Michelle (Shelley) Kim, the granddaughter of Young Tak Kim and Annabelle Kim and the donor of the collection, supplied the following biographical information.

Young Tak Kim was the second oldest of six children born to Robert and Haeran Kim. He was born in Los Angeles, and his family is part of the Korean American Pioneer community. Young Tak's sisters were Gloria (Ronyoung) Han and Annie Kim Kido. His brothers were Kim Hongtak (also known as Hong Tak McCune), Jack Kim, and Robert (Bobby) Kim. Jack's Korean name was Kyung Tak and Robert's was Sung Tak, but they rarely went by their Korean names. Young Tak was born around February 21, 1920 and died January 10th, 2004. As a child, Young Tak traveled to Korea (the family was from what is now North Korea) for school, but stayed in the United States permanently, partly due to political reasons relating to the Japanese occupation of Korea. Young Tak spoke Korean, Japanese, and English, but he rarely spoke anything but English with his children and grandchildren. Young Tak grew up in Los Angeles and later spent time living in Reedley and then Fresno during the 1950s. He served in the United States Navy as a radio tech. Young Tak and his brother Hongtak owned a television and radio service shop. Young Tak also worked for the city of Fresno before retiring.

Anna Lee, later Annabelle Kim, was born around February 7, 1921 and died in January of 2015. Annabelle's early biographical details are less certain than Young Tak's. Annabelle was born in California, possibly in Oakland. Her parents were Reverend O.H. (Oak Hyung?) Lee and Esther Lee. Annabelle had 2 siblings: Henry (known as Hank) and Mary. When Annabelle's parents divorced, her father took Hank and her mother took Mary and Annabelle. Mary and Annabelle ended up in an orphanage in Oakland for a number of years, then moved to Sacramento. During World War II, Annabelle moved to the Los Angeles area. Annabelle met Young Tak when she was living in Sacramento and Young Tak was living in Los Angeles. Annabelle graduated from junior college in Sacramento and worked as a homemaker for most of her life.