National Park Service History eLibrary

Time 2020-10-16 14:05:33

Web Name: National Park Service History eLibrary

WebSite: http://npshistory.com

ID:84148

Keywords:

Park,National,Service,

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The NPS History Electronic Library is a portal to electronic publicationscovering the history of the National Park Service and the cultural and natural historyof the national parks, monuments, and historic sites of the U.S. National Park System.The information contained in this Website is historical in scope and isnot meant as an aid for travel planning; please refer to the officialNationalPark Service Website for current information. While we are not affiliatedwith the National Park Service, we gratefully acknowledge the contributionsby park employees and advocates, which has enabled us to create this freedigital repository.New eLibrary Additions Featured Publication The Mountains of Oregon(W.G. Steel, 1890)2019 National Park Visitor Spending Effects: Economic Contributions to Local Communities, States, and the Nation NPS Natural Resource Report NPS/NRSS/EQD/NRR-2020/2110 (Catherine Cullinane Thomas and Lynne Koontz, April 2020)Proposed Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Site Selection Environmental Assessment, Washington, D.C. (June 2006)Site Selection Report, Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial (Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission, November 8, 2005)A Long Road: How Jim Crow Affected the Design and Development of Recreational Areas Along the Blue Ridge Parkway ( Stephanie Heher, Master's Thesis Savannah College of Art and Design, May 2018)Transforming History, Creating a Legacy: An Evaluation of Exhibit Effectiveness at Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, Little Rock, Arkansas (Theresa G. Coble, David Smaldone, Catherine McCarthy and Tammy Roberson, September 2010)The Mountains of Oregon ( W.G. Steel, 1890)Periodic Semi-Permanent Snow Bed Variability at Alpine Visitors Center and Lava Cliffs, Rocky Mountain National Park: Selected Seasons and Years (D.E. Glidden, updated September 2020)Assessment and Analysis of the National Park Service Construction Program (Mortimer Downey, Don Bathurst, Denis Galvin, Greg Giddens, Deborah Lucas and William Seed, National Academy of Public Administration, June 2020)The Denver Service Center (John J. Reynolds, extract from Courier, May 1992)Administrative History, Fort Donelson National Military Park, Dover, Tennessee (Gloria Peterson, June 30, 1968)The Vicksburg National Cemetery, Vicksburg National Military Park: An Administrative History (Richard Meyers, March 31, 1968)The National Parks: Shaping the System (Barry Mackintosh, 1985)Modoc War: 1872-73, Lava Beds National Monument (Erwin N.Thompson, October 1, 1967)Master Plan, Kings Mountain National Military Park and State Park, South Carolina (September 1974)Preservation and Management Plan / Environmental Assessment: Remnants of Fortress Rosecrans: Lunettes Palmer and Thomas, Old Fort Park, Murfreesboro, Tennessee (December 1991)Historic Structures Report, Part II, Historical Data Section, Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site (Erwin N. Thompson, September 30, 1968)Fort Stanwix: History, Historic Furnishing, and Historic Structure Reports Construction and Military History (John F. Luzader), Historic Furnishing Study (Louis Torres), Historic Structure Report (Orville W. Carroll) (1976)Ninety Six: A Historical Narrative, Historic Resource Study and Historic Structure Report (Jerome A. Greene, 1979, 1998 Reprint)The Permanent Indian Frontier: The Reason for the Construction and Abandonment of Fort Scott, Kansas, During the Dragoon Era, Special History Study (Earl Arthur Shoemaker, 1986)Specific Area Report, Proposed Congaree Swamp National Monument, South Carolina (April 1963)Cultural Landscape Report: Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park, Atlanta, Georgia (Panamerican Consultants, Inc., Wiss Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc., Commonwealth Heritage Group, Inc. and Liz Sargent HLA, August 2020)Cultural Landscape Report: Lawnfield, James A. Garfield National Historic Site, Ohio (February 1994)Cultural Landscape Report, Vancouver National Historic Reserve (Jones Jones Architects and Landscape Architects, Ltd., October 2005)A Touch of Wilderness: Oral Histories on the Formation of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (Leonard Pitt, April 2015)The National Trails System: A Grand Experiment (Steven Elkinton, November 8, 2008)Comprehensive Plan for Management and Use, North Country National Scenic Trail, NY-PS-OH-MI-WI-MN-ND (September 1982)National Historic Trail Feasibility Study Environmental Assessment, El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, Texas-New Mexico (March 1997) Featured Publication Prehistoric Life in the National Parks Coloring Book(Vincent L. Santucci, J.P. Hodnett, Justin Tweet and Alison Mims, 2020)Prehistoric Life in the National Parks Coloring Book (Vincent L. Santucci, J.P. Hodnett, Justin Tweet and Alison Mims, July 15, 2020)Paleontological Resource Inventory (Public Version), Channel Islands National Park NPS Natural Resource Report NPS/CHIS/NRR-2020/2171 (Justin S. Tweet, Vincent L. Santucci, Kenneth Convery, Jonathan Hoffman and Laura Kirn, September 2020)Paleontological Resources Management Plan (Public Version), Agate Fossil Beds National Monument NPS Natural Resource Report NPS/AGFO/NRR-2020/2172 (Scott Kottkamp, Vincent L. Santucci, Justin S. Tweet, Jessica De Smet and Ellen Starck, September 2020)An Assessment of the National Significance of Cultural Resources for the Walnut Canyon Special Resource Study (Ted Neff, Tim Gibbs, Kimberly Spurr, Kirk C. Anderson, Jason Nez, Bern Carey and David R. Wilcox, October 2011)Cooperative Management Plan, Vancouver National Historic Reserve, Washington (September 2001)Ecology of the Pumice Desert, Crater Lake National Park (Elizabeth Mueller Horn, extract from Northwest Science, Vol. 42 No. 4, November 