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.

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.

215 pieces in 6 boxes

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