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Rick Smith

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Dec 15, 2019, 8:59:17 PM12/15/19
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Rick,

 

In spite of the fact I have more than 40,000 nps publications on my web site, npshistory.com I am always on the hunt for park brochures, park newspapers and any site bulletins produced by each park.

 

Additionally, of particular interest are the following newspapers/newsletters/magazines:

 

Park Service Bulletin (published in the 1940s)

 

The Council Ring (also published in the 1940s)

 

NPS Newsletter / Courier / Arrowhead (this publication changed names and formats during its 62-year history; we have

an extensive [though not complete] collection from 1997 to 2017, but are mighty thin prior to 1977.  This URL shows

what we have online: http://npshistory.com/newsletters/courier/index.htm).

 

In Touch (we are missing No. 13, 14 and 16)

 

Park Practice Program — of particular interest are some of the missing issues of Trends magazine (the list of what

we have online can be found at: http://npshistory.com/newsletters/park_practice/index.htm#trends)

 

Southwestern Monuments (Monthly/Annual/Special) Reports  (1930s to early 1940s)

 

Any Historic Resource Studies/Historic Structure Reports/Historic Furnishing Reports/Administrative Histories which

were not written by Ed Bearss would also be of interest in addition to the Red Book studies authored by Ed.

 

The following is the list of studies written by Ed Bearss which we currently have listed on our Website.  The titles marked with a * are reports we are merely linking to as we were unable to locate paper copies: I estimate there are about 50 more studies completed by Ed that i am missing 

 

*Andersonville National Historic Site Historic Resource Study and Base Map (Edwin C. Bearss, July 31, 1970)

Arkansas Post National Memorial, Structural History of Post Arkansas, 1804-1863 and Civil War Troop Movement Maps, January 1863 (Edwin C. Bearss and Lenard E. Brown, April 1971)

Battery Jasper Historic Structure Report: Part II -- Historical Data Section (Edwin C. Bearss, October 31, 1968)

*Buildings in the Core-Area and Jesse Hoover's Blacksmith Shop Historic Structure Report: Historic Data and Archeological Data (Edwin C. Bearss and Wilfred M. Husted, November 30, 1970)

Cavalry Operations — Battle of Stones River (Edwin C. Bearss, April 1959)

*Charlestown Navy Yard, 1800-1842: Historic Resource Study, Volume I of II (Edwin C. Bearss, October 1984)

*Charlestown Navy Yard, 1800-1842: Historic Resource Study, Volume II of II (Edwin C. Bearss, October 1984)

*Chesapeake & Ohio Canal: The Bridges (Edwin C. Bearss, January 31, 1961)

Coastal Forts of the Southeastern United States (Edwin C. Bearss, 1977)

Eisenhower Farm, 1762-1967: Historic Resource Study and Historical Base Map, Eisenhower National Historic Site (Edwin C. Bearss, December 31, 1970)

Fence and Ground Cover Map (Edwin C. Bearss, December 1961)

Fort Moultrie Units (Edwin C. Bearss, November 5, 1973)

Fort Smith 1838-1971 (Edwin C. Bearss, November 1963)

General Background Study and Historical Base Map, Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland-Virginia (Edwin C. Bearss, December 18, 1968)

General C. F. Smith's Attack on the Rebel Right (Edwin C. Bearss, December 1959)

George Rogers Clark Memorial: Historic Structure Report/Historical Data (Edwin C. Bearss, June 30, 1970)

*George Rogers Clark: Vincennes Sites Study and Evaluation, George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, Vincennes, Indiana (Edwin C. Bearss, December 31, 1967)

*Gulf Islands: Fort on Ship Island (Fort Massachusetts) 1857-1935. Historic Structure Report. (Edwin C. Bearss, January 1984)

*Herbert Hoover National Historic Site Historic Base Map and Ground Study, Herbert Hoover 1874-1886 (Edwin C. Bearss, July 20, 1968)

*Historic Basic Data, Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Montana-Wyoming: Volume 1 (Edwin C. Bearss, February 1970)

*Historic Basic Data, Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Montana-Wyoming: Volume 2 (Edwin C. Bearss, February 1970)

Historic Furnishing Study: Primary Department of the West Branch School and Jesse Hoover's Blacksmith and Wagon Shop, Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, West Branch, Iowa (Edwin C. Bearss, December 1973)

Historic Grounds and Resource Study (Edwin C. Bearss, July 1974)

*Historic Resource Study and Historic Structures Report Historical Data, and 11, Lincoln Home National Historic Site (Edwin C. Bearss, August 1977)

Historic Resource Study and Historical Base Map, Andersonville National Historic Site (Edwin C. Bearss, July 31, 1970)

*Historic Resource Study, Lyndon B. Johnson and the Hill Country 1937-1963, Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park Southwest Cultural Resources Center Professional Papers No. 3 (Edwin C. Bearss, 1984)

Historic Resource Study: Fort Hancock, 1948-1974 (Edwin C. Bearss, November 1982)

Historic Resource Study: Fort Hancock: 1895-1948 (Edwin C. Bearss, May 1981)

*Historic Resource Study: Ship Island, Harrison County, Mississippi, Gulf Island National Seashore (Edwin C. Bearss, July 1984)

Historic Resource Study: The Sandy Hook Defenses, 1857-1948, Gateway National Recreation Area, New York and New Jersey (Edwin C. Bearss, September 1983)

*Historic Resource Study: The Sandy Hook Proving Ground, 1874-1919 (Edwin C. Bearss, September 1983)

Historic Structure Report and Historic Resource Study, Historical Data Section-Ewing (Snell) and ML Ranches, and Hillsboro (Edwin C. Bearss, March 1974)

*Historic Structure Report and Historic Resource Study: Fort Barrancas Gulf Islands National Seashore (Edwin C. Bearss, September 1983)

*Historic Structure Report and Resource Study: Pensacola Harbor Defense Project (Edwin C. Bearss, March 1982)

