National Park Service Ranger Badge, 1906. This is the first badge made specifically for the rangers in the parks. It was furnished by Lamb & Tilden, Washington, DC, and delivered to the Park Service in July, 1906. NPSHC/HFC

To clarify the narrative from here on, the badges have been arbitrarily assigned numbers based on their dates of introduction. Supplementary letters are used when more than one badge was introduced in a given year.

The next badge to be worn by rangers in the parks was introduced in 1906. A contract was let with Lamb & Tilden, Washington, DC, in June of that year for 25 badges to be delivered the following month. A memo in the Sequoia National Park Archives states that these badges are to be for "Park Rangers, Scouts and others in National Park service of the Department, the die to be completed in 3 weeks, and 25 badges. in German silver, one week later." [3]

Lamb & Tilden wasn't the only company to offer these badges. An old, undated product sheet shows that C.H. Hanson of Chicago, Illinois was also marketing them. It's possible there were others, but this is unlikely due to the small number of badges required. So far these are the only companies that have come to light.

There is no stipulation in the original contract that the die become the property of the Department. as in later contacts, so, it's possible that Lamb & Tilden furnished all the park ranger badge requirements until the company's demise in 1916, at which time Hanson may have taken over. But this is pure speculation. It's possible they both were supplying badges at the same time.

An example in the National Park Service History Collection is nickel silver, two inches in diameter. with a variation of the Interior Department's eagle seal used until 1913 (actually a cross between Interior's eagle and the Army breastplate eagle of Civil War vintage). There is a rope edge around the badge, with NATIONAL PARK SERVICE around the top inside the rope edge, and DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR around the bottom. On the back is a pin, without safety catch, for fastening the badge. Yellowstone has another example of this badge in its collection. The first "National Park Service" buttons, obtained in 1912, were made utilizing this design. [5]