Scope and Content Note
The papers of Alton Brooks Parker (1852-1926) span the years 1878-1937, with the bulk of the material from 1904 to 1926. The collection consists of correspondence, speeches, scrapbooks, clippings, printed matter, photographs, invitations, legal opinions, financial records, and autobiographical and biographical material. The papers are organized into seven series: General Correspondence, Speech File, Autobiographical and Biographical File, Miscellany, Scrapbooks, Clippings, and Printed Matter.
The principal subjects are the presidential election of 1904 in which Parker ran as the candidate of the Democratic Party and his work from 1920 to 1926 with legal, civic, and philanthropic organizations. Material relating to the 1904 election is chiefly in the Scrapbooks and Speech File series. The General Correspondence series includes New York state and county Democratic committee correspondence for 1904.
General Correspondence between 1919 and 1926 features Parker's committee work, organizational connections, and family matters. He was an active member of the Sulgrave Institution of the United States and of the British Commonwealth, National Civic Federation, New York State Bar Association, American Bar Association, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Inc., Lawyers' Club (New York, N.Y.), English Speaking Union of the United States, Board of Trustees of the Albany Law School, Charity Organization Society of the City of New York Committee on Criminal Courts, Committee for Armenian Independence, and National Council of Religion in Higher Education.
Correspondents include Josephus Daniels, Ralph M. Easly, Rufus Wheeler Peckham, and William H. Taft.