|
MSS 161
Parsons,
Frances M., 1923-
Collection of
Frances Margaret
Parsons,
1929-2006.
Gallaudet University Archives
Descriptive Summary
Repository:
Gallaudet University Archives
Call No.:
MSS 161
Creator: Frances M. Parsons
Title: Collection of Frances Margaret Parsons, 1935-2006.
Quantity:
13.5
Linear Feet (27 document boxes)
Abstract:
Note:
This document last updated 2006 September 7.
Acquisition
Information:
Donated by Frances M. Parsons over a period of years.
Processed by:
Sara E. Robinson, 2006 September 7.
Processing Note:
Conditions on Use
and Access:
This collection is open to the public. One box of documents is
closed to the public until 2025. Photocopies may be made for
scholarly research.
Films
-
A sense of
wonder, a sense of worth [motion picture]. Gallaudet University
Archives, Call Number: Deaf Film 17-6
-
[Teaching total
communication in Trinidad] [motion picture]. Gallaudet
University Archives, Call Number: 194-4
Manuscripts
·
Collection of Frances M. Parsons, 1939-1986.
Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: MSS 49.
Photographs
·
Photograph album of Frances Margaret Parsons. Gallaudet
University Archives, Call Number: AL 85, AL 94.
·
Frances M. Parsons. Gallaudet University Archives, Call
Number: Portraits.
Small Manuscripts
·
Papers of Frances Parsons, 1997-2004.
Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: SMSS.
Vertical Files
·
Frances M. Parsons.
Gallaudet University Archives. Call Number, Deaf Biographical.
Biographical Sketch
Frances Margaret Parsons, also known as Peggie, was born in
El Cajon, California on September 25, 1923 to Harold and Hester
Parsons. Her sole sibling is a twin sister, Hester “Polly” Parsons.
She was identified as deaf as the age of five from an unknown cause.
After attempts at oral and mainstreamed education, her parents
enrolled both girls at the California School for the Deaf in
Berkeley in 1931. The family was hit by the Great Depression and
Hester Parsons moved her daughters to Tahiti in the South Pacific.
Harold, the father, followed shortly after. They lived in Tahiti for
six years, during which Hester provided an informal education for
her children. Frances disliked writing at first but discovered a
passion for writing, particularly with adjectives, when her mother
introduced her to a local author.
The family returned to the United States in 1941 when the
U.S. declared war with Japan and the Japanese began to occupy the
Pacific in their campaign for the Sphere of Co-Prosperity. The
Parsons family embarked upon a boat and escaped to San Francisco
where both girls returned to the California School for the Deaf.
Frances graduated from CSD in 1943 and attended Gallaudet College
(now University) for two years. She withdrew in 1945 to marry
Vincent Neitzie. She focused the next two decades on raising her two
daughters, Vincette Dee and Valerie, in California. After her
divorce in 1964, she returned to Gallaudet to complete her studies,
receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History in 1967. During
those years, she began her international travels, traveling to
France, Italy, England, Ireland, and Greece to study art history,
archaeology, and sculpture.
In the fall of 1967, she taught English at the Maryland
School for the Deaf in Frederick. Within a year, she was offered a
tutoring position in the tutorial center at Gallaudet. She returned
to tutor Spanish from 1968 to 1973. After five years of tutoring,
she moved on to the Art Department where she taught Art History
until 1988. She was forced into retirement in 1988 and after a
successful court battle, returned to Gallaudet as Coordinator of
International History Collections, where she worked for five years
until her voluntary retirement in 1993.
She went abroad several times throughout the 1970s and 1980s,
touring Iran, China, Turkey, India, Australia, South Africa, western
Africa, southeast Asia, Russia, and South America. Frances is an
indefatigable traveler, having traveled to each of the seven
continents, including Antarctica in 2006 at the age of 83. Her
travels abroad were not solely for the study of art history, but
rather, to promote the total communication method. Frances believed
that total communication, rather than oralism alone, would be more
effective in providing a good education as well as solid
communication skills to deaf children. She lectured, met with
teachers and administrators, taught sign language, and used herself
as a model of an effective total communication environment. During
her travels, she became involved with the Peace Corps as a
consultant, establishing a program for deaf volunteers in the
Philippines in 1974. Her first major trip as a Total Communication
“Ambassador” was in 1976 where she embarked upon a year-long trip
taking her throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
She continued to work with the Peace Corps as a Peace Corps
Professional Participant. She received numerous honors, awards, and
accolades for her trip. Many respected Frances for braving such far
flung travels alone as a deaf woman. In 1977, Gallaudet’s Board of
Trustees honored her with a commendation for her work abroad. She
based her book, “I Didn’t Hear the Dragon Roar”, upon her travels
alone in China in 1986. Her other publications also include “Sound
of the Stars,” which she authored in 1971 based upon her life in
Tahiti. The diaries which these two books are based upon can be
found in this collection.
