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National parks are not a new concept. The U.S. Government named Yellowstone National Park as the first in 1872. People have been visiting long before Instagram influencers and entry permits. Now, new historical national park photos are available online. Glacier National Park announced the addition of 178 photos to its digital collection.
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Seventy-eight of these photos are digitized lantern slides, and professionals recently colorized the images by hand. Lantern slides are made of glass and were common before modern slide projectors, so they are extremely fragile.
People visiting Lincoln Peak near Lake Ellen Wilson in Glacier National Park. Circa 1953.
Glacier National Park officials say the other 100 photos capture historic events like flooding in the park in 1964, which was the most destructive flood in Montana’s history. Thirty-one people died. The images capture other historical events, including President Roosevelt’s visit in 1934. Pictures also show the many tourists who visited the area since it was named a national park in 1910.
Eleanor Roosevelt at Logan Pass during the presidential visit to Glacier National Park in 1934.
Officials say all the photos are now available on the Montana History Portal, which Montana Public Libraries hosts. The Glacier National Park Conservancy, the nonprofit organization that supports the funding, helped provide the funding to protect this part of the park’s history.
Damage to the Lake McDonald Lodge boat dock from the 1964 flood.
Other Historical National Park Photos
Glacier is far from the only park to have a historical database. National parks are an important part of U.S. history, and many parks have public photo databases for historical images. Some even go further by preserving documents and correspondence from park visitors.
Here are a few other parks loaded with history.
Yellowstone National Park
As the original national park, Yellowstone has plenty of documentation. On the park’s website, there are photos from the area before the park’s establishment. There are also preserved articles and postcards to view.
The documents show viewers how these parks were marketed to the public when the western states were still relatively empty. In Yellowstone’s case, there are a lot of brochures focused on riding trains westward to visit the park.
An ad for Yellowstone and the railroad. Circa 1914.
Grand Canyon National Park
The Grand Canyon has always been awe-inspiring, even long before anyone could snap a picture of it. Park officials have partnered with Arizona State University to collect a century’s worth of images, documents, and more.
Many of these earlier documents include the federal government’s push to purchase the land from nearby settlers. Like Yellowstone, the focus is often on building rail lines west.
Visitors riding mules on a trail. Circa 1940. (Source: Gilbert Alan and Myrtle Campbell Photographs)
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park appears to have fewer historical documents and photos available online, which is surprising, since the park is the most photographed in the world. Notable exceptions include photos on the NPS website that show President Teddy Roosevelt and naturalist John Muir. Other available images include the indigenous people who first called the area home.
Yosemite does have an entire research library that focuses on preserving the park’s history.
President Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir, 1903.
Zion National Park
Zion is currently in the process of reorganizing its historical archives. The park has a few photos on the NPS website, but it sounds like more to come. Park officials say the archives highlight back when the park was Mukuntuweap National Monument, before Mormon settlers and the name change and national park status.
For now, most of the archives are stored in these boxes. The park is also responsible for the history of nearby Bryce Canyon National Park and Cedar Breaks National Monument.
Zion’s history. (Source: NPS)
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
The nation’s most popular national park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, also has a small number of photos online. The area has a long history. People have called the area home for centuries, and the area has also been important in the history of the U.S. nation.
