Presidential Signatures and Ephemera Collection of Parker and Joane Miller : A Collection Guide

Joane Miller, a resident of Redington Beach and widow of Parker E. Miller, donated the materials in this collection in two separate accessions. In early 1999, the library received a single bound notebook with individual documents signed by the first thirty-two Presidents of the United States (George Washington through Harry S. Truman). A subsequent accession in August 2000 included a collection of commemorative coins from the Franklin Mint that celebrates notable events in American history. Parker Everard Miller’s family maintained homes in Ohio and Florida. During the 1920s, members of the family often spent their winter months in St. Petersburg. By 1930, they had moved into a large home in the Jungle Shores subdivision along the waterfront side of Park Street, about ½ mile north of H. Walter Fuller’s Jungle Country Club Hotel (now Admiral Farragut Academy). Parker’s mother, Mrs. Helen Miller, had started to collect presidential signatures during the mid-1920s and continued to acquire documents that were placed in this scrapbook as her son completed his studies at the Florida Military Academy and Clemson University. Parker served in the military during the Second World War. He received two purple hearts for wounds acquired during the Battle of the Bulge. Parker married Joane in the early 1950s and he took possession of his mother’s scrapbook and maintained it as a family heirloom. With his interests in numismatics and American history, he began to collect commemorative coins. Parker Miller passed away on 30 March 1997