A Brief History of the Junior Ranger Program

UPDATED JULY 3, 2012

Note: please consider this a draft as I hope this story will continue to evolve in the coming months. 

Example of a Junior Ranger badge from the
Ranger Archivist's personal collection.

Can you remember the first time you heard about the Junior Ranger program?  Although it’s one of the most beloved traditions in the National Park Service, Junior Rangers has been part of American culture for so many years it’s hard for most of us to remember when it first appeared.   

Many historians consider the Yosemite Junior Nature School as the forerunner of today’s Junior Ranger program.  The Junior Nature School was started in June 1930 by Park Naturalist Charles A. Harwell, and by the summer of 1937 included such activities as “field instruction, observation and nature games…four auto caravans, one Indian demonstration, and a treasure hunt and picnic” (Yosemite Nature Notes, volume XVI, number 6, June 1937, 41).   

Becoming a Junior Naturalist in Yosemite wasn’t easy!  To earn the award, children had to answer 26 questions and attend at least five meetings of the Junior Nature School.  The following are examples of the questions a Junior Naturalist would be asked: 

• Point out and give characteristics of ten trees
• Identify five birds by their songs alone
• Point out the four principle minerals found in granite
• Name and identify 25 different wildflowers
• Outline the life history of the bear
• Tell four ways of identifying old Indian village sites
• Point out 40 points of interest around Yosemite Valley  

Example of a Junior Ranger patch from
the Ranger Archivist's personal
collection.

Yosemite’s Junior Naturalist program ran from 1930 to 1954.  Other National Parks eventually followed their lead and started similar programs: Sequoia National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, and the National Historic Sites in and around our nation’s capital had their own programs, and the topic became so important that it was included as a subject of discussion during the Second Park Naturalist Conference at Grand Canyon National Park in 1940 (California Department of Parks and Recreation, Junior Ranger Program Handbook, no date, 1-4).   


In Yellowstone, the earliest example of such a program is the Junior Nature Explorers, which began in 1947.  It’s fortunate that records of this program still exist in the archives of the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center (HRC), including the field journal of Ranger Naturalist Mildred Ericson, who seems to have instituted the program.  Details of the Junior Nature Explorers were also described in the Superintendent’s Monthly Reports (bound copies can be found in the HRC’s research library):   
 

A special phase of Yellowstone Park interpretation which is being tried out this year is the inauguration of a junior nature program which is being given to children from 6 to 14 years of age each afternoon from 2:00 – 4:30 for five days each week…This junior nature program consists of special exploring trips for these young people and a treatment of nature lore with some work being done on nature craft (June 1947, 4).

Ranger Erickson’s journal gives us an exciting window into interpretation for children during that era, and some of her enthusiasm can be detected in her entry from Thursday, August 19, 1947:  

There were just so many kids today that I declared “visitors day” and consequently had one of the finest nature-study trips of the season. Went to the Beaver Dams [near Mammoth Hot Springs] where we studied the habits of the beaver, hypnotized frogs, and observed a herd of antelope.

However, all of these programs were just the precursors of the Junior Ranger programs we know today, and it seems the credit (for its creation) is not due to the National Park Service, but rather to the U.S. Forest Service and Smokey Bear.  Smokey has been a symbol of conservation since 1944, but his story really captured the nation’s attention in 1950 when a little black bear cub was rescued from a wildfire in New Mexico.  This bear soon found a home in the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and became the living symbol of Smokey Bear.  Two years later, the Junior Forest Ranger program was started and encouraged children throughout the nation to write Smokey expressing their interest in fire prevention.  In reply, children would receive a Junior Forest Ranger Kit.  In 1953 the first Smokey Bear plush toy was sold with accompanying Junior Forest Ranger badge. 
(Unlike the NPS's Junior Ranger program, Smokey Bear’s history is well-documented including Ellen Earnhardt Morrison’s Guardian of the Forest: a History of Smokey Bear and the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Program which has a chapter describing the background of the Junior Forest Ranger program.)



