Herbert M. Parker papers, 1938-1984

Contains correspondence, speeches and writings, committee records, videotapes (3/4 inch U-matic).

The Parker papers provide only limited documentation of Parker's work at Hanford and Battelle. The bulk of the papers relate to his committee and consultant work. One such activity was the Portsmouth Study of Navy nuclear propulsion and other shipyard workers. The study was commissioned in 1978 by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and carried out by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at the instigation of the House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment. Parker was a consultant to the study, which investigated reports of excess cancer mortality among the shipyard workers.

The Parker papers also include material relating to the "Mancuso Controversy." Dr. Thomas F. Mancuso was the principle investigator for this project, which was a "Study of the Lifetime Health and Mortality Experience of Employees of AEC Contractors" commissioned in 1964 by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and later funded by the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration. Dr. Mancuso's studies aroused controversy and his contract was terminated in 1975. In 1977 the U.S. Inspector General's Office was requested to conduct an investigation of irregularity on the part of the Department of Energy in terminating the contract. In 1971 Herbert Parker agreed to serve on a scientific advisory committee to the project and subsequently received correspondence and reports concerning the project and investigation.

Another consulting project for Parker was for Radiation Management Corporation, a Philadelphia business which offered services in "evaluation and management of human radiation problems associated with use of nuclear energy." Parker advised the company for several years.

Included in the papers are two videotapes with titles "Vignettes of Early Radiation Workers." Parker is one of the interviewees on these tapes.