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\/ ISTIRHAL MEMORANDUM March 1, 1954 Interview with Parker B. Willis, Boston Concerning Papers of his Father, H. Parker Willis Like eveiybody else we have consulted, Mr. Parker Willis1 s knowledge of his fatherfs editorials is vague • The son Parker has no recollection of them and si^ggests merely that they might be taken from the Public Library file of The Journal of Commerce for the period when Mr. ¥illis was working there. As to the papers, he says thqy are in two lots. Things up to 1920 came out of the house in Washington, were boxed, and put down in the cellar of 4he-Staten Island House. There are four or five boxes of these* Papers since 1920 are in the attic. They include drafts, hearings, correspondence, and so forth. This is by no means a rounded collection and Mr. ¥illis is rather dotibtful as to how much of value is still there. However, he finally said that if Mr. Sproul could arrange to have Mr. ¥illis go down to Staten Island for a couple of weeks he would go over the papers accumulated there. This would have to be on the understandiiig that the research might reveal nothing of value. I think that if the bulk of the material is as represented it would take more than two weeks to go through it. I am also wondering whether it might not be better to have some other person work with Mr. ¥illis om this. His own point of view and that of his father's can hardly be called detached, and there might be material there of interest to us which he would not regard as valuable. However, the important thing is that we are beginning to bresk throtgh the barrier on these problems and some way can surely be found to get at them. Mr. ¥illis said that the check collection material in his fatherfs papers had been pretty well worked over. He also said that his - 2 father wrote at one time for the Agence Econon&Q'ue but that he did not know of aqy Testige of this material remaining. He also mentioned that he himself had written a history of the San Francisco Batik* that a man named Blaser had written a history of the Cleveland Bank; and Griswold on the history of the Chicago Bank.
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