Yellowstone Park Company children's menu circa 1960.
Note the badge with "Junior Ranger Yellowstone 
Park Company."  NPS/YELL

Back in Yellowstone, the success of the Junior Forest Ranger program as an educational and marketing tool was not lost on the park’s concessionaire: the Yellowstone Park Company (YPC).  A company memo from December 23, 1960 – which is also found in the archives of the HRC – records a meeting between the park’s deputy superintendent and YPC officials including ideas for a Junior Ranger program.  An agent with the YPC’s advertising company supported the idea, and on December 29^th of that year wrote:  

I like your idea of rewarding the child with a Junior Ranger Badge (providing the NPS doesn’t object) but this would work strongly only with the boys.  Don’t you think we should have something else for the girls?  The girls generally aren’t attracted to the Rangers until they get a little older.   

Yellowstone National Park's first Junior Ranger
badge?

Regardless of when girls become interested in Rangers, Junior Ranger programs seem to have become widespread in the NPS in the late 1960’s. For better or for worse, Yellowstone provides us with an example of how a park can lose their connection with Junior Ranger history and heritage.  For example, Yellowstone is currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of their Junior Ranger program. While it’s commonly believed that program started in 1992, records show that the program really started in 1984!  Several Junior Ranger badges from 1984 can be found in the museum collection of the HRC along with accompanying documents in the archives, including guidelines for the program in a memo from the Summer of 1985 (HRC, Archives, Box K-106).  According to this document: 

The goal of Yellowstone National Park’s Junior Ranger Program is to acquaint elementary school-age visitors with the Yellowstone environment through a pleasant and memorable experience.  The experience should involve them as participants, in order to help them develop an appreciation for Yellowstone, the life in it, and the park’s value as a milestone in mankind’s relationship with the land.  This appreciation is necessary to create an informed public, capable of participating positively in the management efforts of the National Park Service (“Junior Ranger Program,” 1985).

The advocates of Yellowstone’s nascent Junior Ranger program sum-up their objectives well: “There is a child in all of us.  May you find yours in working with the children visiting Yellowstone!” 

Of course, the Junior Ranger program continues to evolve throughout the NPS.  National standards for the program were created in 2005, and in 2007 First Lady Laura Bush was in Zion National Park to help kick-off the first National Junior Ranger Day.  "Yesterday [April 29?] was the first-ever Junior Ranger Day.  This program brings children across the nation into our parks," said the First Lady, adding that, "Zion National Park has one of the oldest Junior Ranger program in the Nation" (Sunny Dixie day for US First Lady: Laura Bush speaks at Zion National Park," Deseret News, April 30, 2007.  See http://tinyurl.com/883yaqm).  And WebRangers - created about this same time - has brought the program to children with access to the Internet. 
However, many unanswered questions remain. For instance, in what year and in which National Park was the first Junior Ranger badge issued? And what the true impetus of the program in the 1950s and 1960s?

This Junior Ranger badge, from Muir Woods
National Monument, is made from recycled
redwood.  From the Ranger Archivist's personal
collection.

Examples of the three Junior Ranger patches currently available at
Yellowstone National Park.  From the Ranger Archivist's personal
collection.

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The Albright-SAMO Connection

HORACE M. ALBRIGHT
SOURCE: NPS/YELL

Horace Albright is among the many legendary individuals associated with the National Park Service.  In fact, Albright was there at the very beginning and – alongside of his mentor and friend Stephen Mather – helped create the NPS in 1916.  Albright became the first NPS superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, a position he held for ten years, and then replaced Mather to become the second director of the NPS.  Albright has many accomplishments to his name including roles in establishing such national parks as Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon, and the Great Smoky Mountains.  

Then, in 1933, Albright left the NPS to become a businessman….

Albright retired in 1962, moved to Los Angeles – to be closer to his daughter – and continued his interest in environmental and conservation causes.  This included his membership with the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club.  Moreover, Albright had been elected an honorary vice-president of the Sierra Club every year since 1937.

One can only wonder what was on Albright’s mind as the debate raged to create a national park in his new backyard: the Santa Monica Mountains.  Conservationists and local residents had been trying for decades to preserve the mountains, albeit for a variety of reasons.  The first suggestion for a national park came in 1920s when one local suggested creating Whitestone National Park near Pacific Palisades.  In the 1960s and 70s (and possibly as early as the 1950s) others advocated for the creation of Toyon National Park, named for the distinctive shrub that grows in the area.  (Local folklore suggests that this plant, also known as California Holly, is the namesake for Hollywood.)

Eventually, in 1978, the mountains were protected as a unit of the NPS and the new park was christened Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SAMO).  This is where Albright steps back into the picture. 

