Dorothy Parker Papers

Dorothy Ragon Parker was born in New Jersey but lived in California for most of her life. She graduated with a BA degree in History from the University of California at Berkeley in 1969 and received a MA degree from California State University, Hayward in 1970. In 1979 she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she worked for several years as a tour guide before enrolling in the PhD program at the University of New Mexico in 1983. She received her doctorate in 1988 and her dissertation was published in 1992 as Singing an Indian Song: A Biography of D'Arcy McNickle. She then taught United States and New Mexico History at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales until retiring at the rank of associate professor in 1996. She lives in Santa Fe and teaches as an adjunct professor for the University of New Mexico, North in addition to conducting private research and writing.

Parker's research on the Phoenix Indian School was funded by the National Park Service and came about through her acquaintance with Professor Robert Trennert at Arizona State University. Trennert had published his research narrating the first fifty years of the school's history and was contacted by the National Park Service to write about the later period of the school's existence. The National Park Service was involved in the final disposition of the Phoenix Indian School property in a rather complicated real estate exchange. Trennert was by that time involved with other research, so he asked if Parker was interested in taking on this project. Some of this is information is indlucded in the Acknowledgements of her book Phoenix Indian High School: The Second Half Century.

Early in Parker's research she discovered that Glenn Lundeen and his wife were still living in Phoenix and they became interested in her project. Glenn Lundeen came to the Phoenix Indian School in 1947 as principal. In 1952 he was appointed superintendent, overseeing the entire school operation, and held that position until 1965. He and his wife participated enthusiastically in the subsequent interviews and produced artifacts and written material of considerable historical value.