Do your summer travel plans include a stop at one of our nation’s National Parks?
We hope you can visit one of the many parks, monuments, battlefields, lakeshores, recreation areas, trails and more in the care of the National Park Service. Can’t visit in person? You can always join the National Archives online to celebrate the records of the National Park Service and take a virtual tour of the parks in the National Archives Catalog.
On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation that created the National Park Service. This legislation, also known as “The Organic Act,” brought most of the nation’s parkland under a single authority.
An Act of August 25, 1916, Public Law 64-235, (39 STAT 535) to Establish a National Park Service, and for Other Purposes, 8/25/1916 National Archives Identifier 29904776
According to the law, the mandate is to preserve the “scenery and the natural and historic objects and wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same” and to “leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”
History Hub features a number questions around the creation and background of the National Park Service, including:
National Park Service Master Plan Covers
During the 1930s, a series of acts and executive orders expanded the reach of the National Park Service and planning began to develop many national park areas. The NPS’s Branch of Plans and Design began creating master plans that showed proposed developments of areas of the parks, and included both a textual descriptive statement and a set of maps and drawings. The Cartographic Branch holds most of the National Park Service Master Plans within a series called Master Plans of Parks and Monuments, 1931 – 1941 (National Archives Identifier 591991).
Investigate past National Park plans and projects at History Hub!
Presidential visits to National Parks
Over the years, our Presidents, First Ladies and their families have visited and enjoyed the beauty and physical wonders of our nation’s land. Enjoy this selection of Presidential visits to America’s national parks and significant historic sites.
Photograph of President Gerald R. Ford, National Park Ranger Emeritus Wayne Replogle, and a National Park Ranger at Yellowstone National Park, 8/29/1976 National Archives Identifier 7518529
In 1941 the National Park Service commissioned noted photographer Ansel Adams to create a photo mural for the Department of the Interior Building in Washington, DC. The theme was to be nature as exemplified and protected in the U.S. National Parks. While the mural project was halted due to World War II and never resumed, the photographs remained. In 1962 the photographs were accessioned into the holdings of the Still Picture Branch at the National Archives. The original prints created for the project now reside within the series 79-AA: Ansel Adams Photographs of National Parks and Monuments, 1941 - 1942, and include 226 photographs taken for this project, most of them signed and captioned by Adams.
Full View of Cactus with Others Surrounding, "Saguaros, Saguaro National Monument," Arizona Photographer: Ansel Adams National Archives Identifier 519973
Learn more about the National Parks in these articles and resources from the National Archives:
Records of the National Park Service, Correspondence Related to Trails, 1974 - 1981
In celebration of the National Park Service, help us transcribe correspondence; economic and historic studies and summaries; working papers; and occasional maps of trails in Alaska being considered for conservation and recreation purposes. Every word you transcribe helps make these records more searchable and accessible in our Catalog. Get started transcribing today!
Records of the National Park Service, 1785 - 2006, Correspondence Related to Trails, 1974 - 1981, Chilkoot Trail. National Archives Identifier 247075612
