This collection of letters is taken from the Höfeln Family Papers, held by the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois. Almost all of the letters were sent to Charlotte Fischer (later von Höfeln), who was born in 1819 in Nuremburg and immigrated to Illinois around 1851. In 1852, she married Andreas von Höfeln, and they eventually settled in Washington, Illinois. Most of the letters were sent to Charlotte Fischer von Höfeln from Kirchheim unter Teck, Württemberg, one of the communities where she lived in Germany before migrating to the United States.