Frances is also a
prolific author, having written numerous articles for various
magazines such as Deaf Life, The Deaf American, The
Buff and Blue, and The Silent News. She also appeared in
a People Magazine profile about teachers.
In between her constant travels, teaching Art History, she
earned a Master’s degree from the University of Maryland in Art
History. Her thesis can be found in the Gallaudet Library
collection. After her Master’s degree, she continued to study art
history at Georgetown University, George Washington University, and
Howard University. After her retirement in 1993, her attentions and
energies were focused upon writing for various publications,
managing her Frances M. Parsons international endowment fund which
funded individuals to go abroad to teach English to the deaf, and
travels.
Scope and Content
The Frances M.
Parsons papers consist of correspondence, e-mail listservs,
journals, diaries, memorandums, term papers, grade reports, resumes,
directories of schools for the deaf, contracts, essays,
presentations, publications, news clippings, reports, minutes, and
proposals.
The collection
contains 27 boxes of documents, which includes approximately 23,000
pages of documents, and dates from 1929 to 2006. The collection is
divided into 4 series and one sub series- Personal Papers, Gallaudet
Papers, Language and Culture Papers, and Journals and a sub series
to the Gallaudet Papers, the Peace Corps sub series. The bulk of the
collection deals with Deaf education—debates, agreements and
disagreements, travels to advocate Total Communication. The Parsons
collection covers all aspects of Frances’ life from her childhood
journals to her student term papers to her faculty papers as a
professor to her correspondence within her roles with the Peace
Corps to her personal views on sign language and education pedagogy.
The majority of the papers date from the mid-1970s to the mid 1990s
while Frances was at the peak of her travels abroad and the debate
intensified over communication methods in the deaf classroom.
Series Descriptions and Folder Lists
Gallaudet Series
The Gallaudet
Series consists of 8 boxes of documents related to Frances’ service
with Gallaudet as a tutor, Assistant Professor, and Coordinator of
International History Collections. The documents in this series are
primarily administrative memorandums, correspondence between faculty
members and with students, lecture notes, student papers. This
series contains all of the news clippings, correspondence, and
reports Frances incurred as a result of her travels abroad
advocating total communication. This series also includes
depositions and attorney correspondence that concerns her forced
retirement from the art department in 1988. This series is a wealth
of information about deaf communities, deaf education, and deaf
schools abroad, especially in India, western Africa, and
southeastern Asia.
Peace Corps
Sub-Series
The Peace Corps
sub-series contains of three boxes of documents. These documents are
primarily correspondence with the Peace Corps program, deaf Peace
Corps volunteers, biographies of various deaf Peace Corps
volunteers, and contains a folder of surveys of deaf Peace Corps
volunteers and their experiences.
Journals
This series
consists of all of Frances’ journals throughout her lifetime in
three boxes. Some journals focus on specific locations she traveled
at various periods, such as South Africa in 1981 or India in 1976.
Many of her journal entries from her 1976 travel abroad were typed
and mailed out to subscribers by the Gallaudet Alumni and Public
Relations office. These journals provide insights into Frances’
various meetings, communiqués, travels, and individuals she met
during her journeys abroad. The journals from Tahiti and China,
which two books she authored were based upon, are also in this
series. Some journals are not “location” specific and cover a time
period, covering many different locales.
Language and
Culture
This is a complex
series consisting of eight boxes. This series provides an excellent
kladiescope of various debates in the deaf community- ASL versus
English, education methods, the validity of ASL as a language,
linguistics, culture and community issues. This series contains
several various list-serv e-mails. One note: the e-mails are
organized by subject line such as Bi-Bi Education or Cochlear
Implant Nurse. However, these subject lines do not convey accurately
the contents or subject of the e-mail.
