- No15
Leo Frank papers, 1912-1916
Records dating from 1912 to 1916 related to the Leo Frank family including correspondence, clippings about the trial, and financial documents.
More About This Collection
Creator
Frank, Leo
Date of Original
1912/1916
Subject
Frank, Leo, 1884-1915
Frank, Leo, 1884-1915--Trials, litigation, etc.
Location
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798
Medium
manuscripts (documents)
Type
Text
Description
This collection primarily consists of correspondence. There are letters of sympathy and support sent to Leo Frank and Lucille Selig Frank throughout his incarceration and after his death. Letters to the Franks are often written by many of the same people and share similar content. Also included is correspondence from members of the Frank and Selig families, from Frank's attorneys, from newspaper publishers and reporters, and to Governor Slaton on behalf of Leo Frank. In addition, the collection contains the Franks' financial records, documents and newspaper clippings about Leo Frank's legal case, and membership documents for religious and professional organizations., Leo Max Frank (1884-1915) was born to Rudolph and Rachel Frank in Cuero, Texas. The family moved to Brooklyn, New York, in 1884. Leo Frank graduated from Cornell University's College of Engineering in 1907. The following year, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to work at the National Pencil Company. In 1910, Frank married Lucille Selig, the youngest daughter of a distinguished Jewish family in Atlanta. On April 27, 1913, Mary Phagan, a child laborer, was found murdered at the National Pencil Company's factory on South Forsyth Street in Atlanta. Frank was arrested two days later, and indicted by a grand jury on May 23, 1913. His trial began on July 28, 1913, and in less than a month he was convicted of Phagan's murder and sentenced to death. Georgia governor John Slaton commuted Frank's sentence to life imprisonment on June 22, 1915, and moved him to Milledgeville State Penitentiary, a minimum security work camp. This decision prompted a well-organized group to kidnap Frank from the penitentiary and transport him to Marietta, Georgia, on August 16, 1915, where they beat and lynched him. After Frank's death the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, a national Jewish fraternity, formed the Jewish Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith which today exists as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). In 1982, the ADL petitioned the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles to pardon Frank based on new evidence, but the board denied the request. In March 1986, the board reversed their decision and granted the pardon. The board refused to confirm Frank's innocence, but granted the pardon based on the state's failure to protect Frank and to convict his killers.
Holding Institution
Atlanta History Center
Rights