The W. Dale Parker Papers are arranged in the following series:

Series I. Biographical and Personal Papers, 1940-2006. This series contains materials documenting Parker's personal life. The series includes biographical source items, such as newspaper clippings, listings, and an oral history. The series also includes such items as personal correspondence, personnel records, appointment calendars, legal and financial records, and certificates and awards. Arranged by material type.

Series II. Name and Subject Files, 1922-2006. Included in this series are files devoted to the various subjects in which Parker was interested, including many civic efforts in which he was personally involved, businesses for which he worked, and organizations in which he maintained a membership. Also included are name files for people he knew or with whom he exchanged correspondence. These files include correspondence, printed materials, and ephemera. The series includes files devoted to Parker's immediate family, with the exception of Jackie Parker, whose papers may be found in a separate series. Also not included here are politicians or persons affiliated with the space program, files for whom may be found in other series. Also among the files are collections of postcards addressed to the families of George W. Dutcher of Wilmington, Delaware; and Holiday Hoopes, of Landenberg, Pennsylvania. Parker's relationship--if any--to these families is unknown. This series is arranged alphabetically by name or topic.

Series III. Writings and Speeches, 1952-2005. This series holds the writings of Dale Parker, including several self-published books, newspaper columns and letters to the editor, newsletters, and unpublished essays on a variety of topics. Also included are drafts of speeches as well as recordings of speeches and radio appearances. Arranged by type, then alphabetically.

Series IV. Jacquelyn S. Parker Papers, 1967-2006. This series contains materials relating to Jacquelyn S. "Jackie" Parker, the first female graduate of the U. S. Air Force Test Pilot School. Contained in this series are biographical materials, personal correspondence, printed materials, and scrapbooks, including materials relating to the controversy surrounding her eventual retirement from military service. Arranged by material type.

Series V. Space Program, 1962-2006. This small series includes a handful of Project Gemini records generated during Parker's time at NASA. Also included is an oral history in which Parker discusses his time at NASA. The majority of the series consists of space program printed material, memorabilia, and ephemera. (Of particular interest among these, perhaps, is an autographed photo of astronaut Alan Bean.) The personal correspondence includes letters from Carl Sagan; astronaut Deke Slayton; and Martha Chaffee, widow of astronaut Roger Chaffee. The remainder of the series consists of materials relating to the Dale Parker Space Collection, now housed at the Boeing Museum of Flight. Arranged loosely by subject matter.

Series VI. Politics and Politicians, 1956-2006. This series contains both subject and name files relating to Parker's interest in politics. The majority of the series consists of files devoted to local, state, and federal elected officials. Many of these consist of nothing more than memorabilia, printed material, and form-printed letters, but a number of files--such as the Joe Biden folder--contain pieces of personal correspondence or other materials that establish a personal relationship between Parker and the subject. Some folders include correspondence from politicians' family members, advisors, and office staff; in other cases, these materials have been moved into separate folders under the individual names. (Personal correspondence of Rose Mary Woods, personal secretary of President Nixon, for example, is found within her own folder, not that of Nixon.) The collection also contains folders relating to Parker's Florida gubernatorial campaign and the Democratic and Republican parties. Completing the series is a small collection of political memorabilia. Names in this series are arranged alphabetically, followed by general political materials.

Series VII. Business Enterprises, 1945-2005. Parker's many attempts at entrepreneurship are chronicled in this series. Included are business plans, correspondence, and prototypes. Noteworthy within the series are the Amy Carter Peanut Doll, Pictorial Gravesite Creations, and the Space Exploration and Technology Trivia Game.

Series VIII. Pen Pals, 1993-2005. In 1993, Parker began correponding with a number of people living in former Soviet states. This series contains the letters written to Parker by his many pen pals. While some correspondents are represented by only a single letter, a few of the folders contain dozens of letters spanning several years. Many of the letters describe political, economic, and social conditions in the former Soviet states just after the Soviet Union's collapse. Predominant within the correspondence are letters from Belarus, though the series also contains letters from other countries. While most of the letters are written in English, some are written in Cyrrilic. Arranged alphabetically by correspondent name.

Series IX. Artifacts and Mementos, 1943-2005. Included within this eclectic assortment are fragments from a mastodon tusk, the floor of the Acropolis, and the Berlin Wall. The series also includes such disparate items as a racetrack slide rule handicapper; gag calling cards; a book of devotionals distributed to military personnel during World War II; autographed photos of Kaye Grable, Edie Adams, and Bill O'Reilly; and a William & Mary letter sweater.

Series X. Photographs, 1910-1998. This series contains Parker's personal photos of himself and friends, both in snapshots and studio portraits. Included among the photos are a number that were taken the night before the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter and include Amy Carter and Carter family staff and friends. The series is not arranged in any particular order. Loose photos have not been arranged in any particular order; photo albums have been disassembled but retain their original order and the albums arranged in chronological order.

Series XI. Scrapbooks, 1918-2004. An ardent scrapbooker, Parker documented his entire life in this medium, and in many ways the scrapbook series forms the crux of the collection. The scrapbooks chronicle all aspects of Parker's life through photographs, newspaper clippings and other printed material, correspondence, memorabilia, and ephemera. (A number of items in other series within the collection had obviously once been in scrapbooks that Parker seems to have later disassembled.) The series is arranged chronologically.