This collection consists mainly of correspondence detailing the lives and activities of the Zimmerman family, especially J. Franklin Zimmerman and his sisters who were in Alaska, the Klondike, and the prairie provinces of Canada, chiefly dating from 1900 to 1928, as well as a diary detailing J. Franklin Zimmerman's journey from Skagway, Alaska, to the Yukon in 1898.

The Zimmerman family lived in Harvel, Montgomery County, Illinois, and consisted of William J. Zimmerman and Mary Post Zimmerman and their 10 children: J. Franklin, Arthur W., William K., Walter H., Ella M. Chase, Minnie Patterson, Mary McCarty, Anna Bunning, Frances Bunning, Ida W. McMechen (also known as Ida W. Lowe from a previous marriage), and Bertha Jeisy. William J. and Mary Zimmerman spent most of their life in Illinois as farmers. Their son J. Franklin, or Frank, went to Blackburn College and later went to the Klondike to seek his fortune in mining. His sisters, Ella M. Chase, Minnie Patterson, and Mary McCarty, followed him there, each getting married and settling in the area.

455 pieces in 4 boxes

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