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Anselm Frankel (1906-1980) was a prominent figure in the cultural life of Sarasota, Florida. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Frankel moved to Sarasota in 1950 from Greenfield, Massachusetts, where he was the owner of the Red Bird Company, which manufactured equipment for processing poultry. A Harvard graduate (1928), he was one of the 18 founding members of the Sarasota-Manatee Ivy League Club, serving as the club's program chairman beginning in 1957 and as the club's president for two terms in 1960-1961.
Frankel was an art collector and was the first male docent at the Ringling Art Museums. Before professional theater came to the Sarasota area, Frankel and his late wife, Helen Van Camp, were performers/supporters of a small amateur theater group known as The Players. He was instrumental in building the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall and planning for New College and the Asolo Theater. He also sponsored the Anselm Frankel Scholarship for the Asolo-Florida State University Conservatory; he was a longtime member of the Asolo Theater Festival Association and served as a director on the board of the State Theater, Inc. and as a member of the Asolo Angels 500 Club.
Frankel was the founder and operator of the Celebrity Series, a statewide concert series that brought to South Florida world-renowned musicians, opera stars, and entertainers such as Beverly Sills, Van Cliburn, Andre Watts, Art Buchwald, and numerous others. Frankel received permission to show Audubon Films throughout the southeastern United States and was founder and general manager of World Travelventure Films, a company that presented travel films and documentaries, as well as guest speakers, throughout Florida and several Eastern states. Frankel was a director of the Allied Arts Council of Sarasota and Manatee counties, and in 1976 he received the national title of Honorary Founding President of the Professional Travel Film Directors Association.
Summary:
This collection contains records documenting Anselm Frankel's involvement in educational, social, and cultural activities in Florida, the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, and in particular his adopted hometown of Sarasota, Florida. The records consist of correspondence, letters of appreciation, speeches, newspaper clippings, and celebrity photographs. The collection also contains several Frankel family World War II Ration Coupon Books as well as a collection of photographs of Richard M. Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. from the 1960s. Also included are stock publicity photographs of musicians and other celebrities, several of them autographed.
Finding Aids:
Folder listing available. 0
Additional Physical Form:
Anselm Frankel's War Ration Book has been digitized and is available on the Florida Memory web site: http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/297483
Frankel, Anselm, 1906-1980.
Art museums Florida Arts Florida Concerts Florida Documentary films Production and direction Florida Museums Florida Performing arts Florida Theaters Florida Travel Florida.
Clippings. aat Photographs. aat
Manatee County (Fla.) Sarasota (Fla.) Sarasota County (Fla.)
for detailed listing.