WAUParkerHerbertM3616.xml Guide to the Herbert M. Parker Papers 1938-1984 Parker (Herbert M.) papers Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries © 2007 (Last modified: 4/18/2018)
Seattle, WA 98195
Finding aid written in English. Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard). University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections 3616 (Accession No. 3616-001) Parker, Herbert M Herbert M. Parker papers 1938-1984 11.83 cubic feet (13 boxes) Collection materials are in English. Papers of a radiation physicist and co-inventor of the Paterson-Parker Radium Therapy System

Herbert Parker was a radiation physicist and co-inventor of the Paterson-Parker Radium Therapy System. He was born in England in 1910, studied at the University of Manchester and the Holt Radium Institute in Manchester. He came to the U.S. and worked on nuclear projects during WWII at the Manhattan Project in Chicago and at Oak Ridge. He came to Hanford, WA in 1944 to head the operational radiation protection program and stayed to develop research and development programs in the radiological sciences. He managed the General Electric Hanford Labs from 1956 to 1965. He became a consultant to Batelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories after Batelle took over operation of the lab in 1965. In 1971 he left Batelle and became president of HMP Associates, his own consulting firm. He served on many scientific panels, committees, and boards, including the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, and bodies of the National Academy of Sciences and Atomic Energy Commission. He died in 1984.

Arranged in 2 series:

Personal and professional papers, 1938-1984 Records from related organizations, 1955-1982

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.

Open to all users.

Original videotapes should not be used. Researchers must request duplication of videotapes before viewing.

Request at UW

Creator's literary rights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries

Herbert M. Parker papers. Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries, Seattle, Washington.

Gift of Margaret Parker, 6/14/1984.

Partially processed in 1984 and 1991.

 Parker, Herbert M.--Archives Mancuso, Thomas F National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements Pacific Northwest Laboratory U.S. Atomic Energy Commission U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Nuclear physicists--Washington (State)--Richland--Archives Nuclear energy--Social aspects Radiation--Safety measures Correspondence Oral histories Writings Interviews Speeches, addresses, etc Physicists Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington) Science Washington (State) Nuclear Weapons and Testing Moving Images

 

Personal and Professional Papers Biographical Information

See also box 13.

 1 Resumes and Publications Lists 1949-1983 1 Clippings 1961-1979 1 Battelle Associates 1970 1 General Correspondence Concerning Parker's Retirement 1971 Outgoing Letters 1 Parker at Battelle 1965-1982 2 folders 1 H.M.P. Associates 1973-1980 1 Personal 1970-1979 Incoming Letters 3 folders Battelle Colleagues 1 Ambrose, T. W. 1976 1 Bair, W. J. 1973-1981 1 Bartlett, J. W. 1977 1 Cross, F. T. 1975 1 Foster, Richard F. 1979 1 Furquay, J. J. 1984 1 Irish, E. R. 1976 1 Liikala, R. C. 1976 1 Paul, R. S. 1978 1 Richmond, Bill 1980 1 Unruh, Carl M. 1975 1 Watts, W. A. 1979 1 Wiley, W. R. 1978-1979 Non-Battelle 1 American Association of Physicists in Medicine 1974-1980 1 American College of Radiology 1972, 1979 1 American Institute of Physics 1976 1 American Radium Society 1982 1 Boag, Jack W. 1972 1 Brennan, Dr. and Mrs. James T. 1982, 1984 1 British Nuclear Fuels, Ltd. 1973 1 California Agriculture and Services Agency, Consumer Affairs Department, Engineers Registration Board 1975 1 Dillon, R. L. 1965 1 Four Rivers Comprehensive Health Planning Council 1976 1 Fremling, Alex 1979 1 General Electric Company, Hanford Atomic Products Operation 1961, 1965 1 General Electric Company, Nuclear Energy Division 1969, 1974 1 General Motors Cancer Research Foundation 1979 1 Health Physics 1976, 1982 1 Health Physics Society 1974 1 Jackson, Henry M. 1973 1 Kentucky University Health Radiation Sciences 1981 1 Kozloff, Eugene N. 1980 1 MacLaren, James F., Ltd., Toronto 1980 1 Mark, J. Carson 1977 1 National Research Council 1949 1 Oregonians Against the Ban on Nuclear Energy 1976 1 Sullivan, William H. 1949 1 Taylor, Lauriston S. 1977 1 U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration 1976 1 U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 1981 1 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 1976-1979 1 University Hospitals of Cleveland 1976 1 Washington (State) Ecology Department 1978 1 University of Washington Arboretum 1979 1 University of Wisconson Medical Center 1966 1 World Health Organization 1972 1-2 Speeches and Writings by Parker 1938-1981 37 folders 2 Speeches and Writings by Others 1952-1982 11 folders 2 Notes undated Subject Files 3 American College of Radiology, Radiologic Aspects of Disaster Planning 1962 3 American Radium Society, Radiation Protection Symposium 1973 3 Atomic Industrial Forum 1972 3 Battelle Memorial Institute Seminar on Atmospheric Sciences 1977 3 Boaz v. Phillips Petroleum Company 1977 6 folders 3 Coolidge, William D. Award 1979 3 Electric Power Research Institute 1976-1980 2 folders 3 Environmental Guides 1970-1971 3 Hazardous Waste Disposal Site 1971-1972 3 Health Physics Conference on Environmental Nuclear Impact 1976 4 Health Physics Society 1968-1980 5 folders 4 Interaction of Radioactive Contaminants with the Constituents of the Marine Environment Symposium 1972 4 International Commissions on Radiological Protection and on Radiological Units and Measurements: Relative Biological Effectiveness Committee Report 1963 4-5 Mancuso (Thomas F.) Controversy 1971-1978 8 folders 5 U.S. Manhattan Project, Barton C. Hacker's History of 1981 5 U.S. Manhattan Project, Manhattan Engineer District 1945 5 National Academy of Engineering 1978-1982 5 Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy Conference 1964 5 Permissible Doses Conference 1949 5 Permissible Doses Tripartite Conference 1953 5 Plutonium Safety undated 5 Quaternary Seminar 1974 5 Radioactive Waste Management undated 5 San Francisco Cancer Symposium 1977 5 Short Course on Radiation Protection Standards and the Effects of Low Level Ionizing Radiation 1980 5 Stone (Robert S.) Papers undated 5 Transuranic Wastes. Publications by the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory 1977-1979 2 folders 5 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Radiation Protection 1975-1976 5 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Plutonium Toxicity 1974-1975 6 Waste Disposal Management -- Testimony before Special Subcommittee on Radiation of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy 1958 6 Waste Management in Foreign Nations 1974 6 Workshop on the Biological Effects and the Toxicity of 239-Pu and 226-Ra 1975 13 Oral Histories -- "Vignettes of Early Radiation Workers" 1977 2 folders

