The National Park Service (NPS) History Collection includes over three million documents, photographs, video and sound recordings, scrapbooks and photo albums, and other materials. Available finding aids are below. Please check back frequently as new material is added regularly. Email the archivist for more information about these or other collections or to schedule a research visit.
NPS Collection Guides
Assembled Historic Records of the NPS (9159 KB, PDF).
New! National Park Service Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Collection: Documents related to general CCC history and efforts of the CCC at various parks including Saratoga, Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains, and Hawai'i. Later materials reflect the history and ongoing popularity of the CCC.
New! National Park Service Job Corps Collection: General Job Corps material including training manuals, handbooks, articles, photographic images, reports, and notes. Documents primarily related to the Harpers Ferry Job Corps Conservation Center near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, although other sites are included.
Updated! National Park Service Oral History Collection: Interview recordings, transcripts, notes, and reports created as part of various oral history interviews with ca. 1,200 NPS employees, cooperators, and partners.
Updated! National Park Service Paleontology Program Records: Documents created or assembled by the NPS Senior Paleontologist Vincent Santucci and others regarding paleontology resources in the NPS.
New! National Park Service Youth Programs Collection: Documents related to NPS Youth Program partners such as the Student Conservation Association (SCA), Young Adult Conservation Corps (YACC), Youth Conservation Corps (YCC), Boy Scouts of America, and other organizations.
Guides Related to NPS Directors
George B. and Helen C. Hartzog Papers: Correspondence, documents, photographs, publications, and other materials related to the career of NPS Director George B. Hartzog, Jr. Other materials which demonstrate Helen Hartzog's support of her husband's career and NPS families is included.
Stephen Tyng Mather Film Collection: 16mm films taken by NPS Director Stephen T. Mather with his personal movie camera as he traveled throughout national parks, ca. 1924-1929. Also includes a small number of commercial productions related to national parks.
Guides to Working Files of NPS Employees
See also the thematic finding aid below for a list of NPS employee working files.
Verne E. Chatelain: Although Chatelain’s NPS career (1931-1936) was short, as the first chief historian he prepared the first criteria for historical additions to the National Park System. The creation of the Historic Sites Survey (now the National Historic Landmarks Program) in 1935 also expanded the role of the chief historian in new directions.
Ernest A. Connally: Over a 13-year period, first as director of the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation (OAHP) and later as an NPS associate director, Connelly was the highest federal officer specifically charged with direction of the nation’s historic preservation programs.
Vera B. Craig: Craig began her NPS career (1947-1977) as a museum aide at Morristown National Historical Park. She went on to become an important figure in the NPS museum program and an expert in historic furnishings.
S. Herbert Evison: Although Evison began his NPS career (1933-1958) with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), by 1945 he had become the first NPS chief of information. In retirement Evison worked as an unpaid collaborator, conducting extensive oral history projects in the early 1960s and again in the 1970s, and writing several versions of an unpublished manuscript.
Ronald F. Lee: Lee began his NPS career (1933-1966) with the CCC, but went on to serve as chief historian, an assistant director, and director of the NPS Northeast Region. From 1966-1972 he worked as a special assistant to NPS Director George B. Hartzog, Jr. Throughout his career, Lee was an important leader in the historic preservation movement.
New! Mary Jane McDowell: In 1973 McDowell became the first woman law enforcement ranger at Mesa Verde National Park. She also worked as a ranger at Yellowstone.
Jesse L. Nusbaum: Throughout his NPS career (1921-1957), while working as superintendent of Mesa Verde National Park and senior NPS archeologist, Nusbaum advanced the study of archeology and NPS preservation practices. His influence was also felt outside the NPS, particularly in the Southwest.
Harold L. Peterson: During his career (1947-1978) Peterson rose from staff historian to NPS chief curator. He was also an internationally recognized scholar in the history of arms and armament.