There are stories told among the rangers at SAMO that Albright would come to their visitor center and entertain them with tales of the early days of the NPS.  While these stories have yet to be substantiated, it is true that Albright had a close relationship with SAMO.   My first NPS supervisor, Marion Guthrie-Kennedy, recalls meeting Albright several times.  (Just think: I shook the hand that shook Albright’s hand, who in-turn shook John Muir’s hand!)  Marion also remembers driving Albright to special park events, and attending the funeral of Albright’s wife in 1980 along with other SAMO rangers. 

SAMO SUPERINTENDENT BOB CHANDLER WITH ALBRIGHT
SOURCE: NPS/YELL

Albright was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the highest civilian award in the United States – in 1980.  At age 90 he wasn’t able to travel to Washington to receive his award, so the Assistant Secretary of the Interior travelled to California and presented it to him in Van Nuys.  Pictured here with Albright at the award ceremony are SAMO’s first superintendent Bob Chandler (standing in the center) and SAMO ranger Bill Webb (kneeling right foreground).  Also in the picture are superintendents Townsley (Yellowstone), Omundson (Cabrillo National Monument), and Ehorn (Channel Islands National Park). 

Albright must have continued to have a close relationship with SAMO for in 1985 a book-signing was held at Diamond X Ranch when his book The Birth of the National Park Service was published.  (Diamond X, of course, is the former home of singing cowboy star Rex Allen and is now one of the many national park sites in the mountains.)  In the epilogue of this book Albright mentions that he attended an environmental conference at SAMO the previous year (1984).

A year before his death, Albright received the John Muir Award, the most prestigious honor of the Sierra Club.  “His footprints are on the United States and the world, because all other national park systems are modeled on the one that he built,” said Elden Hughes, head of the Sierra Club’s Angeles chapter.

Horace Albright passed away on March 28, 1987, and it’s fitting that his memorial service was held at SAMO.  On April 4th of that year dignitaries from across the nation gathered at Peter Strauss Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains to pay their respects to Albright.  The director of the NPS in 1987, William Penn Mott, was there along with former director William Whalen and representatives from dozens of conservation organizations.  Albright’s only grandson, John Ford, spoke for the family while Stephen Mather’s grandson, Stephen Mather MacFierson, was there for the National Parks and Conservation Association.  There were also personal messages from the Director-General of Tourism, Republic of China, and Tashimiro Senge, former director of the National Parks of Japan.  And uniformed rangers from California State Parks, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA), and NPS were there as well. 

ALBRIGHT MEMORIAL SERVICE
AT PETER STRAUSS RANCH, APRIL 4, 1987
SOURCE: NPS/SAMO

My friend Ruth Kilday, who also attended the memorial, wrote, “Peter Strauss Ranch was the perfect site…a lovely lawn, a pretty verandah highlighting the historic rock structure as a backdrop, and a long-distance view to the mountain peak.”  Director Mott said of Albright, “He was one of the rare people who truly changed the nation for all times and influenced international good will through the parks…Mather was really the public relations and ideas person.  Albright was the one who put it together, who developed the regulations, the programs, and the goals of the National Park Service.  When he was director he carried those goals forward.”

During the ceremony a cenotaph was dedicated to Albright.  This memorial is still at Peter Strauss Ranch.  One wonders how many people pass by this near-forgotten plaque dedicated to one of the NPS’s founding leaders.  Perhaps some realize the importance of this site: the location of Horace Albright’s *official* NPS memorial.  

ALBRIGHT MEMORIAL AT PETER STRAUSS RANCH
SOURCE: NPS/SAMO/KEN LOW

Postscript:  Following the ceremony in 1987 a program was presented to attendees so that they could “explore and enjoy the site.”  Similar programs, led by NPS rangers, continue to this day, sometimes titled “What’s at Strauss.”  I hope all those who visit Peter Strauss Ranch will take a moment to pause by the Albright Memorial and consider its significances to NPS heritage. 

Special thanks to Darren Davis, Marion Guthrie-Kennedy, Ruth Kilday, Ken Low, and Linda Valois for providing information, stories, pictures, and support.

The Ranger Archivist by Francis S. Bawden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Field Guide to NPS Uniform Regulations

In the heart of Yellowstone lays the Museum of the National Park Ranger, a facility dedicated to the rich history of park rangers.  According to the park’s website, the exhibits at the museum “depict the development of the park ranger profession from its roots in military traditions through early rangers to the present array of NPS staff.”  These exhibits include items that were worn on uniforms of the past such as a unique collection of historic badges.  Moreover, the park’s museum collections include examples of historic uniforms from breeches to belts. 