1968)Rethinking the Statue of Liberty: Old Meanings, New Contexts (David Glassberg, December 2003)Research Report: History of Government Dwelling House No. 43, The First Paymaster's House, Block B, Lot 5, Shenandoah Street, 1800-1865, Harpers Ferry National Monument (Philip R. Smith, Jr., December 19, 1958, revised April 30, 1959)Information Regarding Hotels, Chalets and Camps, Automobile, Launch and Saddle Horse Trips, All-Expense Tours ad Pay As You Go Plan, Glacier National Park-Waterton Lakes National Park, Season June 15th to September 15th, 1929 Circular No. 25-29 (Great Northern Railway, 1929)Long-Range Interpretive Plan, Vancouver National Historic Reserve with Special Emphasis on Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and Vancouver Barracks (April 2004)Long Range Plan, Vancouver National Historic Reserve (August 2006)Gettysburg College - National Park Service Land Exchange: Study of Alternatives / Environmental Assessment Final Report (May 1995)Boundary Study, Gettysburg National Military Park: Draft Report to Congress / Environmental Assessment (August 1988)The Archaeology of Castle Park, Dinosaur National Monument University of Colorado Studies Series in Anthropology No. 2 (Robert F. Burgh and Charles R. Scoggin, October 1948)Excavations at Hells Midden, Dinosaur National Monument University of Colorado Studies Series in Anthropology No. 3 (Robert H. Lister, September 1951)Archaeological Excavations in Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado-Utah, 1964-1965 University of Colorado Studies Series in Anthropology No. 17 (David A. Breternitz, ed., August 1970)Contributions to Mesa Verde Archaeology: I Site 499, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado University of Colorado Studies Series in Anthropology No. 9 (Robert H. Lister and Florence C. Lister, September 1964)Contributions to Mesa Verde Archaeology: II Site 875, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado University of Colorado Studies Series in Anthropology No. 11 (Robert H. Lister, November 1965)Contributions to Mesa Verde Archaeology: III Site 866, and the Cultural Sequence at Four Villages in the Far View Group, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado University of Colorado Studies Series in Anthropology No. 12 (Robert H. Lister, December 1966)Contributions to Mesa Verde Archaeology: IV Site 1086, An Isolated, Above Ground Kiva in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado University of Colorado Studies Series in Anthropology No. 13 (Robert H. Lister, February 1967)Contributions to Mesa Verde Archaeology: V Emergency Archaeology in Mesa Verde National Park Colorad, 1948-1966 University of Colorado Studies Series in Anthropology No. 15 (Robert H. Lister, ed., August 1968)Sign Code Standards, Yellowstone National Park (January 1992)Yellowstone Grizzly Bear Investigations Annual Reports of the Interagency Study Team:1977 1982 1987 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019Invasive Species Strategic Plan (Draft, Department of the Interior, July 29, 2020)The Department of Everything Else (Robert M. Utley and Barry Mackintosh, 1989)Assessment of Fossil Management on Federal Indian Lands: Report of the Secretary of the Interior (May 2000)A Cultural Resource Survey of Portions of Hiawatha National Forest, Alger, Chippewa, Delta, Mackinac, and Schoolcraft Counties, Michigan (Commonwealth Associates Inc., January 1979)A Cultural Resource Survey of Proposed Undertakings in the Hiawatha National Forest, Alger, Delta, Schoolcraft, Chippewa, and Mackinac Counties, Michigan (Soil Systems, Inc., April 25, 1980)1987 Cultural Resources Survey, Hiawatha National Forest (Gilbert/Commonwealth Inc. of Michigan, February 1988)1991 Cultural Resources Survey of the Hiawatha National Forest (Heritage Discoveries Inc., May 1992)Tools to Manage the Past: Research Priorities for Cultural Resources Management in the Southwest Symposium Proceedings, May 2-6, 1988, Grand Canyon, Arizona USDA Forest Service General Technical Report RM-164 (Joseph A. Tainter and R.H. Hamre, eds., 1988)General Management PlansGeneral Management Plan and Environmental Assessment, Lower East Side Tenement National Historic Site (May 2006)Final General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial (September 2005)General Management Plan / Environmental Assessment, Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park (August 2008)General Management Plan Summary, Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park (September 2010)General Management Plan 2003 / McLoughlin House Unit Management Plan 2007, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site (October 2008)General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area: Volume 1 (July 2002)General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area: Volume 2 (July 2002)Abbreviated Final General Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement: Minidoka Internment National Monument (June 2006)General Management Plan: Minidoka Internment National Monument (November 2006)General Management Plan Amendment/Environmental Assessment: LBJ Ranch Unit, Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park (July 2010)Draft General Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement, Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve: Volume I (September 2005)Draft General Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement, Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve: Volume II (September 2005)Final General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Rock Creek Park and the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway: Volume 1 (July 2005)Final General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Rock Creek Park and the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway: Summary (July 2005)Comments and Responses on the Draft General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Rock Creek Park and the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway: Volume 2 (July 2005)Draft