Hubbard George Parker papers, 1978, 1990

Interviews

Container: Box/Folder 1/1

• Description: 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.

  Dates: 1978
  Location: Interviews
• Description: 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.

  Dates: 1978
  Location: Interviews
• Description: 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.

  Dates: 1978
  Location: Interviews
• Description: 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.

  Dates: 1978
  Location: Interviews
• Description: 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.

  Dates: 1978
  Location: Interviews