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The insightful and thought-provoking comments found here do not represent the official opinions or policies of the National Park Service, the Department of Interior, or the Cornish Stannary Parliament. Warning: Do not read this blog if you suffer from linear thinking, myopic vision, closed-mindedness, a lack of a sense of a humor, or if you suffer from ego-dramas. Side effects from reading this blog may include an increase in the collective consciousness. No animals were harmed in the writing of this blog. Copyright (c) 2019 "The Ranger Archivist is very entertaining so his writings are interesting and fun." – Ruth Kilday, founder and executive director of the Mountains Conservancy Foundation

Monday, March 4, 2013

Genealogical Resources at Yellowstone's Heritage & Research Center

We hear a lot about resource management in Yellowstone National Park, usually natural resource management but sometimes cultural resource management as well.  Now I’m going to mention another one - genealogical resource management.

Many of the researchers who either visit or contact Yellowstone's Heritage and Research Center (HRC) are interested in locating information about a family member who worked, lived, or visited the park.  Over the past few months I've compiled notes on the types of records we have at the HRC, based on a list first created by the research librarians.

Here are my notes regarding genealogical resources at the HRC, plus some other pertinent information:

EMPLOYEES

Concessionaires

  • Registers of passengers carried by licensed transportation (includes names of stagecoach drivers), bulk dates 1898-1920 (Items 208-212)
  • Mammoth Payroll and Employee Registers, 1931-1935 (MSC 019 YPC)
  • Personnel Lists (Department Heads), 1936-1960 (MSC 019 YPC)
  • Personnel Lists, 1953-1973 (MSC 019 YPC)
  • Personnel Lists (Canyon Village Directory), 1954-1967 (MSC 019 YPC)
  • Personnel Lists (Fishing Bridge Directory), 1958 and 1964 (MSC 019 YPC)
  • Personnel Lists (Lake Lodge Directory), 1946-1956, 1965 (MSC 019 YPC)
  • Personnel Lists (Mammoth Directory), 1960-1966 (MSC 019 YPC)
  • Personnel Lists (Old Faithful Savage Directory), 1955-1970 (MSC 019 YPC)
  • List of Winterkeepers, 1959 (was Box C-24)
  • Hamilton Stores employee list, 1960 (was Box C-56)
  • Hamilton Stores organizational chart, 1963 (was YPC Box-37)
  • Hamilton Stores employee directory for Fishing Bridge, 1971 (Box W-98)
  • Telephone Directory, circa 1975 (MSC 019 YPC)
  • Xanterra Telephone Directories, 1981-2005 (MSC 073 Xanterra Parks and Resorts Collection)
  • Seniority lists for the Gardiner Service Center for TW Recreational Services, 1982-1997 (was Box C-61)
  • TW Recreational Services telephone directory, 1987 (was Box C-24)
  • TW Recreational Services telephone directory, 1996 (was Box C-61)
  • Yellowstone Mammoth Memories yearbook, 1998-1999 (was YPC Box 167)
  • Reservation Staff yearbook, 2000 (MSC 073 Xanterra Parks and Resorts Collection)
  • Reservation Staff yearbook, 2001 (MSC 073 Xanterra Parks and Resorts Collection)
NPS

Note: Official Personnel Folders (OPFs) of former Federal civilian employees (1850-1951) are maintained at the National Personnel Records Center.  OPFs for former Federal civilian employees separated after 1951 remain in the legal custody of the Office of Personnel Management and access to these records is restricted under the Privacy Act of 1974.
  • Personnel Rosters, 1918-1960, 1962-2008 (RG 10 FPS)
  • List of rangers including assignments, 1927 (Box K-10)
  • Fire Cache Personnel, 1953-1965 (Box Y-273)
  • Fire Control Aids, 1956-1958 (Box Y-273)
  • List of BRC [Blister Rust Control?] personnel, 1958-1965 (Box Y-288)
  • Personnel Rosters, 1960-1973 (was Box P-88)
  • Roster of Participating Personnel, Northern Elk Herd Helicopter Census, 1962 (MSC 036 Kittams Papers)
  • Fire Control Aids, 1965-1967 (Box Y-273)
  • List of Fire Control Aids, Summer 1968 (Box Y-273)
  • List of North District Interpretive Staff, 1970(?) (Box W-106)
  • List of West District and South District rangers, 1970 (Box W-106)
  • Lists of Resource Management and Visitor Protection staff, 1970-1974 (Box W-106)
  • List of seasonals and fire control aids, 1971-1972 (Box Y-257)
  • List of personnel, 1974 (was Box P-88)
  • List of fire control aids, 1974 (Box Y-257)
  • List of seasonal naturalist staff, 1975 (Box K-118)
  • “A Directory of Yellowstone Park Families,” 1977 (was Box P-89)
  • Personnel and Families Directory, 1977 (RG 10-FPS)
  • Lists of personnel stationed at various places which includes rangers, naturalists, groomers, and winterkeepers, Winter 1977-1978 (was Box P-92)
  • List of Fire Control Aids, 1977-1978 (Box Y-257)
  • Yellowstone telephone directory, Winter 1977 (Box A-102)
  • South District phone directory, 1979 (Box A-410)
  • List of employees for the Division of Interpretation and Visitor Services, 1982 (Box K-96)
  • Museum Directory(?), 1983 (Box H-18)
  • Seasonal Interpretation staff yearbook, 1986 (Box K-90)
  • Seasonal Interpretation staff yearbook, 1987 (Box K-56)
  • List of seasonal and permanent Resource Management and Visitor Protection staff, Summer 1988 (Box W-240)
  • Yellowstone telephone directory, Winter 1988-1989 (Box A-410)
  • List of summer staff for Old Faithful Interpretation, 1994 (Box K-118)
  • NPS phone directory, 1994 (was Box P-10)
  • List of staff for the Division of Interpretation, 1995 (Box K-118 and Box K-148)
  • List of summer staff for the Division of Interpretation, 1997 (Box K-96)
Civilian Conservation Corps
  • Roster for Company 544, 1938 (MSC 069 Swier-Bolhuis’ Research)
  • Roster for Company 535 and yearbook, 1941 (MSC 069 Swier-Bolhuis’ Research)
  • Roster for Company 544 and yearbook, 1941 (MSC 069 Swier-Bolhuis’ Research)