As we know, uniforms worn by rangers take their inspiration from the uniforms of U.S. Army soldiers who guarded the parks prior to the establishment of the NPS.  And, as any good soldier knows, the proper wear of uniforms is governed by a strict set of regulations.  It therefore seems appropriate that in order to interpret – and curate – historic uniforms a thorough knowledge of past NPS regulations is needed.  So I’ve endeavored to gather copies of these rules from wherever I can find them!

1911-1938, In the beginning…

The first authorized uniforms for National Park rangers made their appearance in 1911 and rules for proper wear were soon created.  I’m still trying to gather a complete set of uniform policies from this era and so far have transcripts of the 1920, 1923, and 1936 regulations.  I’m still looking for anything pre-1920 as well as the 1928, 1930, 1932 (Office Order 204), and 1935 (Office Order 268) editions.

The Lost Regulations, 1938-1940

Bryce Workman, who authored a series of books on NPS uniforms in the 1990s, labeled the uniforms rules issued in 1938 the “Lost Regulations” (Office Order 350) since no extant copy was known to exist. Up until the issuance of Office Order No. 350, National Park Service Uniform Regulations were simply four or five pages of written specifications, but beginning with this Order the regulations were presented in a booklet format.

I believe I have located a copy of these regulations in the National Archives! 

1940-1947, Manuals

According to Workman, manuals were first issued formally in the 1940s.  With the issuance of the National Park Service uniform regulations in a manual format, uniform regulations became an entity in their own right and were no longer classed under the general heading of "Office Orders" (although the first manual was classified as Office Order No. 350). 

On November 22, 1940, a new manual for uniform regulations were issued for the Service.  I have a transcript of these regulations. 

1947-1956, another Manual

When new National Park Service uniform regulations came out on April 11, 1947, what had started as a 4 page typed document in 1920, was now 69 pages long.  Again, according to Workman, it was still in manual form but no longer contained the nice professional drawings and printed text of the 1940 version.  Instead, it consisted of line drawings with typed descriptions of the prescribed uniforms, along with instructions about fit, wearing the different uniforms, how to salute the flag, etc, and for the first time uniforms for women appeared in Service regulations.   

I have definitely tracked down a copy of these regulations at the National Archives!  A copy is being sent to me at my own expense (Don’t tell Dana).

1956-1959, Part 160

In 1956, the National Park Service revised its entire format for uniform regulations. Uniform Regulations were no longer a separate entity, but were now Part 160 of the National Park Service Administrative Manual. These new regulations went into effect on September 11, superseding all of the previous regulations. Specifications were back to text only, with the drawings and photographs utilized in previous editions eliminated.  These regulations remained basically the same as previously in effect, although there were a couple of minor changes. 

Major Changes, 1959-1985

Apparently the incorporation of the uniform regulations in the NPS Administrative Manual was not satisfactory, because in 1959 a new format was created. On December 2, 1959 the National Park Service Uniform Handbook was issued. It was to become fully effective on January 1, 1961.  The new regulations not only gave the regulations (when, what, and how to wear) and specifications for uniform dress, but a somewhat abbreviated history of National Park Service Uniforms; definitions of terms; hints on the care and maintenance of uniforms (use clear nail polish to retard buttons from tarnishing); posture (protruding stomachs and slumped shoulders constitute being out of uniform); list of current uniform suppliers; etc.

The new regulations were approved in November, 1959, but were not released to the field until December 2, 1959, and becoming effective on January 1, 1961.

I have a copy of these regulations!

Arrowhead Patch Controversy, 1969

In the course of my investigation, I read a story worth mentioning here.  On March 3, 1969, Acting NPS Director Hummel sent a memorandum to all regional directors ordering the removal of the iconic arrowhead shoulder patch.  "In keeping with the Director's desire to act positively on field suggestions, it has been decided that effective June 1, 1969, Service emblem shoulder and cap patches will not be worn on any National Park Service garments," he wrote.

However, before this unpopular directive could be implemented, Department of Interior Secretary Walter J. Hickel reinstated the DOI buffalo seal.  Director Hartzog thereupon reinstated the arrowhead as the official NPS emblem and continued its use as a patch in a memorandum dated May 15, 1969.

