Mount Rainier National Park was established by an act of Congress on March 2, 1899. Since its beginning, the superintendents, staff, and concessionaires of Mount Rainier have created an irreplaceable administrative and photographic record that chronicles the history of this unique place.

These archives and images reveal a long legacy of human interaction with the natural environment. Today it serves to help us understand why certain decisions were made, policies enacted, and actions taken over the course of the park’s existence.

The Archives

The Mount Rainier archives consist of both official park records and manuscript collections.

Official Park Records
• History Collection (1886-1979)
• Superintendent’s Annual Reports (1899-1988)
• Superintendent’s Monthly Reports (1913-1967)
• Chief Rangers’ Monthly Reports (1928-1967)
• District Rangers’ Monthly Reports (1956-1969)
• Employees’ Monthly Reports (1932-1953)
• Administration (1917-1991)
• Development and Maintenance (1903-1991)
• Forestry (1903-1988)
• Interpretive Services & Education (1911-1990)
• Lands, Water, and Recreational Planning (1902-1993)
• Natural and Social Sciences (1884-1991)
• Laws & Legal Matters (1903-1986; Penberthy Litigation (1973-1986)
• Civilian Conservation Corps & Emergency Conservation Work (1932-1939)
• Concessions (1905-1982)
• Weather Station Records (1920-1977)
• Publications (1924-1994)
• Logbooks (1900)
• Engineering Logbooks (1903-1967)
• Summit Registers (correspondence starting 1914; Mount Rainier summit registers 1932-1996, non-sequential)
• Fatality Files (1909-1995)
• Master Plans (1931-1965)

Manuscript Collection

• Oral History Collection (park history topics from the 1890s-1990s with interviews conducted from the 1950s to the present)
• Park Brochure and Booklet Collection (circa 1901-1970s)
• Mount Rainier National Park Centennial Collection (1998-1999)
• U.S.S. Rainier AEO-7 Collection (Ship commissioning in 1995)
• Theodore Catton Research Papers for Wonderland: An Administrative History of Mount Rainier National Park (1996)
• Map Collection (circa 1890s-1970s)
• Artwork and Posters (circa 1920s-1960s)
• Mount Rainier Poems, Songs, Postcards, Stereo views and other ephemera (circa 1890s-1960s)

Collection Links:

Ghosts of Rainier
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/ghostsofrainier/

Summit Registers

Until the 1930s, the park did not maintain formal park summit registers. During the early years, many different mountain climbing clubs maintained registers at the summit. The Mountaineer’s collection of registers is located at the University of Washington. The Mount Rainier National Park Archives contains summit registers beginning in 1932.

Registers continue to be added to the collection. If you are searching for a very recent signature, please be aware that there is a time lag in getting registers to the archives for processing. Though some summit register pages are damaged and some volumes are missing, the registers are still an excellent record of Mount Rainier summit climbs and provide the reader with an opportunity to "read the thoughts of the climbers."

To initiate a summit register signature search, please be prepared to provide as much information about your climb as possible: the number of people in the climb, if you were in a guided party, how you wrote your name, etc. Providing the exact date of your summit climb or as close as possible to the date of your climb, is the most important information for ensuring that your signature has a chance of being located.

Historic Images

The Mount Rainier image collection contains approximately 13,000 unique items documenting the park from 1888 to 1980. The images provide a valuable record of construction projects, ranger activities, visitor use, and the park’s natural resources. The majority of the images were taken by park employees from 1925 to 1980.

H.E. Bailey Vegetation Collection (1935) is a collection of approximately 88 prints and negatives of landscapes and vegetation plots throughout the park. The reason for the collection is not known. The image envelopes document information on vegetation type, species, geographic location, elevation, exposure and remarks. The species category was completed using a code of capital letters and abbreviations, the key to which was not located with the photographs at the time of processing.

C. Frank Brockman Ecological Study Collection (1932-1964) is a collection of
170 prints and negatives showing human impacts to vegetation near trails and campsites at Tipsoo and Mowich Lakes and Yakima Park. Many of the images were used later in Brockman’s study.

Engineering Department Collection (1926-1930s) is a collection of 515 black and white images created by the Engineering Department. Many of these images were used to illustrate construction reports.

Fire Lookout Panorama Collection (circa 1929-1936) is a collection of approximately a hundred images taken from fire lookouts in and near the park.

Historic Photo Album Collection (circa 1880s-1960s) contains both the ‘official’ Mount Rainier National Park photo albums and photo albums donated to the park by employees and the public.

Interpretive Services Collection (1885-1985) contains approximately 3,500 black and white images. The majority of the collection is composed of photos taken by park employees from 1930s to 1989. The rest of the collection, approximately 500 images, are copy negatives. The historic prints used to make the copy negatives are from the Historic Photo Album and Tahoma Woods Collections.

Lantern Slide Collection (1900-1945) contains approximately 1,200 slides used by park employees in magic lantern slide shows from 1920 to 1950. Many of the glass slides are hand tinted. These images can be viewed using a light table the operating lantern slide projector.

Alton Lindsey Landscape Collection (1933-1974) is a collection of approximately 269 black and white prints and color glass and acetate slides of park landscapes. Alton Lindsey was a seasonal naturalist at Longmire in 1933, 1935 and 1941. He was credited by park Biologist Kitchin as having collected some of the first bird specimens in the park, thereby initiating park’s bird collection [since given to the Slater Museum at the University of Puget Sound]. Over 120 herbarium specimens in the park’s herbarium today were collected by Lindsey during his brief summer seasons at the park. From 1933-35, Lindsey participated in the Byrd Expedition of Antarctica.

