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Zimmerman Family Papers: Finding Aid
mssZimmerman family
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Title: Zimmerman Family Papers
Dates (inclusive): 1886-1933
Bulk dates: 1900-1928
Collection Number: mssZimmerman family
Creator:
Zimmerman family.
Extent: 455 pieces in 4 boxes
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: 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.
Language: English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services
Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to
quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such
activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is
one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Zimmerman Family Papers, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Purchased from Michael Brown, February 25, 2001.
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.
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. Included is a 136 page
diary by J. Franklin that details his journey with his friend Lawrence “Brunky”
Weber from Skagway, Alaska, over the White Pass and then on to Dawson. The diary
begins after they arrived at Fort Wrangel on February 14, 1898, and goes on to
describe their traveling conditions, buying of supplies, customs rules, boat making
on Tagish Lake, mining along the Dominion River, mining claims, and descriptions of
the surrounding environment and towns.
J. Franklin Zimmerman had three sisters, Mary McCarty, Ella M. Chase, and Minnie
Patterson, who followed him to the Klondike. Their letters to their mother, Mary
Post Zimmerman, while illuminating the domestic and business lives of women in
Alaska, the Klondike, and in the Canadian prairies provinces; also give accounts of
their daily lives and the raising of their children.
The collection is in 4 boxes with correspondence arranged alphabetically by author
and miscellaneous materials placed at the end.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Zimmerman
family.
Frontier and pioneer life -- Prairie
Provinces -- History -- 20th century -- Sources.
Frontier and pioneer life --
Saskatchewan -- History -- 20th century -- Sources.
Frontier and pioneer life -- Yukon --
Klondike River Valley -- History -- 20th century -- Sources.
Gold mines and mining -- Yukon --
Klondike River Valley.
Land settlement -- Prairie Provinces --
History -- 20th century -- Sources.
Mines and mineral resources --
Yukon.
Pioneers -- Yukon -- Klondike River
Valley -- Diaries.
Women -- Prairie Provinces -- History
-- 20th century -- Sources.
Women -- Prairie Provinces -- Social
conditions.
Women pioneers -- Yukon -- Klondike
River Valley.
Dawson (Yukon) --
Description and travel.
Dawson (Yukon) --
History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Dawson (Yukon) --
History -- 20th century -- Sources.
Kindersley (Sask.) --
Description and travel.
Saskatoon (Sask.) --
Description and travel.
Family papers -- 19th century.
Family papers -- 20th century.
Letters (correspondence) -- 19th
century.
Letters (correspondence) -- 20th
century.
Diaries Yukon Klondike River Valley --
19th century.
Chase, Ella M.
McCarty, Mary.
Patterson, Minnie.
Zimmerman, J. Franklin.
Zimmerman, Mary Post.