Historic Structure Report for Fort Matanzas National Monument, St. John's County, Florida (Luis Rafael Arana, John C. Paige and Edwin C. Bearss, 1980)

*Historic Structure Report, Building 198, Historical, Archeological, Architectural Data Section, Charlestown Navy Yard (Edwin C. Bearss, Audrecy Marie, Shelley K. Roberts and Curtis Lester, October 1982)

Historic Structure Report, Historical Data Section: Fort Jefferson: 1846-1898 (Edwin C. Bearss, July 1983)

Historic Structure Report, Historical Data Section: Ft Pickens, 1821-1895: Gulf Islands National Seashore, Florida/Mississippi (Edwin C. Bearss, 1983)

*Historic Structure Report, Historical Data: Home, William Howard Taft National Historic Site (Edwin C. Bearss, October 1972)

Historic Structure Report, Texas White House, Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park, Texas Southwest Cultural Resources Center Professional Papers No. 4 (Edwin C. Bearss, October 1986)

*Historic Structure Report/Historical and Architectural Data: Howser House, Kings Mountain National Military Park, South Carolina (Edwin C. Bearss, June 1974)

Historic Structures Report, Fort Point, Historic Data Section (Edwin C. Bearss, March 1973)

Historic Structures Report: The Dover Hotel, Dover, Tennessee, Part 1 — Historical Data (Edwin C. Bearss, December 1959)

Historic Structures Report: Town Creek Aqueduct (Edwin C. Bearss, February 1966)

*Historical Base Map, Shiloh National Military Park and Cemetery, Shiloh, Tennessee (Edwin C. Bearss, August 1973)

Historical Base and Ground Cover Map, Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, Greene and Christian Counties, Missouri (Edwin C. Bearss, 1979)

History Basic Data, Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Volume 1 (Edwin C. Bearss, February 1970)

History Basic Data, Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Volume 2 (Edwin C. Bearss, February 1970)

History Basic Data, Redwood National Park (Edwin C. Bearss, September 1, 1969)

History Resource Study: Hoopa-Yurok Fisheries Suit, Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation, Del Norte and Humboldt Counties, California (Edwin C. Bearss, 1989)

*Hoopa-Yurok Fisheries Suit Historic Resource Study (Edwin C. Bearss, 1989)

Law Enforcement at Fort Smith, 1871-1896 (Edwin C. Bearss, January 1964)

Lincoln Boyhood: As a Living Historical Farm (Edwin C. Bearss, April 30, 1967)

Montgomery's Tavern and Johnston & Armstrong's Store: Historic Structures Report/Historical Data (Edwin C. Bearss, May 31, 1971)

Proposed Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park: Historic Resource Study (Edwin C. Bearss, November 15, 1970)

*Protecting Sherman's Lifeline: The Battle of Brices Cross Roads and Tupelo 1864 (Edwin C. Bearss, 1971)

Robert Scruggs House Historic Structure Report (Edwin C. Bearss, November 1974)

Shipwreck Study-The Dry Tortugas: Fort Jefferson National Monument (Edwin C. Bearss, April 15, 1971)

Special History Study, Fort Moultrie HECP-HDCP, Fort Sumter National Monument (Edwin C. Bearss, May 1974)

The Battle of Cowpens: A Documented Narrative & Troop Movement Maps (Edwin C. Bearss, October 15, 1967)

The Battle of Sullivan's Island and the Capture of Fort Moultrie: A Documented Narrative and Troop Movement Maps, Fort Sumter National Monument, South Carolina (Edwin C. Bearss, June 30, 1968)

*The Battle of the Jerusalem Plank Road (Edwin C. Bearss, February 1966)

The Bridges, Chesapeake & Ohio Canal (Edwin C. Bearss, January 31, 1961)

The Colbert Raid, Arkansas Post National Memorial, Arkansas: Special History Report (Edwin C. Bearss, November 1974)

*The Composite Locks: Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Monument, Historic Structure Report, Historical Data Section (Edwin C. Bearss, March 31, 1968)

The Fall of Fort Henry (Edwin C. Bearss, The West Tennessee Historical Society, Vol. XVII, 1963)

The Ferry Boat, Ellis Island: Transport to Hope, Statue of Liberty National Monument (Edwin C. Bearss, April 30, 1969)

The First Two Fort Moultries: A Structural History (Edwin C. Bearss, June 30, 1968)

The Hoover Houses and Community Structures Historic Structures Report: Historical Data (Edwin C. Bearss, November 30, 1971)

The P.T. Smith House Historic Structures Report - Historical Data: Herbert Hoover National Historic Site (Edwin C. Bearss, September 30, 1969)

The Tupelo Campaign: June 22-July 23, 1864 — A Documented Narrative & Troop Movement Maps (Edwin C. Bearss, May 15, 1969)

Tonoloway Aqueduct, Chesapeake & Ohio National Monument (Edwin C. Bearss, June 30, 1967)

*Town Creek Aqueduct, Historic Structure Report, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park, Maryland (Edwin C. Bearss, February 1966)

Unconditional Surrender: The Fall of Fort Donelson (Edwin C. Bearss, 1962)

 

which comes to 74 titles.

 

I am also missing Manual of Training Methods (Frank Kowski and Julius Ettington, 1956 edition), Tree Preservation Bulletins (Nos. 1, 2 4, 6, 7), North

Atlantic Regional Office CRM Studies Nos. 1, 5, 16, 19 and 24, North Atlantic Regional Office ACMP Series No. 2, National Capital Region Occasional

Reports Nos. 6, 13, 15, and 18-21, Southwest Cultural Resources Center Professional Papers Nos. 9 and 11, Archeological Investigations in Skagway

Nos. 1 and 2.  I mention the latter just in the event these studies came across his desk and Ed may have saved a copy.

 

Lastly, we are also woefully short on materials pertaining to Mission 66 — pretty much ANYTHING pertaining to Mission 66 would be of great

value, as well as any materials pertaining to the CCC.

