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Badges
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National Park Service Uniforms Badges and Insignia 1894-1991 |
Number 1 |
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At the 1929 superintendents' conference, it was decided to design a new ranger badge. This task was assigned to Chief Architect Thomas C. Vint of the Landscape Division. A number of designs were submitted, but none of them met the approval of the Washington office. It was thought that it would be advantageous to have a number on the face of the badge, but with all the information that was required by the department, this did not lend itself to a pleasing image. Horace Albright suggested that the committee consider using the departmental buffalo. Even though a drawing was made to this effect, it apparently died from lack of interest.
Because a new badge design could not be agreed upon when new badges were purchased in June 1930, the current design was retained. This time, though, since a new style was in the offing, the badges were stamped in one piece instead of two, probably as a cost-cutting measure. They were still flat with a clasp on the back. Regulations called for them to be numbered, but the wording is somewhat ambiguous. Unlike the later fire guard badges, which were to be consecutively numbered, it is not clear whether they were to be numbered at the factory, at Service headquarters before issue to the field, or in the parks. There are several specimens in the NPS collection, two of which have numbers crudely engraved on their backs, the others being blank. From them it may be assumed that the numbering took place in the field.
Designs for new badges were periodically drawn up, but none of these were satisfactory. Finally, at the Twelfth National Park Conference held at Hot Springs National Park in April 1932, the uniform regulations committee recommended that "there be no change in the design for the Rangers Badge." [17] Consequently, the 1930 badges, along with any 1920 or 1921 badges still in good repair, continued in use until a new badge was designed and issued in 1946.
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1930-1946
1930-1936 Flat, one-piece, gold-plated German silver | |
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1930-1946
1930-1936 Flat, one-piece, nickel-plated German silver | |
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Separate badges were authorized for the fire guards in the 1932 uniform regulations. These badges were in the shape of a shield (different from the ranger shield) and made of bronze. They were to be consecutively numbered for controllability. Until that time, fire guards were issued standard park ranger badges whenever the need arose.
On April 13, 1936, Office Order No. 324 authorized the round gold-plated badge for use by the superintendents and custodians. This badge had formerly been used by the directors but had been idle since 1928. The assistant superintendents still retained the nickel-plated round badge.
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Last Modified: Thurs, Jul 28 2000 07:08:48 am PDT
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