Carpenter, J. Philipp

Librarian, archaeologist

born: 1796 in Saarbrücken

died: 20.09.1850 in Wiesbaden

After attending the Friedrichsschule in Wiesbaden, Zimmermann became a diurist (clerk) at the Nassau War College in 1818 and a chancellor with the Nassau state government in 1823. A year later he was promoted to secretary of the Nassau State Library. Because of his good memory for titles and numbers and his language skills, Zimmermann was an indispensable helper and advisor to visitors. As his school career had ended with the intermediate school-leaving certificate, he had no further opportunities for advancement. His income put him on a par with the academically educated pastors.

Zimmermann was interested in early history. He belonged to the Association for Nassau Antiquities and Historical Research and was its secretary from 1823-37. Zimmermann was a successful archaeologist in the Wiesbaden area. He published the results of his research in the Nassauische Annalen.

Zimmermann's literary legacy also includes the writings "Wiesbaden mit seinen Umgebungen" (1826) and the booklet accompanying the panorama "Das Rundgemälde von der Platte, nebst einer kurzen Schilderung des Taunusgebirges in naturhistorischer und geschichtlicher Hinsicht" (1832). In the years 1823-26, he published five volumes of "Seume's gesammelte Schriften" (Seume's collected writings) with the publishing house of Ernst Ludwig Theodor Schellenberg.

Together with his sister Elisabeth, he established the Zimmermann Foundation. Zimmermannstrasse is named after the siblings.