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Guide to the Alan and Beatrice Parker Collection
MS 164
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Title: Alan and Beatrice Parker Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1922-1969
Collection number: MS 164
Collector:
Parker, Alan and Beatrice
Extent:
5 boxes, 70 volumes
Repository:
University of California, Santa Cruz. University Library.
Special Collections and Archives
Santa Cruz, California 95064
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.
Physical location: Stored in Special Collections & Archives: Advance notice is required for access to materials.
Language:
English.
Collection open for research.
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.
Alan and Beatrice Parker Collection. MS 164. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of
California, Santa Cruz.
Gift of Serafino Hugo Bianchini, December, 1996.
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.
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.
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.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Parker, Alan and Beatrice Archives
Patchen, Kenneth, 1911-1972
Joyce, James, 1882-1941.
Poets, American--20th century
Novelists, Irish--20th century
Other Index Terms Related to this Collection
Patchen, Miriam
Patchen, Kenneth, 1911-1972. Kenneth Patchen archive
The first edition of
Ulysses, Shakespeare and Company (1922), is stored separate from the general Special Collections Book Collection.
The Kenneth Patchen Archive at UCSC includes the following collections:
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Identifier/Call Number: MS 160Title: Kenneth Patchen papers,Date: 1929-1989
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Identifier/Call Number: MS 161Title: Miriam Patchen papers,Date: 1930-2000
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Identifier/Call Number: MS 162Title: Magel and Ruth Patchen papers,Date: 1910-1971
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Identifier/Call Number: MS 163Title: Kathryn Winslow collection,Date: 1950-1988
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Identifier/Call Number: MS 164Title: Alan and Beatrice Parker collection,Date: 1922-1969
-
Identifier/Call Number: MS 165Title: James Boyer May correspondence,Date: 1956-1972
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Identifier/Call Number: MS 166Title: Kenneth Patchen Festival records,Date: 1927-1991
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Identifier/Call Number: MS 167Title: Chester Kessler papers,Date: 1951-1952
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Identifier/Call Number: MS 168Title: Fred Wright correspondence,Date: 1972-1990
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Identifier/Call Number: MS 169Title: Charles and Barbara Paine collection,Date: 1957-1983
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Identifier/Call Number: MS 170Title: William M. Roth correspondence,Date: 1941-1965
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Identifier/Call Number: MS 172Title: Peter Veres papers,Date: 1973-1977
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Identifier/Call Number: MS 173Title: "Kenneth Patchen: Hurrah for Anything" film production records,Date: 1982
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Title: MS 174, Edward Blair papers, ca. 1960-1989Date: 1982
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Identifier/Call Number: MS 175Title: William Plumley collection,Date: 1942-1972
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Identifier/Call Number: MS 176Title: Tom and Rita Bottoms collection,Date: 1946-1958
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Identifier/Call Number: MS 177Title: Johnny Wittwer papers,Date: 1959