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titleMaynard L. Parker negatives, photographs, and other material
repositoryThe Huntington Library
descriptionMaynard L. Parker negatives, photographs, and other material consists of 57,892 black-and-white negatives, color transparencies, black-and-white prints, and color prints; 39 presentation albums; and 17 boxes of office records, 1930-1974. Created primarily by Maynard Parker, the archive documents the residential and non-residential work of architects, interior designers, landscape architects, artists, builders, real estate developers, and clients associated with these fields, foremost among them the magazine House Beautiful. Also included in the collection are photographs taken by other individuals, such as architect Cliff May and Parker's assistant, Charles Yerkes.

Background
Maynard L. Parker (1901-1976), known to friends and family as "Mike," was born and raised in Vermont. Parker worked in the Boston, Massachusetts region at a variety of jobs, including office boy, machinist, and gardener, before turning to photography as a profession. Parker traveled to California three times in the 1920s, finally settling in Los Angeles in 1929. He and his wife, Annie, lived in the Echo Park neighborhood, where Parker built a house at 2230 Lemoyne Street designed by a draftsman in architect Richard Neutra's office.

The New England saltbox-style house served as residence and studio, as well as the backdrop for many of Parker's published photographs. Parker's personal interests included home renovation, self-improvement, archery (he appeared as an extra in the 1938 film The Adventures of Robin Hood), and building furniture. He was also, according to his daughter, a "frugal New Englander," health conscious, a consummate storyteller, an avid hiker, and a gardener [See photocopies of Maynard and Annie Parker's journals, and interview transcript with Ann Carawan and Diane Parker, February 14, 2008, in collection files].

Collection Number:
photCL MLP

Preferred Citation
photCL MLP, Maynard L. Parker negatives, photographs, and other material.

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extent230 boxes, 159.38 linear feet
formatsPhotographs Prints Negatives Photograph Album Ephemera
accessAccess is granted to qualified researchers and by appointment. Publication Rights Copyright for the photography of Maynard L. Parker has been assigned to the Huntington Library, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108. All requests for permission to publish photographs in any and all formats must be submitted in writing to the Curator of Photographs.
record sourcehttp://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=3970
finding aidIn repository and online at: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt6k4034m6
acquisition informationGift of Ann Carawan, Elizabeth Buxton, and Diane Parker Carawan, 1995; Ann Carawan, 2000.
updated03/16/2023 10:30:02
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