius, Felix, Louis, Gus, Moritz, Mollie, and Paula. Materials related to the dedication of the William L. Clements Library and the nomination of Albert Kahn's residence to the National Register of Historic Places are also of significance. The Albert and Ernestine photographs are arranged chronologically and include images of the family ranging from Ernestine's childhood in the 1870s to her granddaughter Carol Kahn's Ontario canoe trip in 1989. Five photographs depict Albert's and Ernestine's children between 1901 and 1908, and three images show Albert and Ernestine together in their later years.

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