General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Rock Creek Park and the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway: Summary (May 2002)Draft General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Rock Creek Park and the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway (May 2002)Final General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Niobrara National Scenic River, Nebraska (September 2006)General Management Plan, Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites (2010)Abbreviated Final General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement, Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites (2010)Final Environmental Impact Statement, West Potomac Park and Proposed Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, D.C. (June 1983)General Management Plan / Development Concept Plan: Hot Springs National Park, Garland County, Arkansas (June 1986)Final General Management Plan and Comprehensive River Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: Volume 1 (September 2006)Final General Management Plan and Comprehensive River Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: Volume 2 (September 2006)Final General Management Plan and Comprehensive River Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: Volume 3 (September 2006)Final Environmental Impact Statement for the General Management Plan, Saratoga National Historical Park, Stillwater and Saratoga, New York (2004)Draft General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Navajo National Monument, Arizona (c2003)Final General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Navajo National Monument, Arizona (2003)Draft General Management Plan Revision / Environmental Impact Statement, Petrified Forest National Park (February 2003)Final General Management Plan Revision / Environmental Impact Statement, Petrified Forest National Park (May 2004)Draft General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Coronado National Monument, Arizona (May 2003)Final General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Coronado National Monument, Arizona (January 2004)Final General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Big Bend National Park, Texas (May 2004)Draft General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Big Bend National Park, Texas (February 2003)Draft General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Petersburg National Battlefield (March 2004)Draft General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (May 2004)Draft General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Colorado National Monument (January 2004)Draft General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Crater Lake National Park (May 2004)Draft General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Idaho (March 2004)General Management Plan, Homestead National Monument of America Final (1999)Final General Management Plan, Environmental Impact Statement: San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, California (July 1997)Abbreviated Final General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area (September 1999)Final General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, Johnson City, Texas (March 1999)General Management Plan Environmental Impact Statement, Manzanar National Historic Site, California (August 1996)General Management Plan / Development Concept Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, New Hampshire (May 1996)Final General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement, Missouri/Niobrara/Verdigre Creek National Recreational Rivers, Nebraska-South Dakota 39-Mile (June 1997)Final General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement, Missouri National Recreational River, Nebraska-South Dakota 59-Mile (August 1999)Final General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, Little Rock, Arkansas (March 2002)Draft Comprehensive Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement, El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail (August 2002)Final General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site (October 2003)Final General Management Plan/Wilderness Study/Environmental Impact Statement, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (April 2007)Final Summary of General Management Plan/Wilderness Study/Environmental Impact Statement, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (April 2007)General Management Plan Amendment / Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Point Reyes National Seashore / North District of Golden Gate National Recreation Area (August 2019)General Management Plan Amendment / Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Point Reyes National Seashore / North District of Golden Gate National Recreation Area: Appendices (August 2019)General Management Plan Amendment / Final Environmental Impact Statement, Point Reyes National Seashore / North District of Golden Gate National Recreation Area (September 2020)General Management Plan Amendment / Final Environmental Impact Statement, Point Reyes National Seashore / North District of Golden Gate National Recreation Area (September 2020)NPS EMPLOYEE MEMORIAL (Jeff Ohlfs, August 2020) L to R Sitting: Harold C. Bryant, Waldo G. Leland, Herman C. Bumpus, Frank R. Oastler, Horace M. Albright, W.W. Coleman. L to R Standing: Verne E. Chatelain, Earl A. Trager, Laurence V. Coleman. (NPS photo)NPS REFLECTIONSby Edwin C. Bearss, originally published in CRM Bulletin, Vol. 11 No. 1, February 1988The History Division and the Chief Historians An OverviewIt has been more than 56 years since Verne E. Chatelainreported for duty as a staff historian in the National Park Service's WashingtonOffice. Chatelain, formerly head of the History and Social Sciences Departmentat Nebraska State Teachers College, had been hired by Director Horace M.Albright, a keen student of history, to develop a program aimed at interpretingand preserving sites and structures associated with the history of our country.Several months