Back in January 2024, I posted about sisters Fannie and Flora Chilberg, twins who worked together as the “Misses Chlberg”, photographers in Illinois.As I said in the post, Fannie died in a tragic car accident in the late 1920s when a car driven by a drunk driver slammed into the car she was riding in. Fannie’s car was being driven by family friend Arthur Zimmerman. Her sister Flora, who was traveling in the car behind Zimmerman’s car, witnessed Fannie’s death. Very sad. Flora subsequently keeps the “Misses Chilberg” photography business going by herself for at least another decade.
In odd twist of fate, many years later (in the 1940s) Flora winds up getting married to Arthur Zimmerman. . She gives up the photography business when she marries Zimmerman.
That’s where the post ended.
but that’s not the end Flora’s story, thanks to reader Jim C, who reached out to me last month with some news about Flora Chilberg Zimmerman.
Just by chance, Jim ran across some correspondence between Flora and the photographer Albert Genthe from a time when Flora was preparing to give a lecture about Genthe (as part of a series of talks in Davenport, Iowa, in 1938). (Jim also found correspondence as between Flora and her cousin, Rita, a performer who knew Genthe.) Anyway, the letters were tucked into a copy of Gethe’s autobiography that was once owned by Flora.
You can check out more about all this, and see screenshots of all the letters Jim found, on Jim’s Flickr page here.
Many thanks to Jim C. for reaching out and sharing this wonderful little update about early woman artisan photographer, Mrs. Flora Chilberg Zimmerman.
BTW, Here’s a photo of Flora that I’d posted on the original post:
