This emblem appears on the back of the cover paper for the first National Park Portfolio, printed in 1916. All subsequent issues carry the Department of the Interior seal. It may have been a proposed seal for the infant bureau. This design was used as a model for the center of the Model 1920 ranger badge. Courtesy of Deryl Stone

Although, for some unknown reason, badges were omitted from the 1920 uniform regulations, there was a new badge designed and passed for the use of the National Park Service. This badge was first issued in June 1920. [8] It is a flat, two-piece badge, with a coined center the size of a fifty cent piece featuring an eagle facing forward, with outswept wings, its head looking to the left, mounted on a shield with U.S. PARK RANGER across the top. The coined center is an exact copy of a drawing that appears on the back of the cover paper of the National Park Portfolio published in 1916. This drawing may have been a proposed seal for the infant bureau since it doesn't appear elsewhere. All subsequent editions of the portfolio used the Department of the Interior seal.

There was only one style of badge and it was intended that all qualified employees, officers and rangers, were to wear it. The base metal is unknown, but the whole was nickel plated. Apparently the nickel plating was of an inferior quality, because on January 7, 1921, Engineer George E. Goodwin complained that "the present badges are not satisfactorily plated, in that they are beginning to turn yellow and do not retain their original silver color." [9]

National Park Service Ranger Badge, 1920. The center emblem was soldered to the shield and the whole nickel plated. There was only one style and was to be used by anyone requiring a badge in the performance of their duty. NPSHC/HFC

The 1906 badges were to be turned in to Park Service headquarters upon receipt of the new 1920 badges, but because the demand for the new badges was greater than the quantity initially produced, the parks were authorized to retain some of the old badges for their temporary rangers. [10] There is a photograph taken at Yosemite in 1926 of six nature guides still wearing these badges.

There was also much dissatisfaction over the fact that the officers (all permanent employees other than rangers) were required to wear the same badge as the rangers. It was suggested that the 1906 badge be retained for the officers, and that to differentiate between the chief and assistant chief rangers and the park and temporary rangers, the former two have gold-plated badges. [11]

Service headquarters agreed that the badges of the officers should be different from those of the rangers. So when the 1921 regulations were drawn up, they specified that the officers would have a round badge (1921B), actually the coined center portion of the standard ranger badge. The ranger badge design remained the same as the 1920. The regulations authorized the following:

Director and assistant director—gold-plated round badge (1921A)
All other officers—nickel plated round badge (1921B)
Chief and assistant chief rangers—gold-plated shield badge (1921C)
Park and temporary rangers—nickel-plated shield badge (1920)

This drawing of the 1920 U.S. Park Ranger badge, although undated, is probably the original rendering of the first badge. It's possible it was made after the original order since it states the badges were to be made of "best quality German silver" and there is no mention of nickel-plating. There were complaints that the nickel plating on the initial order was inferior and "yellowed" soon after issue. None of the examined Model 1920 badges examined are plated. National Archives RG 75