Theodor R. Swem: Most of Swem’s NPS career (1957-1976) focused on planning activities, including for proposed areas. Although he served as both a regional director and an assistant director, it was his involvement with the Alaska Task Force and Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) that has the largest impact for the NPS.
Robert M. Utley: After six years (1947-1954) as a seasonal ranger at Custer National Battlefield (now Little Bighorn Battlefield Monument), Utley returned to the NPS as the Southwest Region historian (1956-1964) before becoming NPS chief historian (1964-1980). He played a key role in the development and implementation of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.
Guides to Still Image Collections
Thomas J. Allen Photograph Collection: Allen's photographs documenting his career in the NPS from 1920-1965.
Howard H. Chapman Slide Collection: Chapman's color transparencies (slides) documenting his career and travels to national parks and monuments. Chapman's personal diaries, which document significant events and conversations from 1971-1986, are included.
Natt N. Dodge Photograph Collection: Dodge's photographs, slides, and negatives documenting his career with the NPS from 1932-1963. Although images from Mount Rainier National Park are present, most of the images are from his work at national parks and monuments in the American Southwest. Includes a dozen hand-colored images of Native American artist Legoria Tafoya (Santa Clara Pueblo) demonstrating pottery making in June 1939.
Charles A. Heath Lantern Slide Collection: Hand-colored lantern slides from Heath's many visits to Yellowstone (1905-1909) and Glacier (1911) national parks. A small number of slides from the Teton range are also included.
New! Herbert Maier Photograph Albums: Black and white prints documenting construction of museums and interpretive structures Maier designed at Yosemite, Grand Canyon, and Yellowstone national parks and at Bear Mountain in Palisades Interstate Park in New York between 1924 and 1932.
Henry G. Peabody Photograph Collection: Peabody's lantern slides and guides published as illustrated lectures for national parks.
E.B. Thompson Negative Collection: Ezra B. Thompson's images of national parks and other locations or subjects. NPS sites include C&O Canal, Harpers Ferry, Great Falls, Arlington House: the Robert E. Lee Memorial, Glen Echo, Mount Rainier, National Mall (particularly the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial), Rock Creek Park, Shenandoah, Statue of Liberty, Yellowstone, and the White House.
Guides to NPS Newsletters and Bulletins
New! Nature Notes Collection: Bulletins produced by more than a dozen parks in the 1920s and 1930s (and in some cases later) to share interpretive information, original essays, wildlife observations, poetry, drawings, musings by park staff, and other information of interest to visitors and park supporters.
New! NPS Director’s Office Newsletters: Internal newsletters and bulletins covering news in parks, legal and policy issues, travel and visitation, construction, flora and fauna, accomplishments, personnel, and other topics between from 1919-1945 and 1966-1977.
Guides to NPS Reports
Please note that these guides refer to large assembled collections of NPS reports with no additional context. Reports will also be found in other collections and listed in various finding aids.
New! National Park Service Cultural Resources Bibliography Collection: Assembled collection of NPS cultural resource reports, studies, and management plans, including historic furnishings reports; historic structures reports; cultural landscape reports; archeological reports; historic resource studies; park administrative histories; collections management plans; environmental assessments; and interpretive prospectuses.
Guides to Papers Related to the National Park System Advisory Board
Harold P. Fabian: A lawyer and conservationist, Fabian served on the Advisory Board of National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings, and Monuments (now called the National Park System Advisory Board) from July 1, 1958, to June 30, 1964, including a term as chairman (1962-1964).
Guides to Records from Other Related Organizations
National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) Southeast Region Collection: A selection of NPCA, NPS, and other planning documents, reports, and studies related to advocacy work completed by Don Barger and staff at the NPCA Southeast Regional Office.
National Park Service Employee & Alumni Association Collection: Organizational and employee biographical records created by the E&AA. Includes newspaper and magazine format NPS newsletters published by the E&AA: National Park Courier, Newsletter: Employees & Alumni Association of the National Park Service, and Arrowhead.
