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Parker (Morris B.) Papers
mssParkerm
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Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Morris B. Parker Papers
Identifier/Call Number: mssParkerm
Physical Description:
1 unit
( 215 pieces in 6 boxes )
Date (inclusive): 1886-1947
Abstract: This collection contains the papers of American assayer and mining engineer Morris B. Parker (1871-1957), who wrote about
his experiences working for mining companies chiefly in Mexico and White Oaks, New Mexico. This collection consists of typescripts
of Parker's autobiographical writings, diaries, notebooks, and photographs. The diaries give accounts of Parker's daily life
from high school to his travels and life while in Alaska, Mexico, and New Mexico. The notebooks go into the minute details
of his trips to various mines as a mining consultant.
Language of Material: English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Morris B. Parker Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Gifts of Lina Parker Matthews, April 14, 1968, and February 8, 1976.
Morris B. Parker (1871-1957) was born in 1871, the son of Erastus Wells and Emmeline Brown Parker. He grew up in St. Louis,
Missouri, and spent his summers in Penn Yan, New York. His father purchased the South Homestake located in White Oaks, New
Mexico, in 1879 and the family moved there in the summer of 1882. He went back to New York for high school, where he studied
chemistry and assaying. He then attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from 1889-1892 as well as the University
of Missouri from 1892-1893 to study at the School of Mines and Metallurgy. Once his studies were complete, Parker returned
to White Oaks to begin assaying. During that same year he married Olive Genevieve McCourt. Parker first visited Mexico in
1895 and after staying in Nacozari, Mexico, until 1903, moved his family to El Paso, Texas. Until 1932, much of Parker's time
was spent in Arizona, Mexico, and New Mexico. In each place, he worked for various mining companies assaying ore and predicting
the prospects of mining claims. He retired in Hermosa Beach, California, and with the help of his daughter, Lina Parker Matthews,
was able to write of his experiences in Mexico and White Oaks that were subsequently published after his death in 1957.
This collection consists of typescripts, diaries, notebooks, and photographs. There are three typescripts, the first was written
in 1941 and is an autobiography that details Parker's life from his high school days in New York to his times in Alaska, Mexico,
and New Mexico as a mining engineer and assayer, to his retirement in Hermosa Beach, California. The next typescript was written
in 1945 and is titled "History and my story about White Oaks 1880-1900." Partly drawn from his autobiography, this typescript
gives more depth into his families' life in White Oaks as mine owners and as a prominent family in the community, it includes
8 photographs. This typescript was published in 1971 as
Morris B. Parker's White Oaks; life in a New Mexico gold camp, 1880-1900 and was edited by Charles Leland Sonnichsen (1901-). The last typescript was written in 1947 and is titled "Mules, mines,
and me in Mexico." Also building upon information from his autobiography, this typescript covers Parker's life in Chihuahua
and Sonora, Mexico and his extensive travels throughout the region as a mining engineer and consultant for such mining companies
as Fortuna-North Tigre, La República, and many others, it includes 103 photographs. In this typescript he discusses the following
people: Plutarco Elias Calles (1877-1945), Britton Davis (1860-1930), James Stuart Douglas (1868-1949), William Cornell Greene
(1853- 1911), George Wylie Paul Hunt (1859-1934), William Colt MacDonald (1891-1968), Pascual Orozco (1882-1915), Luis Terrazas
(1829-1923), and Pancho Villa (1878-19223). Parker also covers the Mexico Revolution, 1910-1920 and conflicts with Yaqui Indians.
This typescript was published in 1979 as
Morris B. Parker's Mules, mines, and me in Mexico, 1895-1932 and was edited by James M. Day.
The diaries give accounts of the daily life of Morris B. Parker from when he was in high school to his travels and life
while in Alaska, Mexico, and New Mexico. The notebooks go into the minute details of his trips to various mines as a mining
consultant, engineer and assayer, including traveling conditions, itemized travel expenses, drawings of mine shafts, different
calculations of ores he assayed, and discussions of the cyanide process of extracting ore.
The photographs that were originally with the typescripts have been removed and placed into Boxes 5 and 6. Negatives taken
of the original pages that the photographs were mounted on are in Box 6.
This collection is arranged in the following manner:
- 1. Typescript: "Autobiography" and "History and my story about White Oaks 1880-1900" (Box 1)
- 2. Typescript: "Mules, mines, and me in Mexico" (Box 2)
- 3. Diaries (1886-1926) – in chronological order (Box 3)
- 4. Diaries (1927-1936) and Notebooks (1908-1936) – in chronological order (Box 4)
- 5. Photographs (Box 5)
- 6. Photographs and negatives (Box 6)
Former Call Number: mssParker, Morris papers.
Parker, Morris B., 1871-1957.
Morris B. Parker's White Oaks; life in a New Mexico gold camp, 1880-1900. Edited with an Introduction by C.L. Sonnichen (Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press, 1971).
Parker, Morris B., 1871-1957.
Morris B. Parker's Mules, mines, and me in Mexico, 1895-1932. Edited with an introduction and notes by James M. Day (Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press, 1979).
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Assayers -- Alaska
Assayers -- Mexico
Assayers -- New Mexico
Cyanide process.
Frontier and pioneer life -- New Mexico -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Mineral industries -- Alaska
Mineral industries -- Mexico
Mineral industries -- New Mexico
Mines and mineral resources -- Alaska -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
Mines and mineral resources -- Mexico -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
Mines and mineral resources -- New Mexico -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Mines and mineral resources -- New Mexico -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
Mining engineers -- Alaska
Mining engineers -- Mexico
Mining engineers -- New Mexico
Mining machinery -- Alaska
Mining machinery -- Mexico
Mining machinery -- New Mexico
Yaqui Indians -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
Chihuahua (Mexico : State) -- Description and travel
Chihuahua (Mexico : State) -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
El Paso (Tex.) -- Description and travel
El Paso (Tex.) -- Social life and customs
Mexico -- History -- Revolution, 1910-1920
Penn Yan (N.Y.) -- Description and travel
Penn Yan (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs
Sonora (Mexico : State) -- Description and travel
Sonora (Mexico : State) -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
White Oaks (N.M.) -- Description and travel
White Oaks (N.M.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
White Oaks (N.M.) -- Social life and customs
Diaries -- 19th century
Diaries -- 20th century
Notebooks -- 20th century
Photographs -- 19th century
Photographs -- 20th century
Typescripts -- 20th century