earlier, the Service had employed two park historians Elbert Cox and B. Floyd Flickinger who were assigned to Colonial NationalMonument. The two young historians entered on duty at an exciting but hectictime, because on October 19, 1931, the Nation would celebrate thesesquicentennial of the British surrender at Yorktown to American and Frenchforces commanded by Gen. George Washington.Chatelain found himself assigned to the Branch of Researchand Education led by Harold C. Bryant, where he headed the newly constitutedHistory Division. The division remained a small operation, consisting ofChatelain and a secretary, until the March 4, 1933, inauguration of Franklin D.Roosevelt as 32nd President and the advent of the New Deal. Much of Chatelain'stime and energy during these early years was spent laying the groundwork for aneffective program of interpreting the Service's historical resources to parkvisitors to complement the natural science and archeological programs that hadbeen in place and had become a hallmark at the great western parks. Chatelainalso played an important role in planning the campaign that resulted in theestablishment by Congress of Morristown National Historic Park.The next few years were exciting and productive for ChiefHistorian Chatelain and the History Division as the Service's commitment tohistoric interpretation and preservation skyrocketed. The Emergency ConservationWorks (ECW) program gave birth to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and thenumber of units in the National Park System more than doubled on August 10,1933, when an Executive order was implemented consolidating all national parksand national monuments, all military parks, 11 national cemeteries, all nationalmemorials, and the parks of the National Capital under National Park Serviceadministration.In congressional hearings in the late 1920s, DirectorAlbright had taken the stance that the Service, because of its experience inpublic education and resource management, could better interpret the militaryparks than the War Department. In staffing the new historical parks, the Servicenow had to insure that key employees possessed a background in history.CCC camps were established in many Service areas, and tooversee preservation projects historians were hired and paid out of ECW funds.Many of the newly recruited historians, before being assigned to the field,worked directly for Chief Historian Chatelain on park-related research projects.Office space for these professionals was secured at the Library of Congress.Within less than she months, Chatelain had direct supervision over morehistorians than graced the departments of major universities. Most of thesehistorians were soon assigned to the field or to field offices (the precursorsof regional offices) that were established to oversee ECW projects focusing onstate and municipal parks.Through the efforts of many people including ParkService Director Arno B. Cammerer and Chief Historian Chatelain theHistoric Sites Act was drafted, amended, and passed by Congress, and on August21, 1935, signed by President Roosevelt. The Act established a "national policyto preserve for public use historic sites, buildings, and objects of nationalsignificance for the inspiration and benefit of the people of the UnitedStates." Among the missions it gave the Secretary of the Interior and theNational Park Service were to survey historic properties "for the purpose ofdetermining which possess exceptional value as commemorating or illustrating thehistory of the United States."The History Division, redesignated the Branch of HistoricSites and Buildings, was delegated the task of undertaking the National Surveywhich commenced in 1937, and was closed down in the weeks following the December7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.Chatelain, because of a rift with the strong-willed andmercurial Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, only served as actingassistant director of the Branch of Historic Sites and Buildings. When he leftthe Service in August 1936, he was succeeded as acting director by BranchSpaulding (a field administrator with a background in history). Spaulding wasretained in an acting capacity until May 15, 1938, when he returned to thesuperintendency of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields MemorialNational Military Park. During the Spaulding months, in July 1937, four regionaloffices were established. When staffed, each regional office had a regionalhistorian. Ronald F. Lee, who had entered the Service in 1933 at Shiloh NationalMilitary Park, succeeded Spaulding and was named supervisor of the Branch ofHistoric Sites and Buildings. Lee wore a "second hat" as the Service's chiefhistorian.Lee, like Chatelain, was a strong energetic personality andsuperior administrator who left his stamp on the Service and its historyprogram. Unlike Chatelain, Lee was diplomatic and adept at working within thesystem. An August 1938 reorganization saw the unit headed by Chief Historian Leeredesignated the Branch of Historic Sites and divided into Historic Sites andArcheological Sites divisions. Three years later, an archeology division wasadded to the branch. The austerity and retrenchment of the World War II yearsfound the headquarters of the National Park Service relocated from Washington,DC, to Chicago's Merchandise Mart. With Chief Historian Lee on active duty withthe armed services, Herbert E. Kahler like Lee a former University ofMinnesota graduate student who had entered on duty as a park historian atChickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park in 1933 headed a leanand mean reorganized Branch of History as its acting chief.By February 1946 the Service was again headquartered inWashington, and Lee back from the military resumed the chiefhistorian's position and headed the Branch of History, consisting ofArcheological and Interpretive divisions. A March 31, 1951, reorganization ofthe Washington office found Lee elevated to one of the Service's three assistantdirectors. Reporting