Joyce Parker World War II Personal History

Collection — Folder: 1

Identifier: 2024-01-19

The Joyce Parker World War II Personal History is a small collection consisting of an autobiographical narrative by Joyce Parker who worked as a "Rosie the Riveter" at the Boeing Company during World War II as well as two photographic portraits.

The story, which is four handwritten pages in a spiral-bound notebook, explains how teenage girls and women were recruited to work toward the war effort. Parker initially worked as a messenger for the Office of Civilian Defense. Then, she was hired as a bucker for the Boeing Company. As Tacoma, Washington resident, she and others were bussed to the company's plants in the Seattle area. After graduating from high school she was able to become a riveter. Parker worked on "5 Grand," the 5000th B-17 built by Boeing, and signed her name inside the plane. Parker initially wrote her personal history in response to a call for stories to be featured at the Rosie the Riverter World War II Home Front National Historical Park in 2005. A photocopy of a typed copy of the story is also present.

Two small (2x3.25-inch) black-and-white portraits of Parker from the 1940s are also present in the collection.

Dates

circa 1940s, 2005

Creator

Parker, Joyce Helen, 1926-2023 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research and is accessible in the Dahlberg Research Center by appointment. For more information contact us.

Conditions Governing Use

The Museum of Flight (TMOF) Archives is the owner of the physical materials in the archives and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from TMOF archives before any publication use. TMOF does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners. Consult repository for more details.