Nez Perce National Historical Park Administrative History

CHAPTER ONE:
ORIGINS OF NEZ PERCE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK

Introduction

The idea for Nez Perce National Historical Park originated in two separate causes, or movements. The first movement featured the longstanding efforts of white residents of the Clearwater Valley to commemorate the mid-nineteenth-century activities of Protestant missionaries Henry and Eliza Spalding. The second movement sprang from the efforts of the Nez Perce Tribe to foster job growth on their reservation through tourism development. Beginning about 1961, activists in the two movements began working together toward a common goal of establishing a national historical park. The resulting campaign garnered support from both the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the National Park Service (NPS), and culminated in the Nez Perce National Historical Park Act on May 15, 1965.