Parker (Alan and Beatrice) Collection, 1922-1969

Printable guide [HTML]
Request items

Summary

Title:
Alan and Beatrice Parker Collection,
Dates:
1922-1969
Creators:
Parker, Alan and Beatrice
Abstract:
The archive consists of two rare book collections featuring works by Kenneth Patchen and James Joyce collected by Alan and Beatrice Parker. In addition to the published works, The Kenneth Patchen collection includes incoming correspondence from Kenneth and Miriam Patchen to the Parkers, printed ephemera, and sound recordings. The letters document activities and relationship between the couples during the 1940's and 1960's.
Extent:
5 boxes, 70 volumes
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

Alan and Beatrice Parker Collection. MS 164. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.

Background

Scope and content:

This archive is built around two collections featuring the two 20th century literary figures Kenneth Patchen and James Joyce.

I. The Kenneth Patchen Collection consists of:
Printed Material, a collection of first, limited and signed Kenneth Patchen editions, including First Will and Testament (1939), The Journal of Albion Moonlight (1941) & Cloth of the Tempest (1943), Silk Screen Prints, Painted Book editions, and various printed ephemera such as Picture Poem Postcards and prospectus to "The Journal of Albion Moonlight", "Glory Never Guesses", "Sleepers Awake";
Incoming Correspondence containing some 93 incoming letters and cards send by Kenneth and Miriam Patchen to their friends the Parkers; and
Sound Recordings of Kenneth Patchen reading his poetry.

II. The James Joyce Book Collection consists of about 40 volumes of published works by and about him. Included is the first edition of Ulysses (1922) & illustrated and signed limited edition by Henri Matisse (1935), and first edition of Anna Livia Plurabelle (1928). The collection also holds copies of the journal Transition, which contains many Joyce works in progress.

Majority of the material is arranged chronologically.

Biographical / historical:

Natives of Nebraska, Alan Parker (1916-1993), an artist and a collector, and Beatrice Ford Parker (1918-1996), a teacher, relocated to Carmel Highlands, California in 1950. Living in their self-designed Carmel home over 30 years, the couple ultimately retired to Medford, Oregon in 1987.

The Parkers graduated from the University of Nebraska in the late 1930's. Alan Parker received a degree in Fine Arts (1937), and was hired as an art director for a chain department store until the beginning of WWII. Like so many men of that period, Alan Parker was drafted into the Navy in 1943. He received basic training in USNR Midshipman School in Chicago, and later was stationed off the Atlantic Coast in Florida as a lieutenant commanding a coastal defense patrol vessel. After military service, the couple returned to Hasting, Nebraska for two years, during which time Mr. Parker compiled a bibliography of James Joyce's writings. The volume was published by F.W. Faxon Co (1948) under a title James Joyce: a bibliography of his writings.

In Carmel, Alan Parker was actively engaged in arts. Recognized for his abstract-geometric style, he exhibited his paintings and sculptures locally in Monterey and Santa Cruz as well as Santa Barbara and Nebraska. His works have also been displayed in a group exhibits at the Witney Museum of Art in New York, the Denver Art Museum, and the San Francisco Art Museum. His main commissions included murals for the University of Nebraska, and both the Salinas County Juvenile Hall & Courthouse.

In addition to painting, he worked as an architectural designer-draftsman and as a color consultant. In the early 1970's, he also taught painting and aesthetics at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Mrs. Parker, a teacher specialized in reading techniques and working with children with learning disabilities, taught in Monterey Peninsula Unified School District until her retirement in 1982. During her career she published widely in educational journals.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Serafino Hugo Bianchini, December, 1996.
Physical location:
Stored in Special Collections & Archives: Advance notice is required for access to materials.
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by UCSC OAC Unit.
Date Prepared:
© 2003
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid created by UCSC OAC Unit. Machine-readable finding aid derived from MS Word. Date of source: 1997.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection open for research.

Terms of access:

Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to publish or to reproduce the material, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.

Preferred citation:

Alan and Beatrice Parker Collection. MS 164. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.

Location of this collection:
Special Collections and Archives, University Library
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95064, US
Contact:
(831) 459-2547
speccoll@library.ucsc.edu
Website