 

If anyone has some of these materials they can contact me at Harry...@gmail.com.

 

Thank you,

 

Harry Butowsky

 

 

Rick Smith

5264 N. Fort Yuma Trail

Tucson, AZ 85750

Tel: 520-529-7336

Cell: 505-259-7161

Email: rsmit...@comcast.net

 

Rick Smith

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Dec 19, 2019, 7:04:44 PM12/19/19
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Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: Harry Butowsky <harry...@gmail.com>
Date: December 19, 2019 at 4:43:42 PM MST
To: Rick Smith <rsmit...@comcast.net>
Subject: Fwd: Borowitz: Andrew Johnson Horrified That History Books Will Mention Him in Same Sentence as Trump





Subject:
:
From:
:
Andrew Johnson Horrified That History Books Will Mention Him in Same Sentence as Trump
Andrew Johnson.
Source: Alamy

THE AFTERLIFE (The Borowitz Report)—In a rare public statement from beyond the grave, Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth President of the United States, said that he was “horrified” that history books will now mention him in the same sentence as Donald J. Trump.

Making his first utterance since he died, in 1875, the spectral Johnson said, “As someone who has actually experienced death, I can safely say that being mentioned in the same breath as Trump is a fate worse than that.”

“I could deal with history remembering me as the first U.S. President to be impeached,” he said. “But knowing that I will now appear in the first line of Trump’s obituary is, to put it mildly, devastating.”

“What have I done to deserve this?” Johnson asked.

Although being linked with Trump for eternity was “something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy,” Johnson conceded that there was a silver lining to Trump’s Presidency.

“Finally, I’m no longer considered the worst President in history,” he said.

Rick Smith

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Dec 25, 2019, 5:11:50 PM12/25/19
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SAVING HISTORY IN THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE BY HARRY BUTOWSKY

Let’s face it. The history profession has been in decline for decades, and the National Park Service has been right behind. Experienced professionals are retiring and not being replaced, and if replaced, that by social historians committed to issues of race, class, gender, and equity. Fine. Those approaches have value, too. The point is still not to displace what makes the National Park Service exceptional—a commitment to the nation’s story, including (and pardon my saying so) great men and great events. Take Pearl Harbor—December 7, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s day that would live in infamy. Believe it or not, but I was in Philadelphia on December 7 this year—and not a newspaper in the city was covering it. I asked several people and they didn’t know either, then one finally said: Yes, I know Pearl Harbor. The Italians attacked us, right? I would have fallen off my bar stool, but it was a long way to the floor. What explains our national amnesia? Just this. The teaching of history has become politically correct. As for Congress and the administration, they continue to add more parks and cut funding and staffing as the same time. In its own way, that is political correctness. They are playing to a crowd of miscreants that believes government should get out of the way. Even the office of Chief Historian has been affected. It used to a GS-15 position but under President Obama, the position was downgraded to a GS- 14

According to peer.org , as both the number of parks and visitation have swelled over the past decade, the number of full-time staff employed by National Park Service (NPS) has been in steep decline, falling by more than 3,500 or 16% since 2011. These growing shortfalls compromise the ability of the parks to protect both their resources and the visiting public.

 

The National Park System is now responsible for more than 419 diverse units, including parks, battlefields, historic sites, monuments, seashores, and scenic trails. In 2018, nearly 320 million people visited national parks, a number roughly equivalent to the total U.S. population. In contrast to this large and increasing workload, overall staffing, as measured by full-time equivalent employees (FTEs), has fallen sharply since 2011 through 2019, including:

 

Once again according to peer.org  a decline in Park Protection staff of 20% or 613 fewer rangers and emergency services staff; Visitor Services staffing has decreased by a similar amount, 19%, or 554 fewer slots; and Resource Stewardship has dropped by 16% or 420 fewer positions.

 

“These figures reflect a serious erosion in our ability to safeguard some of the most iconic areas in the United States for current and future generations While the backlog of needed park maintenance and infrastructure projects has ballooned to roughly $12 billion, NPS facilities operation and maintenance staffing has decreased the most of any major workforce component – a 21% drop or 1,106 fewer FTEs.

 

“Our national park system is suffering from chronic wasting disease and headed for a serious breakdown,” The  NPS has had no permanent director under Trump. “In 2016, our national park System celebrated its centennial but today we see a system stumbling into its second century, without support, a strategy, or leadership,”

 

 

 

The lack of service-wide staff demands the Chief Historian develop a well thought out and coordinated strategy to work with the parks and regional historians. But again, what is the chance of that, when the Chief Historian can just slide? At one time a robust cadre of park historians wrote and published first-rate historical studies of their parks.

National Park Service historians, such as Robert Utley, Jerry Greene, Gordon Chappell, Richard Sellars, John Paige, Barry Mackintosh, Harlan Unrau, John Williss, John Paige, and Harry Pfanz, have all published books that are recognized as the best in their field. They are giants in the study of American History. Barry set the standard for doing park administrative histories which is still followed to this day.

 

Harry Pfanz’s three volume history of Gettysburg is a classic and is unlikely to ever be equaled, much less exceeded, while Bob Utley is one of the best historians ever to work in the field of Western History. Jerry Greene is acknowledged to be one of the best historians to write about the Indian wars in the post-Civil War period. Gordon Chappell is recognized as the best historian who ever worked on Western Railroads. Richard Sellars wrote a classic history of Natural Resources Management in the National Park Service. Historian Carolyn Pitts published a landmark study of the Architecture of Cape May New Jersey that resulted in the designation and saving of the architectural heritage of the entire community.

 

Harland Unrau and John Willis wrote the classic history of the expansion of the National Park Service in the 1930s. John Paige’s history of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service will likely never be equaled. Melody Webb, wrote A Woman in the Great Outdoors: Adventures in the National Park Service. This book is a classic history of the role of women in the

historically male-dominated ranger ranks. Exploring a Common Past: Researching and Interpreting Women’s History for Historic Sites by Polly Welts Kaufman and Katherine T. Corbett.