1982-1985, Guidelines

Director Everhardt began issuing NPS regulations as numbered Guidelines in the Fall of 1975 as part of the NPS Directives Management System.  Uniform Standards and Draft Allowance Guidelines appeared in 1982.

1985-1993, more Guidelines

NPS 43 - Servicewide Uniform Program Guidelines came into effect February 1985.  I have a PDF copy of these regulations. 

1993-2000, and yet even more Guidelines

An updated NPS 43 - Servicewide Uniform Program Guidelines were issued in 1993, and I have a PDF copy of these rules.

2000-Present, DO’s and RM’s

Director’s Orders replace NPS Guidelines in 1996 and Director’s Order 43, Uniforms, and Reference Manual 43, Uniforms, made their appearance in 2000.  I have PDF copies of both, although Director’s Order 43 seems to have expired in 2005 with no replacement or update.  Also, a 2005 edition of Reference Manual 43 can be found on InsideNPS although its provenance is questionable since the 2000 version is the only one found on the official website of the NPS’s Office of Policy.

Stars, Stripes, and the DOI Length of Service Award

The following proposal was submitted to the IMR Regional Uniform Program Manager who reviewed it and forwarded it to WASO (NPS Headquarters).  The original document had copious footnotes which haven't been included here for brevity.

In accordance with Reference Manual 43 (RM-43), Section 10, Proposal & Feedback, I am proposing the following addition to Section 3, Wear and Appearance Standards – Accessories.  Specifically, I am proposing that the following be added to Section 3 which would authorize the wear of the Department of the Interior (DOI) Length of Service award to qualified individuals:    

DOI Length of Service Pin

• The Department of the Interior (DOI) Length of Service Pins may be worn by individuals who have earned the pins in recognition of milestones in the employee’s career.
• When worn on dress coats, the DOI Length of Service Pin will be worn centered on the left lapel.
• The Length of Service Pin may also be worn on shirts, sweaters, and field jackets centered ¼-inch above the name bar.
• In cases where a Commemorative Pin is also approved for wear, it will be up to the discretion of the individual which pin to wear, although both pins may not be worn at the same time. 

JUSTIFICATION 

The approaching centennial of the National Park Service (NPS) in 2016 has caused many to reexamine and reconnect with the heritage and traditions of the organization.  The use of uniforms by NPS employees is a one of those long-established traditions, originating with U.S. Army soldiers who guarded the parks in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  The first authorized uniform for National Park rangers made its appearance in 1911 and rules for proper wear of the uniform were soon established. 

These new policies included the use of insignia to acknowledge the service of individuals.  In fact, a service stripe was authorized for wear as early as January 1915, more than a year and a half before the creation of the NPS.  Over the following decades uniform regulations were periodically updated and soon service stars were added. 

In 1959 a task force worked on revising uniform regulations.  Various comments were solicited from employees in the field and their suggestions were presented to the task force including pleas to retain the length-of-service insignia.  Nevertheless, the use of service stars and stripes continued until 1961 when they were replaced with the DOI Service Pins.   

DOI Service Pins have been issued to employees since 1961.  The regulations issued then state:   

The Departmental length-of-service emblems or Departmental Award emblems may be worn, by those employees who have received them, in the left lapel buttonhole of the dress coat.

NPS uniform policies received no major revisions for the next twenty-six years.  The next significant changes were issued in 1985 and included a provision that length-of-service pins were not to be worn.  By 1993, length-of-service pins were not mentioned in the uniform regulations at all. 

Current NPS regulations – Reference Manual 43, Uniforms, dated October 2000 – also do not mention the wear of the DOI Length of Service Pins although the now-expired Director’s Order 43 (effective October 2000 through September 2005) does contain a prohibition against the wear of length-of-service pins.  Surprisingly, employees are still issued them in accordance with current NPS policy. 

It therefore makes sense that the DOI Length of Service Pins should be authorized to wear on uniforms.  These emblems should be used to not only recognize the hard work and commitment of NPS employees but also to continue a tradition that began over 100 years ago.  Moreover, uniforms build esprit de corps among those who wear them, and the use of Length of Service Pins would strengthen the pride NPS employees already have when wearing their uniforms.  Perhaps NPS Director Jon Jarvis put it best when he said:

Today, the gray and green colors, the distinctive flat hat, and the arrowhead patch are symbols of the National Park Service.  Many people fought long and hard to create this national identity for the Service.  Wearing the uniform is both a privilege and a great responsibility…Wear your uniforms well, and wear them with pride.