to Lee were four divisions, one being the History Divisionheaded by Chief Historian Herbert Kahler.Lee, during his years as chief historian and branch chief,saw preservation, construction, and interpretive programs first pared in themonths following the September 1, 1939, German attack on Poland and terminatedin the months immediately following Pearl Harbor. The post-World War II years,with the end of rationing and the introduction of the five-day work week, foundthe American public taking to the road in record numbers, and visits to parks,both cultural and natural, zooming. Park Service budgets and personnel ceilingsdid not increase to meet this challenge, because with a post-war boom in theeconomy there was little need or desire for an Emergency Conservation Worksprogram. Lee's office and the regional and park historians had to do more withless.Chief Historian Lee, a low-key but persuasive andperceptive leader adept at working with disparate and often competing groups,made use of these talents to mobilize a formidable preservation coalition fromwithin and outside the Service that led to action by Congress in 1949 thatresulted in chartering the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Henceforth,Service preservationists would have allies in heightening the public'sconsciousness of the need to preserve and protect what was significant inAmerica's cultural past and providing alternatives to National Park Serviceadministration of sites and structures.In 1948, Lee was a leader in the small core of NPSemployees, most of whom were historians, who organized the Eastern National Park Monument Association (ENP MA), a cooperating association chartered toprovide quality interpretive products and services to visitors at NPS areas andplow profits back into member Service areas to enrich interpretive and researchprograms. ENP MA has grown from a small "mom and pop" operation into amulti-million dollar association that in 1988 numbered 121 agencies, grossedmore that $11,300,000, and provided the Service with more than $1,000,000 toenable member parks to meet interpretive and research initiatives that arebeyond available NPS resources. ENP MA and its successes are a fittinglegacy to Ronald F. Lee and his associates.Herbert E. Kahler succeeded Lee as chief historian and headof the History Division on April 1, 1951, and held this position until December31, 1964, longer than any other person. A 1954 reorganization found the HistoryDivision becoming a branch in the Interpretive Division headed by Lee. OnJanuary 1, 1959, Lee became the Region V director and Daniel B. Beard waspromoted from superintendent of Everglades National Park to chief of theDivision of Interpretation. A December 1961 reorganization resulted in theestablishment of a History and Archeology Division as one of the seven divisionsreporting to an Assistant Director for Conservation, Interpretation and Use.Herb Kahler, a gregarious and frequent visitor to thefield, went that extra mile to get to know and bolster the morale of parkhistorians. The staff of the History Division, as it had since 1948, includedthree to four staff historians and a chief curator. Besides responding toinquiries from the Congress and to calls for studies and reports by theDirectorate and the Department, the Division was responsible for developing andoverseeing policy and guidelines as they applied to the Service's historicalresources.In 1951, Director Arthur E. Demaray initiated theAdministrative History Program. All units in the System were to prepare andmaintain an administrative history to provide an institutional memory for theparks, thereby insuring that the staffs were apprised of opportunities andchallenges. Failure by the History Division to give firm guidance and topromptly prepare and distribute a model administrative history and the advent ofMISSION 66, a 10-year rehabilitation and capital development program, firstslowed and then stalled this initiative.MISSION 66, as to be expected, monopolized the time andenergy of the Branch of History from 1955 through Mr. Kahler's retirement. Therewere programming and budgeting calls for hundreds of projects followed byreviews and comments focusing on master plans, interpretive prospectuses,wayside exhibit plans, and historic structure reports needed to implementDirector Conrad L. Wirth's bold initiative to bring park facilities, staffing,and resource preservation up to standard by 1966, the Service's 50thanniversary.In 1957, the National Survey of Historic Sites andBuildings was reactivated. It was headed by a historian reporting to Kahler andstaffed by historians assigned to each of the five regional offices. The Surveybecame an important Service tool for recognizing and encouraging thepreservation of nationally significant properties regardless of ownershipthrough the National Historic Landmarks program. In 1960, Secretary of theInterior Fred A. Seaton underscored the importance of the survey and programwhen he found 92 historic sites and buildings eligible for landmarkdesignation.Robert M. Utley, Kahler's successor as chief historian, wasa NPS veteran. He had "cut his teeth" as a 17-year-old seasonal historian atCuster Battlefield National Monument prior to seven years' service in Santa Fe,New Mexico, first as site survey historian and then as regional historian forthe Southwest Region. Utley possessed impressive credentials as a historian ofthe Army in the West, whose many publications have been and continue to beacclaimed by scholars as well as the public. As chief historian, Utley wassingularly Herbert Kahler successful in melding his talents as a respected,much-published historian and an effective and innovative bureaucrat.Utley's leadership of the History Division coincided withthe years of George B. Hartzog, Jr., as Director. This was an exciting andproductive period. Hartzog, a dynamic, politically astute, and hard-drivingleader, lashed out with a number of bold new initiatives aimed at expanding theNational Park System and asserting the Service's leadership