Richard Parsons taught history and English for thirty years in public schools before joining the staff of the Institute for Learning Technologies at Columbia University. There he worked with others to digitize resources held by the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and the Library of Congress, among others, to make them available to scholars and educators. Later, as a member of the Center for Technology and School Change at Columbia University Teachers College, he worked with pre-service and in-service teachers to bring more effective uses of technology into the public school classroom. Today, he resides on the coast in southern Maine, where he gazes across the bay at the Wood Island Lighthouse nearly every day. He has joined with others who have devoted their energies to the restoration of America's historic treasures and serves as historian and member of the executive board of the Friends of the Wood Island Lighthouse. He lives in Saco with his wife, Shari Robinson, and his dog, Donner.