The collection is open and available to the public. Advance notice is requested.
Consult with the archivist for copyright to materials in this collection.
Marion Alice Parker collection (N 130), Northwest Architectural Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.
Marion Alice Parker, born in Massachestts and educated in New Hamphire (?), moved to Minneapolis and became the first full-time permanent drafter hired by the architectural firm of Purcell and Feick in 1908. After a decade of work with the firm she became a successful independent architect in Minneapolis, designing residences, a sorority, and other structures and is credited with at least one residence in Fort Collins, CO. She owned and operated "The Home-Spun Shop" in Laguna Beach, CA. for many years and died there in 1935.
Some time in the late 1930s William Gray Purcell wrote of her: "After she left us she set up business in Minneapolis as a 'lady architect' and did pretty well for a number of years... she made a real effort to discount her lone life, and except on certain to-be-forgotten occasions, over which [Fred] Strauel and I have shaken some heads, she was a pleasant enough companion."
Collections contains blueprints and a pencil sketch of details for a residence and alterations for another structure.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the University of Minnesota Libraries. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
The following section contains a detailed list of the materials in the collection.
Proposed alterations
18-20 Eighth Street South
Architect: Marion Alice Parker
Minneapolis, MN
blueprints
Residence, alterations
Marion Alice Parker, architect; Purcell & Elmslie, consultants
Fergus Falls, MN
blueprints; photostat; pencil & colored pencil on paper