Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Hubbard George Parker papers, 1978, 1990
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Parker, Hubbard George
- Title
- Hubbard George Parker papers
- Dates
- 1978, 1990 (inclusive)19781990
- Quantity
- 0.23 cubic feet (1 box, including 5 sound recordings)
- Collection Number
- 4417 (Accession No. 4417-001)
- Summary
- Papers of businessman Hubbard George Parker who worked for Standard Oil in Seattle, Washington and San Francisco, California.
- Repository
-
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu - Access Restrictions
-
No listening copies of the interviews are currently available. Users must arrange to have the interviews transferred to digital format before the interviews can be accessed.
- Languages
- English
Biographical NoteReturn to Top
Businessman Hubbard George Parker (1893-1994) worked for Standard Oil in Washington and California. He was born in Seattle, Washington to Jessie Smith Parker and Charles Wood Parker. The couple moved to Seattle in 1882 and owned C.W. Parker and Co., a photography equipment store. Hubbard George Parker attended Wilson's Modern Business College in Seattle and started work with the Great Northern Railway soon after. He began working for Standard Oil in Seattle in 1915. In 1923 he was transferred to Standard Oil's headquarters in San Francisco and worked there until 1958.
Sources:
Pelham, E. Hardy. Hubbard George Parker: The First 100 Years. 1990 June.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
Materials include sound recordings of oral history interviews of Hubbard George Parker conducted by Lynn Bonfield in 1978. Also included is a biographical essay about Parker written by E. Hardy Pelham in 1990. Interviews cover the following topics: childhood, family background, his parents, Seattle at the turn of the century, education, working for Standard Oil, Edward S. Curtis, the Seattle General Strike, and other life events and observations.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
InterviewsReturn to Top
Container(s): Box-folder 1/1
No listening copies available. Users must arrange to have the original analog tape transferred to digital format. Contact Special Collections for more information.
Container(s) | Description | Dates |
---|---|---|
Sound cassette 1
Childhood reminiscences depict Hubbard Parker as a very active
boy given much freedom and interested in making money at fishing, crabbing, and
his paper route. He discusses his family background and customs, his parents’
work and interests, his childhood adventures and prostitution in Alaska and
Seattle, supported by Clancy and Pantages. He discusses Edward S. Curtis who
worked for Parker’s father in the 1890’s, but who left to photograph Indians
elsewhere in the United States. Parker’s father had worked as a pharmacist in
Seattle’s first drug store, Hasbrouck’s Drug Company. Later with his wife, a
photographer, he opened a photo-equipment store using his background as a
chemist trained in medicine. The Parkers had traveled widely in Europe, Egypt,
and Central America, where they had photographed scenery and artifacts.
|
1978 | |
Sound cassette 2
Includes a recording of a 1977 tape by Grace Parker in which
Parker discusses childhood adventures with his friend, Jim Penney, nephew of
J.C. Penney. The two boys found an old dory,which gave them the means to fish
and crab. It also includes a description of numerous adventures together such
as climbing to the top of the scaffolding on the Smith Tower. He mentions Henry
Yesler’s sawmill and skidroad, loggers and seamen in the red light district of
Seattle where he had his paper route. He also includes a discussion of his two
brothers, his school attendance and his behavior probems there. Parker’s father
died in 1907, and his mother, a partner with her husband, lost the
photo-equipment store. He then discusses his later education, especially
business college in 1912, his work history in Seattle as a young man, including
being hired by the Standard Oil Company as a billing clerk in 1916.
|
1978 | |
Sound cassette 3
Discusses Mother’s artistic production, parents’ lenient and
kind discipline practices, Imogen Cunningham, and the photo-equipment store
along with Mr. Dingman and other photographers in Seattle. He expresses
disapproval of Edward S. Curtis’s photographing Northwest Indians; squatter
Indians, he calls them. Parker’s parents escorted Curtis over the Cascades to
introduce him to the more colorful and interesting Yakima Indians. Parker
continues with reminiscences on fishing and crabbing, selling the fish to
restauranteur Suddreth and depositing his pay in Mr. Childberg’s Scandinavian
American Bank. He continues with a discussion of prostitution in Seattle,
horseracing in Victoria, the Parker’s home in Seattle, his mother’s foreign
domestic help and her photography, painting, and pounded copper plates and
bowls.
|
1978 | |
Sound cassette 4
Parker talks about his great aunt-in-law Copeland, a painter who
won first prize at the 1909 Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition. She was married to
his uncle, Edmund Smith, who was the captain of several ships, one of which was
eight-masted. Parker narrates more of the family’s history after his father’s
death, his mother’s painting prowess and prizes, and his own introduction to
and rejection of art. He recalls the beginnings of Manning’s coffee shop in the
Public Market. He continues with experiences of mountain climbing, forming a
dance club, meeting his wife there and being married in 1915, when rents were
high but food was very cheap. He also recalls work with the Standard Oil
Company in Seattle as a biller for oil and in San Francisco, where he was in
charge of stock and accounting for service stations in 1923.
|
1978 | |
Sound cassette 5
Describes his experience as a problem child at school after the
death of his father and being taken in hand by the coach, afterward playing
sports and becoming the football captain. He describes his daily routine at
home and school, the four different newspapers he delivered beginning at age 6,
the General Strike of 1919 and the Wobblies’ part in it. He focuses on the
fierce youth gangs, Blacks and Japanese in Seattle, public opinion about World
War I, his role in the war, Standard Oil in San Francisco, and his walking
habits. He discusses the differences between his and his son’s childhood
freedoms, Halloween tricks and tobogganing in early 1900’s Seattle, and the
sports he played in school.
|
1978 |
Pelham, E. Hardy. "Hubbard George Parker: The First 100 Years." 1990 JuneReturn to Top
Container(s): Box-folder 1/2
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Yakama Indians
Personal Names
- Cunningham, Imogen, 1883-1976
- Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952
- Parker, Hubbard George--Interviews
Corporate Names
- Standard Oil Company
- Standard Oil Company--Employees
Other Creators
-
Personal Names
- Bonfield, Lynn A., 1939- (interviewer)
- Parker, Grace (interviewer)
- Pelham, E. Hardy (creator)
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)