Cover Page

Preface

Introduction

In Search of an Identity

Photofile

Bibliography

Notes

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

National Park Service Uniforms In Search of an Identity 1872-1920	Number 2
In Search of an Identity (continued)

In February 1919 an interesting correspondence began concerning some surplus uniforms from the United States Shipping Board, Emergency Fleet Corporation. Two weeks before the armistice Maj. Norman MacLeod, head of the plant protection section, had received 1,134 uniforms for guards at shipbuilding plants. Now that they were no longer needed, they were offered to the National Park Service at $12. (They had originally cost $16.) MacLeod forwarded a sample uniform. Mather thought it might be good enough for temporary rangers, but Assistant Director Albright and Superintendent Lewis of Yosemite thought that the cut and color were wrong. It was decided to forego the offer, and the sample uniform was returned. [77]

In April 1919 Washington decided to change the color of the Park Service uniforms from olive drab to forest green with the trousers or breeches a shade lighter than the coat. [78] The procedure of obtaining material samples and prices was begun at once. It was during this period that the coat in the Yellowstone collection was made. Since the only change noted in the correspondence is the color, this is almost certainly the pattern of coat referred to in Albright's letter to Superintendent Payne at Glacier a year earlier. Also, the "shade lighter" provision for trousers and breeches must have been dropped since the Yellowstone coat and breeches are the same color and there is no evidence that it was ever adopted.

Chester A. Lindsley, acting superintendent, Yellowstone National Park, 1916-1919. Although Horace M. Albright was superintendent, his duties as "field assistant" to Mather required much of his time, thus day to day running of the park fell to Lindsley. NPSHPC - HFC/92-3

One problem that had plagued the Service from the beginning was that of uniforming the temporary seasonal employees. Because of their low pay and short service, most parks made uniforms optional for these people, although uniforms were encouraged. In May 1919 Superintendent Lewis, who seemed to be the guiding light with respect to uniforming the rangers, had a sample suit made up from a "moleskin" material by the Hasting Clothing Company. This firm had been making Yosemite's uniforms for the past three years. It was an inexpensive alternative to the regular uniform, costing $20 ($17.50 in quantity) versus $50. He forwarded it to the director for his opinion. The suit was then passed around the parks for comment, all of which was favorable. Acting Superintendent Chester A. Lindsley of Yellowstone did question why the N.P.S. was not sewn on the collar and asked if this could be waived. Albright replied that it could "be procured for very small extra charge. Cannot be waived." [79]

On September 5, 1919, Lewis sent the director a sample N.P.S. collar insignia. It was one of a number he had made at the Meyers Military Shop in Washington, D.C., three years before. He offered it for consideration in replacing the stitched-in N.P.S. The insignia consisted of a bar with the letters N.P.S. so it could be attached as a unit. It is not clear whether the letters were applied to the bar or whether the whole was a single piece of metal. Acting Director Arno B. Cammerer responded critically. "There are a number of serious defects in the design, which is a stock-cut proposition put out in the cheapest possible way for the largest gain," he wrote Lewis. He noted that the War Department had some of the best artists working on new lettered insignia for the military and thought that some of these designs had distinct possibilities for the Service. He figured that once a standard insignia design had been arrived at and a master die cut, "we can have as many specimens cut as we want in the future." [80]

At the annual superintendents' conference on November 18, 1919, at Denver, Colorado, proposed regulations were submitted for uniforming the National Park Service. A committee meeting was held at which the proposed regulations were gone over and reported on. These proposals were the basis for the official regulations promulgated in 1920. At the end of the conference, there were still some details to be cleared up concerning the uniforms. Lewis and Charles P. Punchard, Park Service landscape engineer, with apparently Assistant Director Cammerer advising, were as signed this task.

The original specification submitted at the conference called for "a five button sack coat." Punchard called Cammerer's attention to the fact that this should read "a four button sack coat inasmuch as the collar was voted upon to be non-convertible." [81]

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