ANDREA SHIVERDECKER, COOPER PFALZ
Reliving the Parker Academy: One Photo at a Time
The perception and methodology of recording history changed dramatically with the advent of photography. Throughout the 19th century, the rapid development and improvement of photography gave people a new way to experience and record history as it unfolded. With Gettysburg, the first battle to be photographed, the invention of photography had a monumental impact on public perception that few appreciate. The Parker Academy archives chronicle the developing use of photography, its technological progression, and grants historians the unique opportunity to interpret first-hand accounts pertaining to the extraordinary occurrence that was, possibly, the first integrated school, located in New Richmond, Ohio.

CHELSEA HAUSER
A Study of Charles W. Currier Through the Parker Academy Archives
Charles W. Currier married Fannie Parker, descendant of the Parker Academy founders of New Richmond, Ohio. Parker
Academy was founded as a multi-racial and multi-gender school prior to the Civil War. Currier entered the Civil War with an Union unit from Massachusetts. During the middle of the war, he was promoted to Lieutenant of Company “G” 12th Kentucky United States Colored Heavy Artillery. Follow Currier’s movements around Kentucky as he leads his men. Witness the Court Marshall and acquittal of Currier. After the war was over, Currier answered the call to become an ordained minister.

LIZA VANCE
The Science of the Parker Academy Archives
Historical documents are not usually thought of as scientific. However, the information that is contained within becomes the data that defines an archival collection which will be used to organize an understanding of past events. The science of archives uses the raw data for further scientific activities such
as cataloging, authenticating, preserving, and storing. This
poster will explain how archival science will be used to organize and conserve the documents from the 1839 Parker Academy; an integrated school which allowed any gender or race. Archival science will preserve these historical documents so that they can be used in future research.

SAGE BOYERS, ALEXANDRA WEBER
An Account of a Woman in the Abolitionist Movement: NSF
REU The ParkerAcademy Project
Established in 1839, the Parker Academy located
in New Richmond, Ohio was one of the first fully integrated
schools in America. Founders Daniel and Priscilla Parker, staunch abolitionists, set out to create an environment conducive to learning for all, regardless of race, gender, or age. A National Science Foundation grant enabled the investigation of the archival record from the Parker Academy and affiliates, creating an understanding of the creation and impact of the academy. Priscilla, the driving force behind the creation of the academy, gives proof of the power a woman can hold as an influential abolitionist and educator.

LYNDSEY MCNABB and DELANEY GILLIAM
Uncovering the Women of the Parker Academy


The Parker Academy in New Richmond, Ohio was founded in 1839. The school was an open home to many children who were given opportunities that they would not have had otherwise. Parker was an institute that taught many children who came from different backgrounds, regardless of race or gender. The children were all taught in the same rooms and all had the same opportunities. With the murmurings of women’s rights, this gave the girls educated at the Academy a voice. It taught them that they too have rights to educate and to create a difference in society. With the fact that the Academy itself has almost been forgotten, so have the women who so wanted to express themselves. Through the written records of the historical archives their voices and ideas have been revitalized. Historical Archiving and detailed analysis of the students history at the academy show that even before the confirmed start date of women’s suffrage that women were already beginning to realize that they too matter. Because of their positions in society, they would then go on to be influential part of the abolitionist and the suffrage movement.