They met the public, gave tours, and traveled outside of the parks, speaking to interested audiences. Today this is not the case. Very few of these historians are left. They have all retired or taken jobs with other agencies. In short the practice of history has decline to the point of failure in our parks. Histories are contracted out to people and organizations who do not work for the National Park Service. These studies are expensive—and often poor. Again, where is the incentive to make them exceptional? At one time we had a trained cadre of NPS historians writing important studies. This is no longer the case. The National Park Service is losing its in house capability to do the studies necessary to provide for the operation of the parks. The Park History Program of the NPS needs to develop and long range strategic plan for history. This plan should contain some of the following elements.

Suggested long range strategic plan for History in the NPS

1. Develop a new up to date and viable web site for NPS history

2. See to it that only the best historians and most qualified historians are hired.

3. Encourage Regional and WASO based NPS Historians to visit the parks and give interpretive talks to the public.

4. Encourage Park NPS Historians to give outside speeches on historical topics. Americans have a voracious appetite for serious history (well, serious Americans).

5. Encourage NPS Historians to ensure that every park has an up to date administrative history

6. Encourage NPS historians to know the history and literature of the NPS.

7. History in the NPS is  too often hobbled by the agency’s weak support for its history workforce, by agency structures that confine history in isolated silos (each with its separate leaders and lines of authority), by uneven and sometimes erratic funding priorities, by often narrow and static conceptions of history’s scope, and by timid interpretation.

When these problems manifest themselves, NPS falls short of its full potential to serve as keeper and interpreter of the nation’s past. They help us to understand ourselves as a people and nation in today’s complex world. All of our cultural and historical sites teach important lessons in American history. If the National Park Service is to survive and be meaningful to the American people we need to continue and strengthen the role of history in our National Parks. The failure to do so will result not only in a diminished National Park Service but also a weakening of the American Republic and our Constitutional Democracy. The legacy of Stephen Mather, Horace Albright, Vern Chatelain (as illustrated in the Ken Burns series, for example) is in danger. It is easy to lose our historical memory and difficult to retrieve it. If the National Parks are to have any meaning for the American people they must be managed by able people and staffed by knowledgeable and articulate historians, and interpreters of different disciplines. If ever there was a time for the Chief Historian’s office to exert active and dynamic leadership, it is now. Good and accurate history can show us how to manage not only current events but also the future. Good history not only is a guide to the past but a road map to the future.

Robert Utley

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Dec 25, 2019, 6:38:15 PM12/25/19
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Well stated and all too true Harry. I was Chief Historian during George Hartzog’s entire tenure, 1963-1972. He always introduced me as “his” Chief Historian, which I was. But he was a superior who had to be handled very carefully, which I did, without ever surrendering my professional objectivity. He used to boast about that. He never asked that I give him politically needed decisions. One compromise that I recall vividly was when Horace Albright insisted that as part of the Yellowstone centennial program at Madison Junction, the campfire story be reenacted. When I learned about that I hurried up to George’s office and told him he couldn’t do that, the campfire drama was false, and it had been historically proven false. But of course Horace wielded a lot of influence, and George didn’t want to get into a fight with him. Shortly before the centennial program at Madison Junction, George summoned me to his office. He declared emphatically, “Utley, we are going to have a campfire at Madison Junction, and we are going to have it for same damn reason those guys had a century ago—TO KEEP WARM.” And so during the centennial ceremony, as Secretary Rogers Morton droned on endlessly, and First Lady Pat Nixon shivered in the freezing cold, it began to snow. The campfire may not have kept many people warm, but it represented a director’s decision that both of us could live with: a campfire but no reenactment.

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Paul Anderson

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Dec 25, 2019, 10:18:20 PM12/25/19
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Thank you Harry and Bob.  You are so right!  As I assume leadership of the Association of National Park Rangers for the next three years, I wonder how we might work together to help ensure that NPS doesn’t lose sight of the importance of our history, and American history. Please let me know your ideas on how we can help build a stronger and more resilient NPS workforce that understands and embraces history and helps Americans understand and appreciate the importance of our history in making good decisions to lead our country into the future.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and support.

Paul Anderson

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 25, 2019, at 4:38 PM, Robert Utley <oldb...@cox.net> wrote:



Denny Huffman

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Dec 25, 2019, 10:34:51 PM12/25/19
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What a great story, Bob.  I remember that evening  at Madison Junction very well and Pat Nixon’s smile despite the weather.  

An Epopt

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Dec 26, 2019, 12:23:03 AM12/26/19
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With all due respect, especially since I deeply respect some of the voices speaking here, I see this problem differently.

 

More parks and less staff is a dreadful, continuing problem. It is also a tragically old one.

 

Nobody (except, perhaps, Perry Pendley) much fights against new parks. But funding hasn’t kept pace since the days of “Mission 66.”  I find absolutely incomprehensible the notion of styling it as a type of “political correctness.”

 

When Ron Walker was Director in the early 1970’s, he sought attention to NPS budget and staffing deficiencies. Associated Press reporter Stan Benjamin wrote a series at the time that got wide national publication.

 

During Russ Dickenson’s tenure (he served under Carter and Reagan), we saw the birth of the “backlog” concept, assigning a dollar value to how far behind NPS appropriations were falling. That didn't happen because everything was "up to snuff."

                            

Then there’s the notion that “under President Obama” the chief historian position was downgraded from GS-15 to GS-14. I wasn’t there when it happened, I can’t offer an informed judgment of who decided or why in this particular case. Yet, I’m confident that no one in the White House or OMB dictated that. In fact, I’d doubt that it came from DOI. Such changes are almost always bureau decisions – sometimes from political leadership, more often driven by career managers.

 

I really want to see better support for the human history story that is reflected not only in the more than half our parks that represent it, but also in the National Historic Landmarks program, the National Register of Historic Places, Historic American Buildings Survey and more.

