The Colonel Parker archive
These artifacts tell the story of a man who shaped popular music history. Each piece in this curated selection reveals something essential about Colonel Tom Parker's vision, ambition, and the empire he built.
Why this archive exists
Greg McDonald & the Collection
Colonel Tom Parker was a mentor and father figure to Greg McDonald, who worked closely with him for many years as a protégé. During that relationship, Colonel Parker personally gave Greg documents, correspondence, and materials from his working life. Greg retained and maintained these materials as part of his own long-held professional collection, assembled over decades through direct acquisition and personal involvement.
Greg McDonald passed away in 2024. The collection he assembled continues to be preserved by his family and presented as part of this project, reflecting the care, continuity, and context in which it was formed.
Loanne Parker & Additional Personal Materials
Loanne Parker was Colonel Tom Parker’s second wife and remained closely connected to those who had worked with him throughout his life and career.
During her lifetime, Loanne Parker collaborated directly with Greg McDonald and his family and personally arranged for additional personal effects and items the Colonel had kept privately to be added to their existing collection. These materials were shared intentionally and affirmatively, expanding the collection and allowing related artifacts to remain together and in context.
These personal materials include items from the Colonel’s private life and daily routine — such as clothing, jewelry, accessories, handwritten notes, personal correspondence, and objects kept in his Las Vegas home. Together with earlier materials, they help illuminate the man behind the public persona and provide context rarely seen in traditional exhibits.
A definitive historical archive
Colonel Tom Parker’s story has been told many ways, but rarely through primary materials preserved over time. This museum was created to allow artifacts, records, and personal effects to speak for themselves — contracts, letters, photographs, and working materials that reveal how one man helped shape one of the most influential careers in popular culture.
The archival collection presented here reflects continuity, care, and long-term preservation, not reconstruction after the fact.
To protect the integrity of these historical materials, certain items may be restricted, watermarked, or displayed in reduced resolution. These measures ensure responsible access while safeguarding the collection for future research, scholarship, and exhibition.
The archive comes alive in three dimensions
These Virtual rooms hold what paper alone cannot convey. Contracts, Personal items, letters written in his own hand—each artifact sits in space as it might have in his office, his home, his world.
The Colonel's office
Personal correspondence and records
Photographs and ephemera
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