Yellowstone Association

  • List of Employees, 1995(?)
VISITORS
  • Registers of passengers carried by licensed transportation (includes names of stagecoach drivers), bulk dates 1898-1920 (Items 208-212)
  • Registers of camping parties, bulk dates 1898-1923 (Items 161, 191-207)
  • Yellowstone Park Camp Company/Yellowstone Park Lodge and Camps Company registers which include payroll registers with lists of employees and often their occupations, 1924-1935 (MSC 019 YPC)
  • Yellowstone Park Hotel Company registers which include payroll registers with lists of employees and often their occupations, 1923-1935 (MSC 019 YPC)
  • Yellowstone Park Transportation Company registers which include payroll registers with lists of employees and often their occupations, 1923-1935 (MSC 019 YPC)
  • Yellowstone Park Company registers 1936-1961 which include payroll registers with lists of employees and often their occupations.  N. B. Social Security Numbers were first issued in November 1936 and these records may be restricted.  (MSC 019 YPC)
  • Yellowstone Park Hotel Company check register which may contain employees’ names, 1930-1937 (MSC 019 YPC)
  • Lists of Rail Visitors which include lists of visitors and their home addresses, 1929 and 1930 (MSC 019 YPC)
  • Entrance Registers of Park Visitors which include lists of visitors and their home addresses, 1942, 1946, 1947, 1951 (MSC 019 YPC)
BMD (Births, Marriages, & Deaths)

Births

As far as I can tell, there is no list of the births within the park although if I was looking I’d check Yellowstone News, 1947-2002, and/or the Monthly Reports.

Marriages

According to the park’s website, “A permit is required to hold a wedding in the park unless it is at the Mammoth Chapel.”  So one would assume copies of these permits are kept somewhere?

Also, “Either a Wyoming or a Montana marriage license is applicable for a wedding in Yellowstone National Park. A Montana license is more practical if you are planning be married in the north part of the park near Mammoth Hot Springs and a Wyoming license is preferable if you are being married in the interior of the park near Old Faithful, Canyon, Lake or Grant Villages. If the couple has a Montana license, it will be necessary to sign the papers and perform the State requirements at or north of the 45th parallel (the state line near Mammoth Hot Springs) before or immediately following the ceremony in the park.”
  • Register of Marriages, Yellowstone National Park Chapel, 1914-1963.  Found in Aubrey L. Haines, A History of the Yellowstone National Park Chapel, 1913-1963, p. 27.  
  • [1963-1967?]
  • Chapel Reservation Forms including weddings, 1967-1972 (Box A-316)
Deaths

For information about deaths in the park see Lee Whittlesey, Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park, Boulder, Colorado: The Court Wayne Press, 1995.  Note: this isn’t a comprehensive list of deaths.  For example, Lee has told me he doesn't usually include death from automobile accidents (too many).

Cemeteries
  • List of burials, Tinker’s Hill Cemetery, Gardiner, Park County, MT.  1880s-Present (MSC 074 FOE).  Note: This is the only private in-holding within Yellowstone National Park.
  • Kite Hill Cemetery, Mammoth Hot Springs, Park County, WY.  1883-1897(?).  14 gravesites
  • Fort Yellowstone Cemetery, Mammoth Hot Springs, Park County, WY.  1888-1957. First burial: Private Thomas Horton, 22nd Infantry Regiment, died 1888.  Last burial: Jeanett Clark, died 1957.  57-58 graves before 20 of them moved to Custer National Cemetery.  (Item 154, Cemetery Fort Yellowstone; and, Item 155, Official record of interments in the Post Cemetery)
Other nearby cemeteries
  • Jardine Cemetery, Jardine, Park County, MT.  1902-Present  
  • Cooke City Cemetery, Park County, MT.  1895(?)-Present(?)
  • Fir Ridge Cemetery, West Yellowstone, Gallatin County, MT.  1964(?)-Present.  This is the only cemetery in the West Yellowstone area, located on the east side of Highway 191, north of West Yellowstone on a hill overlooking Hebgen Lake
  • Emigrant Cemetery, Emigrant, Park County, MT.  Circa 1882-Present
  • Chico Cemetery, Chico Hot Springs, Park County, MT. 1864-Present
Other Burials

According to Lee, “at least eight single graves are known at various locations around Yellowstone Park.”  Whittlesey, Death in Yellowstone, 216.