in the preservationmovement that led to and followed passage of the National Historic PreservationAct of 1966.Hartzog was also a tinkerer, sometimes shooting from thehip, and instituted a number of reorganizations that had major repercussions forUtley's History Division, field historians, and the program. The first of thesewas implemented in December 1965 and resulted in the establishment of a Divisionof Interpretation and Visitor Services that reported to the Assistant Directorfor Operations.Utley's History Division was responsible to the AssistantDirector, Resource Studies. The close relationship on the Washington, regional,and park levels that dated to 1931 and the beginning of the Service's historyprogram was sundered. Next, in the winter and spring of 1966, all programmedhistory research was centralized in Chief Historian Utley's office. Toaccomplish this, a corps of base-funded senior historians was assigned toUtley's staff. The regional historian positions were deemed superfluous andphased out.This Hartzog reorganization had short-term benefits but itslong-term effects caused problems that historians and cultural resourceinterpreters are still seeking to bridge. Centralization of history researchunder the inspired leadership of Bob Utley and the forthright, hard-drivingChief of Park History Studies, Roy E. Appleman, was cost-effective, responsive,and productive. It also provided Utley with a reservoir of talent to draw on inexercising his responsibilities for seeing that the parks were managed to insurethat the historic resources were preserved and protected. The decisions tocentralize research in Washington, abolish the regional historian positions, andemphasize communication skills at the expense of subject expertise in the fieldhad unfortunate and long-lasting consequences. Positions formerly designated aspark historians were reclassified and redesignated as interpreters, parktechnicians, and chiefs of information, and frequently downgraded.In April 1970, Utley's empire was dismantled when DirectorHartzog implemented another reorganization that broke up the corps ofbase-funded research historians and reassigned most of them to one of then twoService Centers, where they were project-funded. Henceforth, the slimmed-downchief historian's office would focus on budgets, policy, legislative liaison,compliance, and the National Historic Landmarks program.Coincident with the organization and staffing of a Branchof Park History Studies, the Site Survey was centralized and staffed inWashington, an editor employed, and an ambitious publications programinaugurated. Before it was phased out in 1979, 12 handsome, copiouslyillustrated volumes, organized by theme and featuring the work of the NationalSurvey, were published.On October 15, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signedinto law the National Historic Preservation Act. This legislation, whichexpanded the National Register, established the Advisory Council on HistoricPreservation, and provided for review of federal actions affecting propertieslisted in the National Register, had far-reaching and immediate repercussionsfor Chief Historian Utley, the history program, and the Service. Utley, who hadworked closely with Director Hartzog and Ronald F. Lee to insure that the billas enacted continued to recognize the Department of the Interior as the leadfederal agency in historic preservation, chaired the task force that in 1966-67drafted the guidelines and standards to establish and institutionalize theNational Register.A July 1967 Hartzog reorganization, resulting from therecommendations of a three-man committee chaired by former Chief Historian Lee,led to establishment of an Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation headedby Dr. Ernest A. Connally, an articulate and urbane architectural historian wellknown in the academic and preservation communities. To underscore theinterdisciplinary approach to historic preservation, three divisions History, Archeology, and Historic Architecture reported to Connally.From April 1970 until September 1973 Chief Historian Utleyand the History Division were responsible for the Historic Sites Survey, policyand standards, and advising the Director on matters pertaining to history. In1970, a team of historians prepared the cultural resource component of theNational Park System Plan, published in 1972, a blueprint for a drasticexpansion of the System. Hartzog was fired as Director in December of 1972.A March 30, 1972, reorganization, the last one associatedwith George Hartzog, found Connally becoming Associate Director for ProfessionalServices and Utley stepping up to chief of the Office of Archeology and HistoricPreservation. The History Division, one of four divisions reporting to Utley,was headed by Dr. A. Russell Mortensen, who joined the History Division from theUniversity of Utah in the autumn of 1970.Mortensen was a personable and well-meaning academicianwith strong links to the Western History Association, but slight appreciation ofthe mission of the Service, its areas, and its history program. A mid-September1973 reorganization that separated Connally's associate directorship into twogroups of offices with oversight of cultural resource programs enabled theService to make better use of Mortensen's talents. Mortensen was promoted andnamed Assistant Director for Archeology and Historic Preservation, overseeingfour divisions concerned with administration of programs external to theNational Park System. This reorganization saw the Sites Survey separated fromthe History Division and assigned to Mortensen's assistant directorship. Thisdecision was justified on the premise that the survey and designation ofNational Historic Landmarks (NHLs) affected properties outside the System and asNHLs were entered into the National Register there must be close linkage withthe National Register Division.Bob Utley, because of his familiarity with the NPS and itsareas, became Assistant Director, Park Historic Preservation. Reporting to Utleywere three divisions