Ian Parker Collection Relating to East African Wildlife Conservation

The Parker Collection documents wildlife management and conservation in East Africa, particularly in Kenya, over more than fifty years. Although materials in the collection date from 1896 to 2012, the bulk of the collection spans 1956-2004 and covers Parker's service as a Game Warden in Kenya, his activities with Wildlife Services Ltd., work as an independent consultant, and his research and activities with the ivory trade.

The collection is arranged in multiple file series or groups:

Some subjects such as ivory, elephants, poaching, and Kenya, are pervasive throughout the entire collection. Whenever files were clearly labeled and/or grouped in these categories by Parker, the files were maintained in this arrangement. Many files throughout the collection include handwritten or typewritten notes by Parker explaining the context for the materials and the historical importance of specific documents.

The first five file groups pertain to the ivory trade and elephants. These materials include research data, correspondence, government publications and legislation, and numerous reports created by Parker. In addition to reports completed for the 1979 World Ivory Trade Study and the Second World Ivory Trade Study, there is the "Black Report" that he produced for Botswana in 1971, the "White Report" produced in 1973, and the Ebur (Latin for ivory) Report from 1974-1975. The files identified by Parker as "Eburiana" include materials Parker gathered on the ivory and horn trade, poaching, corruption, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and Operation Lock, a covert operation conducted in South Africa by a private military firm, KAS Enterprises. The culmination of these investigations was a presentation before the 1996 Commission of Inquiry into the Alleged Smuggling of and Illegal Trade in Ivory and Rhinoceros in South Africa (one of President Mandela's government's Truth Commissions). The Elephant Data files consist of biological field data compiled during culling operations intended to mitigate elephant overpopulation from 1965-1969 at environmentally stressed sites in several East African countries.

The Rodney Elliott files were bequeathed to Parker after Elliott's death in 2005. Elliott was a retired British military officer who served both as a game warden and a national park warden in Kenya (the national parks and the Game Department were separate organizations before 1976), as manager of the private Solio Wildlife Sanctuary, and briefly as a Superintendent in the Kenya Police responsible for investigating corruption of the game wardens and government agencies. The files span much of his career, with the bulk covering his investigations of corruption, his management of the Solio Sanctuary, and his fervent anti-poaching activities. The files also include correspondence with wildlife conservationists George and Joy Adamson. George was a Senior Game Warden in northern Kenya and Joy authored the best selling book Born Free.

The Kenya and Uganda files include reports, laws, regulations and correspondence pertaining to those countries. Several files document the work of Parker and Wildlife Services Ltd. completed in and for those countries. Many of the Kenya files are related to the Kenya Wildlife Service, wildlife conservation and management legislation, poaching, game wardens, the Kenya Game Department, and the Galana Game Management Scheme (1960-1964). Similarly, the Shashe Silk files cover Parker's involvement in an attempt to develop a silk industry in Botswana. The majority of these files pertain to research into the production of Gonometa silk as a major export product.

The Correspondence and Subject Files represent those materials that were not grouped into any of the preceding file series. It should be noted, however, that there is a great deal of overlap between these files and materials found in other groups within the collection. For example, there are Subject Files that pertain to Kenya and the ivory trade. Correspondents include Peter Jenkins, Richard H.V. Bell, R.M. Laws, Graeme Caughley, A.D. Graham, and various organizations and firms including Botswana Game Industries (BGI) and Tombooth Ltd. Many of the subject files relate to consultancy work completed by Parker and Wildlife Services Ltd., including reports, surveys, and research data. In addition to elephants and rhinos, these files include materials pertaining to game birds, gazelles, tropical fish, frogs, crocodiles, hippopotamuses, and other wildlife. Several of the files pertain to countries such as The Gambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Somalia, Tanzania, etc., as well as to non-African locales including the United States, Europe, and Hong Kong.

The remaining file groups are primarily based on physical format: Photographs and Audiovisual, Maps and Oversize Materials, Reprints, and Miscellaneous Publications. Many of the photos, films, maps, and oversize materials had been stored with papers throughout the collection, but have been separated from their original files or boxes in order to preserve them. Of particular interest among these files are aerial photos used to count wildlife (e.g., elephant and rhino herds), films pertaining to a BBC production on elephants, and a large-scale map documenting hippos along the Nile for 50 miles above Murchison Falls.