 

History is not a peripheral mission and it needs substantially upgraded support.

 

The same can be said of scientific research efforts and the community support programs housed in “Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance.”

 

Nobody in NPS is getting what they need. When top management sees resources that are dramatically short of needs – and how can a $12 billion backlog be anything else? – they have to choose which starving park or program should get an occasional piece of meat in its bowl of broth.

 

It’s up to us, our friends and our allies to prioritize and articulate the needs in ways that are persuasive in the halls of Congress. We won’t see adequate funding until enough politicians believe it matters to the people who keep them in office – voters.

 

This is precisely why every letter or OpEd written and published by a retired interpreter, a former superintendent, or a programmatic expert is vital to the future of properties and programs we cherish. The combined voice of our community of retirees is essential to making that message clear.

 

Duncan


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Bill Wade

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Dec 26, 2019, 7:18:04 AM12/26/19
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I think we have to change the narrative from being a “budget” problem to being a “priority” problem. We all see the need for a higher priority, both inside the NPS for the backlog and the programs Duncan mentions, and in the Congress for appropriations. And much of the public does also. Focusing on priorities for the NPS and its programs has value and benefit for other than just more money.

 

Bill Wade

5625 N Wilmot Road

Tucson, AZ 85750

Email: jwbil...@gmail.com

Home/Office Phone = 520-615-9417

FAX: 520-844-8886

Cell Phone = 520-444-3973

Tom Vaughan

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Dec 26, 2019, 7:45:38 AM12/26/19
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Interesting discussion. Love the input from those who have been through a few rodeos.

My first reaction to Harry's excellent analysis and proposal was to wonder if the NPS history experience parallels that of the study and presentation of history generally in the U.S.? Or are we fighting a battle of our own making, one that is now in a backwater, out of the mainstream of the history profession today? 

Duncan' latest chime-in hits the mark, too. "History is not a peripheral mission and it needs substantially upgraded support." Big whoopty-do in NM because White Sands will be a Park instead of a National Monument. Big deal - it's the same place it was last month, with no more funding added to the pipeline. And it reinforces the image that the "national parks" are great natural areas, untouched by the grubby hands of humans. To follow Duncan's path, just as there is something of nature in every area of the NPS, there is also a history - often several histories. 

Sadly, the reality I see is that we (parks generally, including natural and historic resources) are unlikely to ever again be more than a sideshow, fighting desperately for every scrap we can scrounge from the national budget. Congress just obligated $738,000,000,000 in the FY2020 NDAA. They did so, not because it will strengthen our national security (it's a Christmas tree with lots of stuff on it that's not really defense-related), but because it is now an untouchable way to get tax money to the states and districts - what we used to accomplish through so-called "pork barrel" legislation. Call it "national defense" and its untouchable ... and it feeds the addiction to Pentagon money that so many communities and regions have now become dependent on. 

I doubt that I will live to see us begin to reallocate our resources in ways that better benefit the American people than continuing to produce bright, shiny, over-budget objects that go bang! But that is the direction we need to be going before we will see any improvement in support for the parks. 

Predawn grousing - haven't had my oatmeal yet. 

Love you all,

Tom
(just saw the note Bill posted while I was pondering the above. He always was more to the point! ;-})

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--
Tom Vaughan
FeVa Fotos
feva...@gmail.com

"My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." Wisconsin Senator Carl Schurz, a German immigrant, in the U.S. Senate on Feb. 29, 1872.

An Epopt

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Dec 26, 2019, 8:49:19 AM12/26/19
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Money is the problem.

 

The work of government runs on money. You can’t hire a historian who doesn’t draw a paycheck. A snowplow for Joshua Tree must be bought or leased, then fueled and provided a driver. A new roof for Fort Pulaski requires a contractor and materials that must be paid for. Understanding how to protect wildland resources from wild boar requires research by researchers who still need to eat and buy clothes.

 

We’ve long since done “more with less” to the point it has necessarily become “less with less.” “With less” simply isn’t enough.

 

Volunteers, individually or through “Friends” groups, are doing jobs that used to rely on paid staff. Cooperating Associations supplement interpretation and more. Conservation and historic preservation groups pitch our message. Youth groups are maintaining trails and cataloging collections.

 

Every program and park routinely seeks donors and donations, often diverting critical staff to even more critical fiscal goals.

 

The problem is not NPS priorities. The problem is making NPS the priority of every annual appropriation cycle managed by a two-year Congress as well as each and every Administration that passes by in four or eight-year cycles.

 

A key part of that is making sure parks remain relevant to a public that seems to have an ever-shortening attention span in this age of technology.

 

What NPS protects and presents is the core human and natural history legacy of America. That is important. We need to communicate that importance to every visitor, to every driver who passes a park, to every complainer, and, especially to every voter. If the public cares, Congress will care.

 

We’re not telling people our story – we’re telling them theirs. That legacy is part of them. It is up to us to show them why it matters. It’s a story we, who worked there, can tell with clarity and passion, unconstrained by the competing priorities of other bureaus and programs.

 

That’s our profound priority. Today and every day.

 

duncan


To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/parklandsupdate/CAJc3tahJVNP%3DZL2CJ6U_n1N0atKbTr3iEb3w5TR%2Bc_PPVYCCqw%40mail.gmail.com.

Anne Whisnant

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Dec 26, 2019, 9:59:37 AM12/26/19
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Related to this discussion, I'd like to remind the group of the wide-ranging report that I and three other historian colleagues wrote and published in 2011: Imperiled Promise: The State of History in the National Park Service (pdf download available at this link).

This study, based on extensive research in NPS materials, site visits, focus groups, interviews, and a detailed survey sent to 1500+ NPS employees working in and around history (including interpretation, cultural resources, and programs like the National Register, etc.), was commissioned by the NPS Chief Historian's Office (Dwight Pitcaithley/Bob Sutton eras) and co-sponsored by the Organization of American Historians. It addressed many dimensions of the problems that confront historical work in the agency, including underfunding/understaffing, but also various NPS structural and cultural issues (including leadership, technology, fear, and the interpretation/cultural resources divide).

