Guide to the Edwin B. Parker telecommunications papers
1969-1980
Collection number: HMC-1432.
Creator: Parker, Edwin B.
Title: Edwin B. Parker telecommunications papers.
Dates: 1969-1980.
Volume of collection: 1.0 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Collection materials are in English.
Collection summary: Papers of a telecommunications consultant who supported providing telephone services to rural Alaska.
Biographical note:
Edwin B. Parker was a professor of communication at Stanford University and served as a principal investigator for experimental satellite projects in the 1970s. He worked as a consultant to Governors William Egan and Jay Hammond and Senator Ted Stevens in serving Alaska’s telecommunications needs. Notably, his research with new technology and advice on the RCA Alascom’s Task Force demonstrated to the Federal Communications Commission that RCA (the primary telecommunications company in Alaska at that time) could and needed to expand their services to rural Alaska.
Collection description:
This collection contains Parker’s correspondence with RCA Task Force members, the Governor’s Office, and other telecommunications experts. It also includes unpublished reports regarding satellite testing to Alaska, meeting notes, and drafts of the RCA’s applications to the FCC for licensing. The materials cover a time from 1969-1980.
Arrangement: This collection is in the original order in which it arrived at the Archives. Folder descriptions in this guide were provided by the creator unless in brackets.
Digitized copies: This collection has not been digitized. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.
Rights note: Edwin B. Parker retains copyright to materials in this collection he created during his lifetime. The Archives has reproduction authorization.
Preferred citation: Edwin B. Parker telecommunications papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Acquisition note: This collection was donated and a deed of gift was signed in 2015.
Processing information: This collection was described by Becky Butler in 2023.
Container list:
| Box/Folder | Description | Dates |
| 1/1 | Alaska satellite: Point Reyes tests Feb. 1974 [contains magnetic computer cards] | 1973-1974 |
| 1/2 | RCA – Alaska Task Force (notes) | 1974 |
| 1/3 | Alaska 1980 [meeting notes and reports] | 1980 |
| 1/4 | RCA [Alaska Communications] FCC application 1969 | 1969 |
| 1/5 | Walp correspondence | 1975-1976 |
| 1/6 | Nov 1974 Alaska [political correspondence] | 1974 |
| 1/7 | Alaska project [chronological correspondence and proposal summaries] | 1969-1975 |
| 1/8 | Alaska: Opportunities for Improved Telecommunications – Parker & Lusignan Feb 1974/Re: Pt. Reyes Demo | 1974-1975 |
| 1/9 | Alaska satellite: correspondence 1974 | 1972-1974 |
| 1/10 | Alaska June 1974 [reports and correspondence] | 1974 June |
| 1/11 | Alaska news clipings | 1974 |
| 1/12 | Oct 74 Alaska files [correspondence and resports] | 1974 October |
| 1/13 | May 1974 Alaska correspondence | 1974 May |
| 1/14 | Alaska Aug. and Sept. 1974 correspondence | 1974 August-September |
| 1/15 | Alaska [July] 74 [correspondence] | 1974 July |
| 1/16 | Telemedicine in Alaska [reports] | 1973-1974 |
| 1/17 | RCA Task Force: Parker notes | 1974, undated |
| 1/18 | Alaska: Governor’s office 1974 [correspondence] | 1974-1975 |
| 1/19 | Alaska: FCC [proposals and comments] | 1976 |
| 1/20 | March 1974 Alaska correspondence | 1974 March |
| 1/21 | April 1974 Alaska correspondence | 1974 April |
| 1/22 | Alaska – Governor’s office- The potential of satellite communication in Alaska E. B. Parker, April 1975 | 1975 April |
| 1/23 | Alaska – RCA Task Force on Satellites | 1975-1976 |
| 1/24 | Alaska – RCA correspondence 1976 | 1976 |
| 1/25 | Q1 1975 Alaska [task force correspondence and reports] | 1975 |
| 1/26 | Alaska Q 1975 [task force correspondence and reports] | 1975 |
| 1/27 | Alaska April-May 1975 [correspondence] | 1975 April-May |
| 1/28 | RCA [Memos on FCC applications] | 1975 December |
| 1/29 | Alaska [RCA correspondence] | 1975 |
| 1/30 | July and Aug. and Sept. 1975 Alaska [correspondence] | 1975 July-September |
| 1/31 | Alaska 1976 [correspondence and notes] | 1976 |
| 1/32 | [Application for Stanford radio station] | 1974 |
| 1/33 | Alaska Satellite: photographs | undated |
| 1/34 | Alaska RCA Report – Comments by Alaskan governor’s office | 1974 October |
| 1/35 | Special article: Medical communication in Alaska by satellite by Heather E. Hudson and Edwin B. Parker | 1973 |
| 1/36 | Alaska Governor’s office 1976 [report] | 1976 |
| 1/37 | Alaska: Ragsdale 1976 report [and notes] | 1976 |
| 1/38 | Alaska 1976 [correspondence] | 1976 |