A. A. Parker papers, 1909-1917

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Summary

Creator:
Parker, A. A. (Alfred A.), 1873, Attwell, Ernest T., 1877-1949, and Parker, Fannie L., 1874-
Abstract:
A. A. (Alfred A.) Parker was a Black stock sales agent for the National Negro Life Insurance Company, a Tuskegee-based firm founded by president Ernest T. Attwell and vice president Booker T. Washington, Jr., in 1916. Collection comprises nine letters to A. A. Parker, plus three blank subscription forms with receipts for insurance stock.
Extent:
0.1 Linear Feet (12 items)
Language:
Materials in English.
Collection ID:
RL.12023

Background

Scope and content:

Collection comprises nine letters to A. A. Parker, plus three blank subscription forms with receipts for insurance stock. There are two typed letters on company stationary from Ernest Attwell, one informing Parker that Attwell has made application to the state's insurance department regarding Parker's "certificate to solicit stock subscriptions." (1916 July tenth) In the second letter, Attwell instructs Parker to collect money from two named individuals for their stock. There is an additional letter regarding the purpose of the company, but written on letterhead for the National Fiscal Company, a related company also based at Tuskegee. A final letter is unrelated to the life insurance company; it concerns the mortgage for a store property on Minter Avenue in Selma.

In addition to the correspondence regarding the company, there are five handwritten letters to Parker from his wife, most written while he was in Akron, Ohio, between 1916-1917, although one letter dates as early as 1909. She mainly writes regarding her financial struggles while he is away, "... you ought to remember that I can't pay bills & give your children something to eat with out money. A notice came the other day stating that if the taxes were not paid by the 14 of May that the property would be advertised for sale. I went up to pay it Friday and I did not have enough money." (1917 May 17) In her other letters, Fannie writes about her illnesses, the children, and her other activities, including sewing and visits to others. In her final letter, she rejects Parker's conflicting requests for the family to join him in Ohio, and writes of her unfulfilled expectations for her marriage, and her unhappiness and loneliness resulting from Parker's life on the road, adding that he should stay away until "you can resine your self to being a real husband and real father. You know you do not love home." (1917 June 1)

Biographical / historical:

Alfred A. Parker was a Black stock sales agent for the National Negro Life Insurance Company, a Tuskegee-based firm founded by president Ernest T. Attwell and vice president Booker T. Washington, Jr., in 1916. His family, including his wife, Fannie L. Parker, Albert A. Parker, Jr., and at least one other child, resided in Selma, Alabama, at 520 Minter Avenue.

Acquisition information:
The A. A. Parker papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a purchase in 2022.
Processing information:

Processed by Alice L. Poffinberger, June, 2022

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2022-0066

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

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Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the Rubenstein Library's Citations, Permissions, and Copyright guide.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], A. A. Parker papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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