Parker, Cornelia Stratton, 1885-

Cornelia Stratton Parker (1885– ) was an American writer and social observer. Public information about her life is limited: it is currently confirmed that she was born in 1885, and two of her works are held in this collection. Her writing focuses on social documentary and observations of everyday life. Her representative work, Working With the Working Woman, turns its attention to women laborers, recording their working conditions and daily circumstances and showing concern for the lives of ordinary workers; her other work, An American Idyll, offers a personal and period-flavored account of life and its times. Parker's prose is plain and approachable, emphasizing firsthand experience and observation and approaching social issues through concrete scenes. Her work preserves a valuable perspective on the lives of women workers in early industrial society and remains of historical and reading value today.