Some of Harry's statement just sent (including the entire text of his point #7) draws from insights explored in our study (this particular point is on p. 11).  My co-authors and I would, I am sure, agree with some of what Harry has laid out regarding the need for strong leadership for history and for hiring, developing, and retaining more well-trained historians.  We would also agree with other comments offered here about the crying need for the NPS as a whole to be funded on par with its importance, and for history/cultural work within NPS to be prioritized both internally and externally.

But we would strongly disagree with Harry's assertion that the problems with NPS history are in any way related to the growing incorporation of social history, women's history, African American history, native American history, or many other less-well-known histories relevant to ALL Americans. It is precisely through uncovering and developing these stories that NPS history has a chance to regain its relevance and draw in new visitors and learners in the NPS "Second Century." Sites like Birmingham Civil Rights, Reconstruction, Selma to Montgomery speak loudly to concerns that are central to our country's current political and social dilemmas.

And, expanding the stories that are told in the parks does not always require new parks. With commitment to research and creative and expansive thinking and some courage, it is possible to uncover and introduce profound and powerful new narratives at existing sites. As one of those externally contracted historians that Harry discusses (none too favorably), I am currently engaged in research that has the potential to introduce detailed (and, yes, painful) histories of slavery, race, and class at both Cape Lookout National Seashore (Portsmouth Village) and the Carl Sandburg Home NHS -- stories that NPS has heretofore overlooked. And yet a question for me -- again, as someone on the outside with no ability to assure follow-up on any study I might research and write -- is whether NPS internally has the capacity or will to do anything with such research (yes, high-quality research!) once it is done. Doing excellent, relevant history in NPS these days has got to be a two-way partnership between scholars on the outside and qualified, interested, able staff on the inside -- of which there is not nearly enough at present to allow park history to realize its unlimited potential.

I could go on at some length, as this is a topic for which I have a great passion, but I mostly just wanted to remind everyone who is interested in the matter of historical work in the NPS of Imperiled Promise. 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday week--

With kind regards,

Anne Mitchell Whisnant, Ph.D.
Primary Source History Services
Chapel Hill, NC
(also Director, Graduate Liberal Studies Program, Duke University)





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Rick Smith

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Dec 26, 2019, 11:00:23 AM12/26/19
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Anne-- 

 

I agree with your point about social history. Park areas include the history of all people.

 

From: parklan...@googlegroups.com [mailto:parklan...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Anne Whisnant
Sent: Thursday, December 26, 2019 6:59 AM
To: parklan...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [PLW Update] From Harry

 

Related to this discussion, I'd like to remind the group of the wide-ranging report that I and three other historian colleagues wrote and published in 2011: Imperiled Promise: The State of History in the National Park Service (pdf download available at this link).

Denny Huffman

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Dec 26, 2019, 12:25:43 PM12/26/19
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What a great discussion - many thanks everyone!  Recall the Hartzog days when our frustrated director said he would no longer pitch or take resources such as a new shiny visitor center without the resources to staff it, interpret it, protect it, stock it with exhibits, and maintain it.  At the time it got some traction, but the allure of a representative taking credit for the new shiny object soon overcame that philosophy and then our very powerful director moved on.  That example is a shorter version of where we are today on a much larger scale.  Our employees are excellent at communicating these stories about parks and how they fit into our culture, but when the local historian, interpreter, or resource specialist is also the volunteer coordinator, safety officer, public information specialist, etc. they no longer have the time to hone their educational skills.  They do an excellent job with the time and resources available to them.        

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/parklandsupdate/013201d5bc0e%247a238590%246e6a90b0%24%40comcast.net.

Rick Smith

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Dec 26, 2019, 12:59:26 PM12/26/19
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Right, Denny.  We have been doing more and more with less and less for a long time.  As Wade alluded to, we may have to start doing less with less.  When I look at the best places to work studies and see how far down the NPS is in work/life balance, it suggests to me that we are running our employees ragged, trying to provide the same level of service with less money and fewer people.  It doesn’t work.

Rick

Sent from my iPad

Harry Butowsky

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Dec 27, 2019, 7:31:07 AM12/27/19
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Paul,

I will call you next year.

Harry Butowsky

Rick Smith

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Jan 2, 2020, 4:17:50 PM1/2/20
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The January 2020 updates for npshistory.com are now on the web.

 

For NPSHistory.com our Park Brochures / Site Bulletins Web pages underwent a massive redesign.  Previously, park brochures/site bulletins

were spread across three primary sets of Web pages: pre-Unigrids / Unigrids / Miscellaneous & Site Bulletins (sorted by park).  All of these

have now been merged into a single set of Web pages for each park.  A fourth set of Web pages sorted pre-Unigrids by year — this set of Web pages has been removed.  The hope is that be having all of the content for each park in a unified location for that park it will make finding material easier, plus that content can be accessed by using (for example) http://npshistory.com/brochures/brochures-a.htm#acad

(for Acadia) or http://npshistory.com/brochures/brochures-w.htm#whsa (for White Sands) so one can jump directly to the park brochures/site bulletins for a specific park.  We now have over 16,000 covers online, of which ~65% are both covers and the content of that brochure (many of the covers-only are due to copyright restrictions).

 

Approximately 75 new documents/articles have been added to the Website for January covering a wide range of subjects.  Featured parks include: Lava Beds NM, Herbert Hoover NHS, Shenandoah NP and Oregon Caves NM & Pres.

 

For ParksCanadaHistory.com, approximately 50 documents and park brochures have been added with Ukkusiksalik NP being our featured park,  including rare copies of David Pelly’s Wager Bay Oral History Project reports.

 

For all of 2019 — Number of Visits: 1,102,937 (different stat than UNIQUE VISITORS)

 

For December 2019 we had 72,000 unique visitors. Both of these numbers reflect an all-time high for npshistory.com.