For example, the
Bi-Bi education e-mail folders contain over 400 pages of e-mails and
cover topics such as Educational methodology, Cued Speech, Oralism,
Signed Exact English, American Sign Language Interpreting and
Transliteration, English Literacy, Educational Standards in
Residential Schools and Gallaudet/CSUN/NTID/RIT, Mainstreaming,
British Deaf historical Society, Publishing Business for deaf
related materials, Language Acquisition, Cultural Values, ASL Usage,
Lip-reading, Political Activism, Book Reviews of Lane et al,
American Sign Language as a language, Historical Literature, “D”eaf
Culture, Cochlear Implants, Legislation, Linguistics, Infant Hearing
Screening, Definition of hard-of-hearing, Socialization, NAD
Position Paper on Bilingual Education, Deaf as disabled or not
disabled, Speech Training, Audism, Domestic Violence, Registry of
Interpreters for the Deaf, American with Disabilities Act, King
Jordan’s Salary, Teacher Training, Terminology, Academic Degrees,
National Association of the Deaf, and Library Services for the Deaf.
Personal
This series consist
of four boxes of personal papers. These personal papers include
Frances’ autobiography, resumes, correspondence with close friends
and her relatives, numerous of holiday cards from friends all over
the world, her diplomas from Gallaudet and CSD Berkeley,
genealogical records, documents related to “Sound of the Stars”, and
the Quota club.
Parsons
|
Category |
Title |
Date |
Box |
Folder |
|
Gallaudet |
Address Lists |
1976-1986 |
01 |
01 |
|
Gallaudet |
Agendas |
1979-1983 |
01 |
02 |
|
Gallaudet |
Agreements: Termination |
n.d. |
01 |
03 |
|
Gallaudet |
Applications |
1983-1993 |
01 |
04 |
|
Gallaudet |
Articles: Communication for Hearing Handicapped People in
Argentina |
n.d. |
01 |
05 |
|
Gallaudet |
Bills
for Attorney Fees |
1989 |
01 |
06 |
|
Gallaudet |
Biography of Terry, Jose Antonio |
1929 |
01 |
07 |
|
Gallaudet |
Book
Reports: I Didn't Hear the Dragon Roar |
1989 |
01 |
08 |
|
Gallaudet |
Brochures |
1992 |
01 |
09 |
|
Gallaudet |
Brochures: Volunteer Services Organization |
1998 |
01 |
10 |
|
Gallaudet |
Catalogs: Art History |
n.d. |
01 |
11 |
|
Gallaudet |
Certificates |
1977-1991 |
01 |
12 |
|
Gallaudet |
Citations |
1967-1977 |
01 |
13 |
|
Gallaudet |
Compositions |
1944 |
01 |
14 |
|
Gallaudet |
Contract Notes: Gallaudet University Press |
n.d. |
01 |
15 |
|
Gallaudet |
Contracts |
1986-1997 |
01 |
16 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: African Students at Gallaudet |
1982 |
01 |
17 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Argentina |
1971-1988 |
01 |
18 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Auerbach, Hortense |
1976-1979 |
01 |
19 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Australia |
1977-1984 |
01 |
20 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Axelrod, Cyril |
1977-2001 |
01 |
21 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Bahamas |
1974-1990 |
01 |
22 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Beckwith, Christy |
1990-1992 |
01 |
23 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Bragg, Bernard |
1977 |
01 |
24 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Buchanan, Beverly |
1996-1998 |
01 |
25 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Buzzard, Henry |
1977 |
01 |
26 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Canada |
1974-1991 |
01 |
27 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: China |
1975-1999 |
01 |
28 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Chitwood, Donna |
1974-1990 |
01 |
29 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Coffield, Charlotte A. |
1991 |
01 |
30 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Committee D |
1987-1988 |
01 |
31 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Cragen, Eve (Tahiti) |
1989-1992 |
01 |
32 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Czechoslovakia |
1992 |
01 |
33 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Davidson, Ann |
1988 |
01 |
34 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Day, John |
1989-1993 |
01 |
35 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Denmark |
1993 |
02 |
01 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Denny, Don |
1983-1988 |
02 |
02 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Dorsen, David |
1989 |
02 |
03 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Edwards, Fern |
1975 |
02 |
04 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Endowment Fund |
1989-2003 |
02 |
05 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: England |
1975-1991 |
02 |
06 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Ethiopia |
1977-1989 |
02 |
07 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Fan Mail |
1976-1996 |
02 |
08 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Finland |
1993 |
02 |
09 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: France |
1991-1993 |
02 |
10 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Gallaudet College Alumni Association Chapters |
1978-2001 |
02 |
11 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Gallaudet Student Body Government |
1972-1987 |
02 |
12 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Gallaudet University Press |
1986-2005 |
02 |
13 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Gannon, Jack |
1974-1989 |
02 |
14 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: General |
1967-
1991 |
02 |
15 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: General cont. |
1990-2000 |
02 |
16 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Goldberg, Philip |
1971-1975 |
02 |
17 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Gulak, Vonne |
1985-1988 |
02 |
