Kimberlie Johnson Collection on Len and Grace Jordan, 1953-1999

Kimberlie A. Johnson is an Idaho native, born in Pocatello and raised in Lewiston. She graduated with degrees in English from Lewis Clark State College and the University of Idaho. While working on a PhD at Carnegie Mellon University in 1990, she read Grace Jordans' "Home Below Hells Canyon" about the Jordans' experience living on a sheep ranch in remote Idaho during the Great Depression. Johnson's interest in the story led to an Idaho Humanities Council research Fellowship in 1999 while she was teaching at North Idaho College and Eastern Washington University. Johnson's fellowship research focused on the Jordans' biography and how the years they lived in Hells Canyon impacted their lives, particularly Len Jordan's political career. Johnson presented her research at the Nez Perce County Historical Society in Lewiston, the Bicentennial Historical Museum in Grangeville, and the Pacific Northwest American Studies Association. Kimberlie was a professor of English at North Idaho College from 2000 until her retirement in 2020.

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