In 1974, Dr. Lindsey, who had become a professor of Biology at Purdue University, proposed the idea for a volunteer research project to Superintendent Daniel Tobin. He returned to Mount Rainier to re-photograph exactly the same locations he photographed 40 years earlier as the basis of a landscape change/ natural succession study. The collection also contains correspondence between Alton Lindsey and park management in regards to this project.

Maintenance Division Collection (1960-1985) contains approximately 300 images taken by park personnel. These images were created to document various Maintenance Division activities including construction projects. Many of the images are Polaroid. Partially entered into the database as of 3/2000.

Motion Picture Films (yet to be processed)

Nitrate Collection (1903-1951) contains approximately 2,200 black and white images. The images were primarily taken by the park’s Engineering Department employees and the Rainier National Park Company. These images were collected together as part of the park’s nitrate negative conservation project. The film base for the original negatives was made of cellulose nitrate, which is flammable and prone to deterioration over time. All nitrate negatives have been reformatted onto safety film.

Park Media Collection (1960s-1980s) consists of approximately five hundred 8x10 photographs prepared by park staff for media requests and use in publications and exhibits. They include scenes of park staff with visitors, views of park scenery and park structures, and copy prints of historical subjects.

Park Structures Collection (1929-1942) contains approximately 1,100 black and white images taken between 1920 and 1942 by the NPS Landscape Architects stationed at the Regional Office in San Francisco. The images were part of a “record of structures” for all national parks. Many of the images were used to illustrate Maintenance Division reports, Superintendent’s Monthly Reports and Emergency Conservation Works (EWC) progress reports.

Tahoma Woods Collection (1888-1991) contains approximately 5,000 images from 1888 to 1991. The administrative office of Mount Rainier National Park created and maintained this collection. It is the only photographic collection organized by subject. The collection contains Rainier National Park Company publicity photos, a variety of donated prints and photos removed from albums.

Manuscript Image Collections

Historic Photo Album Collection (circa 1880s-1960s) contains both the ‘official’ Mount Rainier National Park photo albums and photo albums donated to the park by employees and the public.

Linkletter Collection (circa 1907-1916) contains over 200 photographs taken by Lloyd G. Linkletter who owned a photography concession at the park from 1908 to 1915. In 1998 his daughter, Adaline Linkletter Good, donated over 80 of these images to the park. The rest of the collection are copy negatives and prints taken from the original glass negatives still in Mrs. Good’s possession. Mrs. Good must be contacted for permission for use of the copy prints.

Judy Rudolph Collection (1920-1928) contains 74 images taken by Floyd Schmoe and his family during their residence at Mount Rainier National Park. On June 20, 1922 Schmoe became Naturalist at Mount Rainier National Park. In 1928, Schmoe resigned from the National Park Service and became an Instructor in the Forestry Department at the University of Washington. Permission to publish these photographs is required from Floyd Schmoe’s grand-daughter, Mrs. Judy Rudolph and permission to publish them is required from Ms. Rudolph. This collection covers both his early park service experience and includes many photographs of his family. [See also the Floyd Schmoe Collection]

Floyd Schmoe Collection (1920-1928) contains 23 images taken by Floyd Schmoe and his family during their residence at Mount Rainier National Park. In 1919, the Rainier National Park Company hired Floyd and his new bride, Ruth as the "winter keepers" (caretakers) of the buildings at Paradise. Schmoe documented their life in the Paradise Inn in his book, A Year in Paradise. Schmoe worked as a climbing guide at Paradise during the summers of 1920 and 1921. [See also the Judy Rudolph Collection] Floyd Schmoe Biography on Mount Rainier's Nature Notes

National Park Service Historic Photo Collection Website

Research Access

To date the majority of the park's official records spanning the 1890s to 1990 have been placed on microfiche for more convenient research access. A copy of the Mount Rainier Archives microfiche is available to visiting researchers at the park's Longmire Library by appointment only.

The public is encouraged to conduct their own research. To make an appointment to use the microfiche at the park, please contact the Museum Curator . The Museum Curator is available to assist with brief information inquiries or requests to use historic images. Due to staff limitations, please be aware that a response to your inquiry may take up to three weeks.

The originals of the archival documents and historic photographic images are currently stored at the Seattle branch of NARA. Legal ownership of the archives and images remains with the park. Permission to access the originals must be obtained from the park. Please submit a written research request addressed to the Museum Curator, which lists your name, address, phone number, institutional affiliation [if applicable], the purpose of your research and the date you plan to begin research. All research proposals will be reviewed by the Museum Curator and either approved or disapproved by the Superintendent prior to the commencement of any research utilizing original archival documents.

Researchers may request the use of historic Mount Rainier National Park images. Free scanned versions [.jpg files] of historic images can be sent to a researcher via the Internet or arrangements can be made to have researchers purchase copy prints. Requests must be made directly to the Museum Curator. Due to staff limitations, please be aware that a response to your inquiry may take up to three weeks.

The use of all Mount Rainier archival documents and images must contain this credit line: Mount Rainier National Park Archives.

Both the Washington State Historical Society [fix the link] and the University of Washington Libraries contain their own collections of Mount Rainier archives and historic images.

Additional Mount Rainier National Park records and images are located in the collections of the Washington State Historical Society in Tacoma.

To obtain modern, color images or slides of Mount Rainier, go to the Mount Rainier website at www.nps.gov/mora/general/photo.htm.

Mount Rainier National Park's Official Homepage