18 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Gustason, Gerilee |
1993 |
02 |
19 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Harker, Heather |
1991-1993 |
02 |
20 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Herbst, Johan (South Africa) |
1981 |
02 |
21 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Hermanson, Maria (Sweden)* |
1983-1993 |
03 |
01 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Holcomb, Roy and Mabs |
1989 |
03 |
02 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Hong Kong |
1979-1993 |
03 |
03 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: I Didn't Hear the Dragon Roar |
1989-1993 |
03 |
04 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: India |
1974-1993 |
03 |
05 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Indonesia * |
1980-1993 |
03 |
06 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Iran |
1970-1986 |
03 |
07 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Iraq |
1989-1990 |
03 |
08 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Italy |
1993 |
03 |
09 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Japan |
1985-1993 |
03 |
10 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Kenya |
1975-1978 |
03 |
11 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Knight, Jonathan |
1988 |
03 |
12 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Kurland, Jordan |
1988 |
03 |
13 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Laurent Clerc Cultural Fund |
1977-1990 |
03 |
14 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: LeBuffe, Leon |
1977-1979 |
03 |
15 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Lee, Jerry C. and Joan |
1968-1987 |
03 |
16 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Liberia |
1978 |
03 |
17 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Lincoln Middle School |
1992 |
03 |
18 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Madachy, J.L. |
1982-1985 |
03 |
19 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Malaysia |
1975-2005 |
03 |
20 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Markwith, Lou |
1985-1988 |
03 |
21 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Marshall, Marvin |
1988 |
03 |
22 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Martin, Bette |
1988 |
03 |
23 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: McKay, Melaine |
1985-1992 |
03 |
24 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Merrill, Edward C. |
1972-1981 |
03 |
25 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Mexico |
1977 |
03 |
26 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Morris, Amy |
1992-1993 |
03 |
27 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Nepal |
1987 |
03 |
28 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Netherlands |
1977-1997 |
03 |
29 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: New Zealand |
1990-1992 |
03 |
30 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Nigeria |
1977-1992 |
04 |
01 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Peters, Cynthia and Graham |
1984-1987 |
04 |
02 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Philippines |
1974-2005 |
04 |
03 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Public Speaking Engagements |
1975-1994 |
04 |
04 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Puerto Rico |
1977 |
04 |
05 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Pugin, Mary Anne |
1979-1990 |
04 |
06 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Read, Glenn |
1984-1985 |
04 |
07 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Rotary Club |
1985-1990 |
04 |
08 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Russia |
1985-2004 |
04 |
09 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: S.A.I.D. |
1974-1998 |
04 |
10 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Savanick, Eli |
1978-1984 |
04 |
11 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Schools for the Deaf |
1974-2000 |
04 |
12 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Seychelles |
1978 |
04 |
13 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Sierra Leone |
1978 |
04 |
14 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Singapore |
1976-1996 |
04 |
15 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Sonnenstrahl, Deborah |
1983-1988 |
04 |
16 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: South Africa |
1981-1988 |
04 |
17 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Sri Lanka |
1976-1991 |
04 |
18 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Students |
1975-1993 |
04 |
19 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Swaziland |
1977-1979 |
04 |
20 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Sweden |
1993-1994 |
04 |
21 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Thailand |
1974-2005 |
04 |
22 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Tower Clock |
1990 |
05 |
01 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Travel Agents |
1993 |
05 |
02 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Trinidad and Tobago |
1975-1985 |
05 |
03 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Uganda |
1975 |
05 |
04 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Washington Lawyer's Committee For Civil Rights
Under Law |
1987 |
05 |
05 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Weiner, Fred |
1987 |
05 |
06 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: White House |
1975-1991 |
05 |
07 |
|
Gallaudet |
Correspondence: Zimmerman, Lawrence |
1988-1989 |
05 |
08 |
|
Gallaudet |
Curriculum: College for the Deaf, Philippines |
n.d. |
05 |
09 |
|
Gallaudet |
Depositions |
1989 |
05 |
10 |
|
Gallaudet |
Directory of International Schools and Organizations for the
Deaf |
1987 |
05 |
| |