Includes 2 3/4 inch U-Matic videotapes, related correspondence, and miscellany.

Original videotapes should not be used. Researchers must request duplication before viewing.

 12 Ephemera and Miscellany 1971-1972 Records from Related Organizations 6 American National Standards Institute 1969-1976 3 folders

Primarily reports of the International Electrotechnical Commission.

 Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Biomedical and Environmental Sciences Advisory Committee 1974-1977 5 folders 6 A Capsule History of LASL Biomedical Research Programs and Miscellany undated 6 LASL Third Life Sciences Symposium undated 6 U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration Waste Site Evaluations undated 6 Writings undated National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements 1956-1982 35 folders 6-8 Organizational Information undated 6-8 General Correspondence undated 6-8 Meeting Notes undated 6-8 Lauriston S. Taylor's "History of Radiation Protection" undated 6-8 L. S. Taylor Lecture on Radiation Protection and Measurement, First, Given by Herbert M. Parker 1977 6-8 Scientific Committee No. 1 -- General Correspondence undated 6-8 Scientific Committees Nos. 1-73 -- Reports undated 6-8 Miscellaneous Writings and Reports undated 6-8 Testimony Before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Armed Force, Procurement and Military Nuclear Systems Subcommittee undated 6-8 Conferences and Meetings undated Radiation Management Corporation (Philadelphia) 1970-1975 3 folders 8 General Correspondence undated 8 Writings of H. M. Parker and Radiation Management Corporation undated 8 Writings by Others undated 8 U.S. Atomic Energy Commission -- Agreement with Canada 1955 8 U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Radioisotopes Licensing Review Panel 1960-1968

Letters, reports, and related articles.

 U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Reactor Safeguards Advisory Committee, Environmental Subcommittee 1972-1977 5 folders 9 General Correspondence, Minutes undated 9 Kerr-McGee/Silkwood Incident Investigation Reports undated 9 Writings and Reports undated 9 U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Reactor Safety Study Biomedical Advisory Group 1974 9 U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Transportation Panel Reports 1963-1972 9 U.S. Center For Disease Control/U.S. National Institute For Occupational Safety and Health, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Study 1978-1982 10 folders U.S. Federal Radiation Council, Uranium Mining Health Hazards Study 1966-1970 10 folders 10 General Correspondence undated 10 Statements to the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy, Research Development and Radiation Subcommittee undated 10 Related Writings, Miscellany undated 10 Reports undated 10 U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Federal Research on Biological and Health Effects of Ionizing Radiation Committee (Freir Committee) 1979-1980 2 folders 10-11 U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Radioactive Waste Management Committee 1968-1975 9 folders 11 U.S. National Plutonium Registry Advisory Committee 1968-1970 3 folders 11 U.S. National Research Council. Radioactive Waste Management Committee, Foreign Activities in Radioactive Waste Disposal Panel (ad hoc) 1971-1973 2 folders 11 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Proposed Rulemaking on the Storage and Disposal of Nuclear Waste 1980 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Three Mile Island Special Inquiry Group 1979-1980 7 folders 11 General Correspondence undated 11 Reports undated 12 U.S. Technical Electronic Product Radiation Safety Standards Committee (TEPRSSC) 1969-1972 12 U.S. Transuranium Registry Advisory Committee 1974-1972 4 folders 12 Washington (State) Social and Health Services Department, Radiation Advisory Committee 1971-1974