 

We now have about 43,000 documents on npshistory.com

Rick Smith

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Jan 11, 2020, 10:52:47 AM1/11/20
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Bill Wade

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Jan 11, 2020, 11:18:05 AM1/11/20
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This is getting blown way out of proportion. The only thing that makes these assignments of rangers to the border different from assignments of rangers, via SET or IMT assignments, to other LE situations, or events, or emergencies in other NPS areas, are the “political” implications. If BIBE, or ORPI or CORO, or even a FWS refuge, needs assistance with this LE situation, it shouldn’t be “unusual” or newsworthy that the NPS assigns the help needed from other areas.

 

Bill Wade

5625 N Wilmot Road

Tucson, AZ 85750

Email: jwbil...@gmail.com

Home/Office Phone = 520-615-9417

FAX: 520-844-8886

Cell Phone = 520-444-3973

 

 

From: Parklands Update <parklan...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Rick Smith <rsmit...@comcast.net>
Reply-To: Parklands Update <parklan...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Saturday, January 11, 2020 at 8:52 AM
To: Parklands Update <parklan...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [PLW Update] From Harry

 

 

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Rick Smith

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Jan 11, 2020, 11:43:00 AM1/11/20
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Not sure I entirely agree with you, Bill.  Yes, the political “implications” makes these assignments particularly odious, but most SET assignments are short-term; these last through 2020.  Plus, it appears that one of the principal reasons for the deployment is to avoid seeking additional money for border security, something that is difficult in the House.

Sent from my iPad

On Jan 11, 2020, at 9:18 AM, Bill Wade <jwbil...@gmail.com> wrote:



Rob Arnberger

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Jan 11, 2020, 3:43:31 PM1/11/20
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Yesterday, the IMR set team was activated and dispatched to Montana to assist in the search for the niece of a tribal chairman who is missing. The FBI profilers were also activated along with dog teams from other agencies. The young lady was last seen at a rest area after leaving some friends. It is unknown if she was picked up or wandered off. However, NPS rangers from throughout the region were sent north to assist in the search....no where near any NPS jurisdiction. The Sec.  DOI activated them to assist a tribal entity pursuant to a policy supposedly put in place by POTUS to use DOI resources to assist "indigenous" peoples in law enforcement cases. the tribal chairman is a friend of the Sec. DOI and personally asked for help. There are some rangers now driving north from locations throughout the IMR...and in one case is facing a 20-hour drive to get to the scene "to assist", not knowing exactly what the mission is or what they will be doing. further details are found at:

Rob Arnberger

Subject: Re: [PLW Update] From Harry

Roger Siglin

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Jan 11, 2020, 4:11:09 PM1/11/20
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Living near the border in Alpine Texas it is disturbing that there is no information locally available on this issue. Nothing from Big Bend NP, the press, or TV. What our president is doing along the border is despicable as is almost everything he does. And I disagree with Bill and if anything it has not gotten near the attention it deserves.

An Epopt

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Jan 11, 2020, 5:45:10 PM1/11/20
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There is a big push by DOI to address a major problem with missing and murdered Native American women in Montana. This is just the latest in a recurrent problem. The role of a NPS SET team may be uncertain. The extent of the problem isn’t.

Duncan

 

https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/mmiw/drivers-by-rest-area-where-hardin-teen-disappeared-asked-to/article_76b7395d-c481-526f-818a-d99e23cdbd7e.html

 

Billings (MT) Gazette

Friday, January 10, 2020

  

Drivers by rest area where Hardin teen disappeared asked to call tip line

By JULIANA SUKUT jsu...@billingsgazette.com

The Big Horn County Sheriff's Office and the FBI are requesting that anyone who drove along Interstate 90 in the hours that Selena Not Afraid went missing to contact law enforcement. 

Anyone who drove between Billings and Hardin and passed the rest stop at mile marker 474 and the Fly Creek exit between 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. on New Year's Day are asked to call the tip line at 406-665-9800. 

Selena was last seen New Year's Day around 2 p.m. at the eastbound rest area off Interstate 90 between Billings and Hardin. She reportedly walked away from the rest stop after the people who were giving her a ride to Hardin drove off and left her and another woman at the rest area.

She was last seen wearing a black coat, gray sweater, blue jeans and gray ankle boots. She is 5-foot and 9-inches tall and weighs 133 pounds. She has brown eyes and black hair. She has a scar near her mouth and a tattoo of a cross on her middle finger.

 

Big Horn County Undersheriff Eric Winburn said law enforcement were still searching the area as of Friday morning, but there were no new updates he could comment on.

"We're constantly getting leads," he said. "The update will be when we find her." 

On Wednesday the FBI issued a 'be on the lookout' alert, or BOLO, for the girl, especially in the areas of Yellowstone, Big Horn, Rosebud and Treasure counties. The agency was called in on Tuesday to assist with her disappearance. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/parklandsupdate/4D4BC073-852C-4C23-AE26-C9F3CE46C921%40bigbend.net.

Richard Martin

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Jan 12, 2020, 12:17:31 AM1/12/20
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Seems like possibly a needed situation.  On the other hand, can NPS spare the folks?

This kind of request from DOI is hardly new. Although it seems to come and go. While in WASO, it seemed to be a go era. We were frequently asked by DOI to send a SET team or one of our ICS teams to help one of the other bureaus.  If we could, we did. A couple of examples I remember was helping BOR with some dam problem in Idaho and helping one of the Native American Tribes with archeological investigations in SO. Dak.  Some of these went on for weeks, or even months.  We left it up to the regions. If they could spare the folks we would do it.  The important point here is we were not intimidated by DOI.  We just as often said no to DOI if the parks or regions could not spare the folks.   