History, Archeology, and Historic Architecture that were responsible for oversight of policy, guidelines, and standardsas applied to cultural resource properties managed by the NPS. Dr. Harry W.Pfanz, a 17-year NPS veteran with a deserved reputation for hard work, candor,and conservatism, was made chief historian, a position he held until hisDecember 30, 1980, retirement. These were trying years for the History Division,as well as the other Washington offices involved with management of theService's cultural properties. On May 14, 1976, a reorganization consolidatedthe three divisions into a Cultural Resource Management Division. Utley,dismayed at the low profile given cultural resources by Director Gary Everhardt,left the Service to become Deputy Executive Director of the Advisory Council forHistoric Preservation and was replaced by F. Ross Holland. Twenty-six monthslater, in July 1978, with President Jimmy Carter in the White House, there was amajor departmental reorganization. The Bureau of Outdoor Recreation and thedivisions belonging to Connally's associate directorship were reorganized bySecretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus into a new bureau the HeritageConservation and Recreation Service. Coincidentally, the Cultural ResourcesManagement Division was elevated to an assistant directorship and the HistoryBranch again became a division.Administrative actions and bureaucratic decisions overwhich Chief Historian Pfanz had little control made his years as chief historiana retrenchment period. How to best secure and expedite compliance with Section106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 was a major challenge. TheHistory Division took the lead in working with Bob Utley of the Advisory Councilin implementing programmatic memorandums of agreement with the Advisory Counciland the State Historic Preservation Officers to facilitate and expedite culturalresource and planning compliance actions on broad categories of activities. Anessential element of these programmatic actions was monitoring and review ofaction documents, and this compelled the Service to reestablish and staffregional historian positions in the ten regional offices.In 1974 and 1977, the History Division had the lead indeveloping and revising Chapter V of the Management Policies focusing oncultural resources. The History Division, working closely with the Anthropologyand Historic Architecture divisions, wrote and issued the first release ofNPS-28, Cultural Resources Management Guideline.Long before the January 1979 Harpers Ferry workshop, it hadbecome apparent to senior Service historians and interpreters, knowledgeablepark visitors, and congressional staffers that the mid-1960s decision todownplay the role and contributions of the professional discipline specialistsin favor of the communicators at parks was misguided. Prodded by Congress,senior cultural resource professionals, interpreters, and managers at theHarpers Ferry workshop recommended that the Service take steps to againemphasize the need for the interpretive staffs at the parks to be firmlygrounded in their professions as well as be good communicators. Thisrecommendation was endorsed by the directorate, and by the mid-1980s manycultural parks had on their staffs capable and articulate disciplinespecialists, many with publication and research credits in their vitas.Another thrust emerging from the Harpers Ferry workshop towhich Chief Historian Pfanz was deeply committed was taking action to combat andbring to the directorate's attention the incompatable uses in many culturalareas, particularly military parks, near large urban areas. This had also beencalled to the Service's attention by Congress.Among the first initiatives undertaken by Secretary of theInterior James G. Watt in 1981 was to abolish the Heritage Conservation andRecreation Service. Those divisions concerned with external cultural resources,headed by Associate Director Jerry L. Rogers, returned to the National ParkService. An element of this reorganization included the beefing up of theHistory Division through a reassignment to it of the designation anddedesignation functions of the National Historic Landmarks program. As actingchief historian for most of 1981, Benjamin Levy oversaw the reactivation of thisold line program which had atrophied during the HCRS years.On November 1, 1981, Edwin C. Bearss was named chiefhistorian, and Ben Levy became his strong "right arm" as the office's seniorhistorian with responsibilities for the NHL and compliance activities. The NHLprogram was particularly important, because the Reagan administration gave highpriority to the identification and recognition of nationally significant sitesand structures and their preservation by individuals and groups outside theService. But, before it could be full speed ahead, the 1980 amendments to theNational Historic Preservation Act of 1966 made it necessary to prepare, securethe approval of, and publish in the Federal Register regulationsgoverning the NHL program. This was accomplished in 1982.Then, in February 1983, to insure a better use of resourcesand promote efficiency through recognition that a number of the external andinternal cultural resource programs were interdependent, the associatedirectorates for National Register Programs and Cultural Resources Management(including the History, Anthropology, Historic Architecture, and CuratorialServices divisions) were merged. Jerry Rogers, a skilled administrator sensitiveto the need for Park Service historians to work with the state historicpreservation offices, the preservation community, academia, local governments,and other outside parties to meet the challenges of the 1980s, was named to headthe new associate directorate. The post-1983 organization of those offices onthe Washington level concerned with cultural resources represented a return tothe situation as it existed before the 1973 reorganization. L to R: C.P. Montgomery, Harold Peterson, Melvin Weig, Merrill Lattes, ErikReed, Herbert Kahler, Hillory