Parton (Jane Bourne) Papers
Finding aid created by Northeastern University (Oakland) staff using RecordEXPRESS
Northeastern University (Oakland)
2024
Special Collections, F. W. Olin Library
5000 MacArthur Blvd.
Oakland, California 94613
510.430.2047
specialcollections-oak@northeastern.edu
https://library.northeastern.edu/oakland_campus/about-the-f-w-olin-library/special-collections/
Title: Parton (Jane Bourne) Papers
Dates: 1930-1962
Collection Number: Consult repository
Creator/Collector:
Parton, Jane Bourne, 1917-1962
Extent: 3,706 items in 4 Hollinger Boxes
Repository:
Northeastern University (Oakland)
Oakland, California 94613
Abstract: The Jane Bourne Parton Papers are remarkable for the thorough documentation they provide of the life of an American woman
in the mid-twentieth century, from childhood to death. Jane Bourne was born in 1917, and grew up in the Pacific Northwest,
where she attended Annie Wright Seminary from 1930 to 1936. She graduated from Mills College in 1940, and went to work for
the Hilton Hotels, serving as a personal assistant to Conrad Hilton for ten years during the major expansion of the Hilton
Hotels Corporation. In 1950 she married James Parton, founder and president of American Heritage Publishing Company, and in
the following twelve years was active in the Mills College Club of New York City. She died of cancer in 1962, at age 45, leaving
three small children.
Language of Material: English
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item]. Parton (Jane Bourne) Papers. Collection Number: Consult repository. Northeastern University (Oakland)
Scope and Content of Collection
The Parton collection includes diaries and memorabilia from Jane’s years at Annie Wright Seminary; correspondence written
while she was an undergraduate at Mills; and correspondence and memorabilia from her years with Hilton Hotels, including 81
letters from Conrad Hilton. Her correspondence with James Parton begins in 1947. Her wedding in 1950 is fully documented,
and notebooks kept by Jane Parton include dress designs and dinner menus from the 1950s. Several dozen photographs of Jane
Bourne Parton and her family, and such miscellaneous materials as obituary clippings and letters of condolence on her death,
complete the collection.
Mills College - Alumnae and alumni
Women college students -- United States -- Social life and customs
Hilton, Conrad