Finding Aids

The C.W. Parker Amusement Company produced various amusement devices, such as shooting galleries and ferris wheels, but was best known for its carousels named "Carry-Us-Alls." When the company was founded in 1894 by C.W. Parker (1864-1932) in Abilene, Kansas, it was the only carousel manufacturer not on the east coast. This small collection of records documents the professional life of C.W. Parker, the "Amusement King" and his company. The collection comprised of textual material, including financial records, correspondence with other manufacturing vendors, and publications regarding the company's progress.

John McShain (1898-1989) was a Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.,-based building contractor, whose firm, John McShain, Inc., was by 1950 the fiftieth largest construction firm in the United States, with contracts in excess of $100,000,000. John McShain's personal and business papers document his business career, the construction industry, and his investments in hotels, car dealerships, parking garages, transit lines, and racehorses.