 

The Myth of the Duel Mission of the NPS

Almost everywhere you go in the National Park Service, you’ll hear rangers telling visitors – and each other – that the NPS has two missions which are in contradiction to each other: to protect the parks while at the same time allowing people to use the areas.  This paradigm all started with their interpretation of the Organic Act of 1916 which established the NPS.  Specifically, the Act states that the purpose of the NPS is:

To conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.

However, if you read this sentence carefully, you’ll realize that there are NOT two missions but ONE. You cannot enjoy “the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life” unless it’s“unimpaired”. You should also notice that at no point does the Act equate enjoyment with recreation. Therefore the NPS only has one mission: preservation.

Some will no doubt argue with me since the Act does say “provide for the enjoyment”. Fortunately, this isn’t just my opinion. I have case law to prove my point.

NRA v. Potter, 1986

This litigation was an effort by the NRA to lift hunting bans in some National Parks but their efforts backfired. In this case, the presiding judge ruled that “in the Organic Act, Congress speaks of but a single purpose, namely, conservation.” Moreover, the court concluded that “the paramount objective of the park system with respect to its indigenous wildlife, and the philosophy which came to pervade the new Park Service to whom it was entrusted, was, from the beginning, one of protectionism."  

Even more interesting is the fact that the court ruled “the [National Park] Service may have succumbed to error in the late 1960s and 1970s” regarding its interpretation of its own mission.  As further proof, the judge points to the Redwood National Park Expansion Act of1978 where the “Congress reiterated its intention that National Parks be administered in furtherance of the purpose (not purposes) of the Organic Act.”

The court conclusions:

1.  The word “conservation” in the Organic Act means “preservation.”

2.  The Organic Act prescribes a SINGLE MISSION to the NPS.

So, let’s all stop spreading the myth that the NPS has two missions!!!

Ranger Archivist?

It would seem a brief explanation is in order to clarify the title of this blog.  The name is really a pun of a job that was created in the 1920s – ranger naturalist.  The term alludes to park staff we refer to today as interpretive rangers, but the job of interpreting nature is as old – if not older – as the National Park Service itself.  In fact, John Muir used the word a year before Yellowstone National Park was created in 1872.  He said, “I’ll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche.  I’ll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can.”  Author and ranger Butch Farrabee explained that Muir’s use of the word “interpret” is cited as the beginning of the term’s eventual use by the NPS, a significant fact in the heritage of the organization (2003, 41).

However, it was soldiers from the U.S. Army who should be credited with being the first interpretive rangers.  Farrabee writes:

"The United States Army replaced Yellowstone’s civilian staff in 1886, and energetic and often-bored soldiers were called upon to explain the park’s novel natural features to the curious visitors.  Troopers were instructed to give those who inquired what information they could, “always in a courteous manner.”  Not particularly scientific in nature, these early geyser-cone talks supplemented the information that stagecoach drivers and other park quasi-guides were providing their guest, and were essentially the original National Park interpretive programs" (2003, 43).  

The job of protecting parks was returned to civilian control soon after the NPS was created in 1916.  Four years later both Yosemite and Yellowstone began interpretive programs which included guided hikes, evening campfire talks, and lectures.  In Yellowstone, Superintendent Horace Albright appointed Ranger Milton Skinner to the position of park naturalist, thus creating NPS’s first ranger naturalist.*  

So, if the NPS can have a ranger naturalist, they surely have room for a ranger archivist!

Upcoming articles:

• A Brief History of the Junior Ranger Program
• A Field Guide to NPS Uniform Regulations (yes, really)
• Stars, Stripes, and the DOI Length of Service Award
• Fort Yellowstone, the 22nd Infantry Regiment, and the Immortal 15
• A Field Guide to DOI and NPS Awards
• The Myth of the Dual Mission (of the NPS)

*Skinner also created Yellowstone’s first museum in 1920 in the old bachelor officers’ quarters at Fort Yellowstone, i.e. Mammoth Hot Springs.  The building is used today as a visitor center.

Charles R. “Butch” Farabee, Jr.  National Park Ranger: An American Icon.  Lanham, Maryland: Rinehart Publishers, 2003.