National Park Service Women’s Organization: Materials documenting the activities and accomplishments of the NPS Women’s Organization (later National Park Women), including organizational bylaws, correspondence, newsletters, reports, photographic images, conference-related documents, and member directories. Files related to the 1952 NPS housing survey in support of Mission 66 are included.
Guides Related to Publications about the NPS
Robert Cahn Papers: Correspondence, research notes, recordings, and transcripts related to development of the 1985 book The Birth of the National Park Service: The Founding Years, 1913-1933 by Horace M. Albright as told to Robert Cahn.
Judy Hart Papers: Research compiled by Hart for her book A National Park for Women’s Rights: The Campaign That Made It Happen. Includes drafts of the books and documentation of her difficult relationship with the book's male editor, as well as copies of photographs and magnetic media from the creation of Women's Rights National Historical Site and her role as the park's first superintendent.
Polly Welts Kaufman Papers: Research (including oral history interviews) compiled by Kaufman for her book National Parks and the Woman's Voice: A History. Also includes additional research about "early savers" (Kaufman's term for women who were involved in getting national parks and monuments established) for a planned book that was never written.
Other Collection Guides
General Milton F. Davis Papers: Maps of Yosemite, General Grant, and Sequoia national parks created by Davis in the 1890s during his service with the 4th US Calvary. Correspondence with Yosemite superintendent Lawrence C. Merriam and members of a July 1919 auto tour are included.
Dorothy Boyle Huyck Papers: Records created by or assembled by Huyck for freelance articles and other products related to the NPS, particularly camping and conservation issues. Includes correspondence, research notebooks, brochures and pamphlets regarding NPS sites, NPS management plans, and news clippings.
Thematic Guides
Guide to NPS History Resources in Other Repositories: Guide to aid researchers interested in NPS history in locating NPS-related records in other repositories (besides the NPS History Collection).
Updated! Guide to the Working Files of NPS Employees: Listing of cataloged and uncataloged NPS employee working files in the NPS History Collection.
New! Historic Listing of NPS Park, Program, and Office Codes: Listing of current and historic NPS three- or four-letter codes used to represent parks, programs, and offices. This guide supplements other NPS History Collection finding aids which use these codes, although it may be useful for other purposes.
NPS Superintendent Annual Reports: Listing of NPS superintendent annual reports (SARs) found in various archival collections within the NPS History Collection (in progress).
NPS Copyright & Restrictions Information
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. The various state privacy acts govern the use of materials that document private individuals, groups, and corporations. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a reproduction if the document does not infringe the privacy rights of an individual, group, or corporation. These specified conditions of authorized use include:
- non-commercial and non-profit study, scholarship, or research, or teaching
- criticism, commentary, or news reporting
- as a NPS preservation or security copy
- as a research copy for deposit in another institution
If a user later uses a copy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," the user may be personally liable for copyright, privacy, or publicity infringement. This institution's permission to obtain a photographic, xerographic, digital, or other copy of a document doesn't indicate permission to publish, exhibit, perform, reproduce, sell, distribute, or prepare derivative works from this document without first obtaining permission from the copyright holder and from any private individual, group, or corporation shown or otherwise recorded.
Permission to publish, exhibit, perform, reproduce, prepare derivative works from, sell, or otherwise distribute the item must be obtained by the user separately in writing from the holder of the original copyright (or if the creator is dead from his/her heirs) as well as from any individual(s), groups, or corporations whose name, image, recorded words, or private information (e.g., employment information) may be reproduced in the source material. The holder of the original copyright isn't necessarily the National Park Service. The National Park Service is not legally liable for copyright, privacy, or publicity infringement when materials are wrongfully used after being provided to researchers for "fair use."
This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if fulfillment of the order is judged in violation of copyright or federal or state privacy or publicity law.
Last updated: March 30, 2025