Additionally, in the desert after the DPA we were annually asked by BLM to assist them with a SET team during some of their desert dunes extravaganzas. So we did that for about 3 years with WRO SET teams. But, the SET teams were telling us how BLM couldn’t manage a street fight with a street full of pissed off dogs (in their words, honest). At DEVA I was tired of BLM messes so we told them we would not send our SET teams to them again unless they let us train their managers in how to manage a public event, something NPS has been doing forever. They declined so we quit sending our teams  
Kind of like the Bundy mess BLM created in more recent years in Nevada.  We heard from SET team members that were there how BLM would not listen to our SET team members about how to go about what they were trying to do.  Note the result. 

Some day after a few libations, ask me to tell you about the time DOI asked me to have NPS rangers investigate the NPS Dep. Director.  

So what’s the bottom line?  In my view it’s who in NPS is deciding these things?  Are they considering the ramifications to the affected parks or are they just lacking in enough backbone to say no to DOI?

Dick Martin.   

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 11, 2020, at 2:45 PM, An Epopt <ane...@gmail.com> wrote:



Rick Smith

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Jan 12, 2020, 10:00:24 AM1/12/20
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Lack the backbone, I’d say, especially since ”no” is not the preferred answer in DOI.

 

From: 'Richard Martin' via parklandwatch [mailto:parklan...@googlegroups.com]
Sent: Saturday, January 11, 2020 9:17 PM
To: parklan...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [PLW Update] From Harry

 

Seems like possibly a needed situation.  On the other hand, can NPS spare the folks?

Jerry Rogers

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Jan 12, 2020, 3:13:27 PM1/12/20
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Dick,

 

I am not trying to change the subject, but I do want to comment that I am very interested in the middle paragraphs of your message. 

 

The second para describes how things should work.

 

Your  comment about training BLM managers in how to manage a public event reminds me of when Sec. of Int. Bruce Babbitt began to recommend that Pres. Clinton proclaim numerous national monuments but to leave the monuments under the management of the same bureaus that had managed them before.  Naturally we in NPS were not happy with that, but I believed at the time that NPS would have been wise to propose a significant budget increase to enable NPS to help BLM and others to succeed in some natural and cultural resource and interpretation and visitor and concessions management roles that were somewhat new to most of their staffs.  But I should emphasize that I say all that in a wistful manner, not a complaining one, as I myself did not push the notion very vigorously.

 

But here is the important part.  Whether or not you ever gather listeners around a campfire or a pub table and tell that story about being asked to investigate a Deputy Director, you definitely should write it up and at the very least place it in a couple of archives for future reference.

 

Jerry

 

 

 

From: 'Richard Martin' via parklandwatch [mailto:parklan...@googlegroups.com]
Sent: Saturday, January 11, 2020 10:17 PM
To: parklan...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [PLW Update] From Harry

 

Seems like possibly a needed situation.  On the other hand, can NPS spare the folks?

Rick Smith

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Jan 13, 2020, 8:20:07 AM1/13/20
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I agree, Jerry.

Sent from my iPad

On Jan 12, 2020, at 1:13 PM, Jerry Rogers <jro...@cnsp.net> wrote:



Richard Martin

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Jan 13, 2020, 9:26:47 PM1/13/20
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I thought I replied to this earlier, but could not find it.  So if this is a repeat, sorry.  It is not an age problem, honest.

Thanks Jerry for your, as always, thoughtful comments.  I will have to mull over the story idea.  Alternatively, I could just leak it to Kevin Costner for a TV drama.

Dick

Rick Smith

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Jan 17, 2020, 6:12:57 PM1/17/20
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Rick,

 

For your information. This will be available about March 1, 2020.

 

Harry

 

On Fri, Jan 17, 2020 at 4:50 PM Harry Butowsky <harry...@gmail.com> wrote:

This second book of the Edwin Cole Bearss memoir begins with his first days in a 40-year career in the National Park Service. Beginning as the Park Historian at the Vicksburg National Military Park in September, 1955, the book covers his rise to Chief Historian, now Emeritus. He has always professed the importance of walking the ground to understand the outcomes of all battles, but particularly those that created, and then consecrated, the United States of America. Said to know more about Civil War battlefields than any other historian of his time, this book describes how he helped create and interpret much of our American history.

He first learned the importance of “walking the ground” when in combat on the Pacific island of New Britain. There, a few inches of earth saved his life after having four Japanese bullets tear into him at what Marines would soon dub “Suicide Creek.” His early years in Montana, the account of this action on New Britain, his chance meeting with the actor and fellow Montanan Gary Cooper, and his 27 months in hospitals is published in the book Walking the Ground: From Big Sky to Semper Fi also by NOVA.

His Government career created National Parks and Presidential Historic Parks, including his direct relationships with President Lyndon B. Johnson and President Jimmy Carter. He created and improved many parks, and thus, made the history that Americans see and read when they experience these important American lands, battlefields and buildings. Ed Bearss has made indelible marks on the American landscape, and in so doing, defined much of the historical culture of the United States.
His contribution to our understanding of American history is immense. He is the author of 140 National Park Service reports, more than any other person to work for the National Park Service. The quality and popularity of his tours and books are rare among present-day historians. He has mentored generations of younger historians who now teach American history, and continue along the path he has pioneered. He has frequently testified before Congress, was interviewed by television reporters and guided senior-level Government officials in critical events in American history.

Ed Bearss became a television celebrity following his appearance to mass television audiences who watched the Ken Burns Civil War Series on PBS, leading to great demand in Bearss-led battlefield history tours. For those many U.S. history adventurers who have experienced his history tours, Ed Bearss’ words and mannerisms leap from the page as we follow him walking Pickett’s Charge at the Gettysburg; track John Wilkes Booth’s escape route after assassinating President Abraham Lincoln; recount George Armstrong Custer’s battlefield defeat by Native Americans whose families he had attacked along the Little Big Horn River; and words describing the WWI American sacrifice at Belleau Wood of U.S. Marine mythology.

This book will explain Ed Bearss’ unsurpassed contribution to the making of American history and the strengthening our collective culture.

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