The Robert Thomas Parsons Collection contains both a complete copy and a partial copy of Parsons' Ph.D. dissertation from the Kennedy School of Missions of the Hartford Seminary Foundation. The first folder contains biographical data and a photograph of Parsons from a collection of his papers at Hartford Theological Seminary. A complete manuscript of the thesis, titled "The Function of Religion in an African Society", is collected in two volumes. A partial collection of the thesis containing sections III, IV, V, VI, and VII is collected in two volumes and marked with a logo from the Department of World Missions of the Evangelical United Brethren Church.