Tolson, Ronald Lee, Charles W. Porter,J.C."Pinky" Harrington, Roy Appleman, Aubrey Neasham, Rogers Young, Harold G.Smith. (NPS photo)NPS Chief HistoriansVerne E. Chatelain (1931-1937)Ronald F. Lee (1938-1951)Herbert E. Kahler (1951-1964)Robert M. Utley (1964-1972)A. Russell Mortensen (1972-1973)Harry W. Pfanz (1974-1980)Edwin C. Bearss (1981-1994)Dwight T. Pitcaithley (1995-2005)Robert K. Sutton (2007-2015)Turkiya L. Lowe (2017-present)IN MEMORIAMEDWIN COLE BEARSS June 26, 1923 September 15, 2020(Buddy Secor/American Battlefield Trust photo)Ed Bearss, a Service veteran since 1955 and a noted CivilWar author and battlefield guide, reinvigorated the History Division with hisdynamic leadership style honed in the U.S. Marine Corps. Bearss won the supportof Director Russell E. Dickenson (a fellow former Marine) for an expandedNational Historic Landmarks program and a revived administrative history program the latter entailing appointment of a bureau historian to the staff forthe first time. Bearss's unpretentious, yet commanding, presence also endearedhim and his division to Dickenson's successor, William Penn Mott, Jr., andSecretary of the Interior Donald Paul Hodel, who invited the chief historian tolecture him and his top staff on the history of the Interior Department andcommissioned the division to complete a publication on that subject.Bearss's reputation beyond the National Park Service hashad additional repercussions, as when Secretary of the Army John O. Marsh andArmy Chief of Staff Gen. John A. Wickham enlisted him in 1985 to lead them andthe Army's top generals on a terrain walk at Antietam National Battlefield the first of several such exercises reviving one of the original purposesof the battlefield parks as training grounds for military leaders. His personalrelationship with the Secretary of the Army would profit the Service on otheroccasions involving cooperation with the military.As one who attained distinction in both interpretation andresearch during this Service career, Bearss believes strongly that historicalpark interpreters should be park historians in fact if not title expertsin their subject matter capable of research pertinent to it. His tenure has beenmarked by a significant return of employees with professional historicaltraining to historical park interpretation. Although the chief historian and theHistory Division exercise no line supervision over the park historians, theprofessional leadership and example of the division are vital to theencouragement of professionalism in the parks. Of late, the parks have hadmaximum encouragement in this regard.Edwin C. Bearss (by Harry Butowsky)I knew Ed Bearss for more than 40 years and worked for himas one of his staff historians for 14 years when he was Chief Historian.During this time, we handled many controversial studies, afour part study of the Man in Space Program, my Astronomy and Astrophysics NHLstudy, the Wolf Trap Administrative History, a study of the Exxon Valdez oilspill and a History of the National Park Service Park Police. These studies weredone in a timely manner and correct in all respects but that did not stop somepeople in the upper echelons of the Interior Building or in Congress in takingexception to what we had to say. Ed was ever the loyal soldier and also "went tobat" for his employees. If there was heat to be taken Ed took the heat and leftthe rest of us alone. He always supported us and was loyal to his staffhistorians and we were loyal to him. We continued to work together until 1994when Ed Bearss was forced to leave his position by the new Director after achange in Administration. Shortly after this, Ed retired from the National ParkService. I look back on this time as some of the best years of my governmentcareer.Ed Bearss saw that only the best people were hired ashistorians and interpreters in the National Park Service. He gave me theresponsibility to see that critical research was funded and Ed made sure thatthe conclusions of NPS research were protected from the vagaries of politics.Working in the Park History Program under Ed Bearss was a privilege. We allworked hard and enjoyed what we were doing. We were a well-oiled machine underEd's direction. I believe these were some of the most productive years in thehistory of the National Park Service History program. We supported the parks,the regional and park historians and provided the best quality interpretiveprograms for the American people.We set a high-level bar for the accomplishment of parkhistory studies that has not been equaled to this day. We worked with historiansfrom the parks, regional offices and the Denver Service Center and let them allknow that they had the complete support of Ed Bearss, the Chief historian of theNational Park Service. Ed Bearss was the rock upon which the practice of historyin the National Park Service reached its highest level of achievement.Anyone interested in Ed's career should read, Walkingthe Ground: The Making of American History.In Memory of Ed Bearss (by Jim Campi and Mary Koik, American Battlefield Trust)Please Note: NPSHistory.com is an independent effort; we are not an officialpartner of the National Park Service (NPS), though a huge debt ofgratitude is extended to all NPS employees (current and former) and other parksupporters who have graciously contributed their personal collections, thusenabling us to present these rather scarce documents for free public use. Duediligence has been employed in scanning these documents in an attempt to ensurethe accuracy of the materials presented. While most of the content containedherein is in the public domain, the Website also contains copyrighted works(permission to host this content has been obtained from the copyright-holders);please respect these copyright-holders by merely linking to this content and notre-posting. Use of this Website is done so at your own risk; we are notresponsible for any loss or damage arising from information or links containedwithin this site.

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