Last updated: March 30, 2026
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50 Nifty Finds #31: Going in Circles
One of the highlights of the National Park Service (NPS) History Collection is a leather hatband that belonged to Horace M. Albright, former NPS assistant director and director and Yellowstone National Park superintendent. There was never any doubt that it would be the subject of a 50 Nifty Finds article. When we sat down to write it, however, we quickly found we had more questions than answers. Follow our staff on a research journey that goes from a one-of-a-kind hatband attributed to a former NPS director to a forgotten chapter of NPS uniform history.
Hatband History
When the NPS adopted its first official uniform in June 1920, it didn’t include a leather hatband for the rangers’ Stetson hats. Hatbands help hats fit and retain their shape, but they can also be decorative. Photographs from the 1920s show that some rangers wore leather or beaded hatbands, but most hats sported the plain grosgrain ribbed fabric ribbon that came on the Stetsons. Records indicate that the official NPS leather hatband was adopted on January 16, 1930. The design included sequoia cones, foliage, and “USNPS” tooled onto a brown leather band, punctuated with silver sequoia cones. Silver ring fasteners and leather ties close the hatband on the left. With some minor changes, that hatband design is still used today.
Albright's Hatband
Although Albright’s hatband is a highlight of the NPS History Collection, little was known about it. The reddish-brown leather hatband features tree branches and sequoia cones, a mountain lion and a bison on the sides, and “NPS” in a Gothic-style font on the front. Metal ring fasteners and leather ties close the hatband at the back. The sequoia cones near the ring fasteners are precursors to the decorative metal cones of the 1930 hatband design, still in use today.
The edges of the hatband are abraded in areas, suggesting it was used. The information that came with it when it was received in the early 1970s was limited to its association with Albright and a 1920 date, the source of which is unknown. It didn’t come to the NPS History Collection directly from Albright; an NPS manager brought it to the collection, and no one documented how he came to have it.
It was believed to be a one-of-a-kind personal item. In fact, when R. Bryce Workman used the objects and documents in the NPS History Collection to research his book National Park Service Uniforms: Badges and Insignia 1894-1991, he ignored it entirely when writing the history of the NPS hatband.
A Key Question Answered
The first challenge to writing about it today was to prove that it did indeed belong to Albright and to determine if and when he wore it with his NPS uniform. We scoured available photographs from Albright's career and his family photos in the NPS History Collection looking for photos of him (or anyone else) wearing the hatband, either with an NPS Stetson or another hat.
Most photos of Albright’s ranger hat clearly show the Stetson grosgrain ribbon or were taken at an angle where the hatband can’t be seen. In a handful of images, he appears to be wearing a beaded hatband. Fewer than a dozen have darker bands that could be leather, but no pattern or lettering can be made out. A small number show Albright wearing the 1930 NPS hatband. After reviewing over 800 photos of Albright in the NPS History Collection and others that are readily available online, we finally found the hatband in a photo!
As a result, we can state with certainty is this hatband belonged to Albright and that he wore it while in uniform. The photograph is dated July 29, 1929. Albright had become NPS director seven months earlier.
A Red Herring
Verifying Albright’s connection to the hatband was significant, but it left many unanswered questions, including when it was made, who made it, and why.
The fact that Albright wore the hatband in 1929 doesn't mean that it couldn't have been made earlier. However, the 1920 date attributed to it by previous museum staff remained suspect. The combined evidence of the 1920 uniform regulations, which include a "Service hat" but don't mention a hatband, and the available photographic evidence, firmly suggested that the 1920 date should be ignored unless or until better information was discovered.
From Maker's Mark to Dead End
Although the hatband belonged to Albright and dated to at least 1929, little else was known about it. Was it something Albright commissioned when he became director? Was it a gift when he became director? The two animals on it commonly represented Yosemite (cougar) and Yellowstone (bison) national parks in the 1920s. Albright had been superintendent at Yellowstone but not Yosemite. Was there an unknown connection there, or is there another story behind it entirely?
Perhaps where it was made could shed light on its history. Albright’s hatband has a maker’s mark on it, hidden underneath the leather ties. It was made by the Visalia Stock Saddle Company in San Francisco. The company’s stamp in the leather is a mark of quality. Established in 1869, it is renowned for its stock saddles and leather work.
San Francisco could also be a clue, either because of its proximity to California national parks or, intriguingly, because the 1928 National Park Conference was held there. Creating a special band for the ranger hats was one of the topics on the meeting's agenda. Significantly, according to the meeting minutes, a prototype hatband was submitted for discussion. Unfortunately the hatband under consideration was not described in detail and there was no discussion of who created it. However, the minutes do record a criticism of sequoia cones on it because of their significance to California rather than the NPS as a whole. Could Albright’s hatband be that prototype? Did he leave the meeting with it and then decide to wear it as a unique hatband?
We contacted the Visalia Stock Saddle Company, which still operates today, in hopes of finding corporate archives that would shed light on who designed and ordered it and when. Sadly, we were told that a fire had destroyed all their early records. A company representative suggested it could be the work of Jack Kendall, one of their exceptional saddle makers and silversmiths, as he did similar carvings on saddles, belts, and other items. Without additional records, however, that can't be confirmed, and we couldn’t answer any of our remaining questions. We were at a dead end and set the research aside to work on other projects.
Research Resumes
As often happens in museum research, a few months later new information was found while we were looking for something else. In this case, it was found more than 2,500 miles away from the hatband at Yosemite National Park. Our request for information about the sleeve insignia on Albright’s uniform in Yosemite's museum collection for another 50 Nifty Finds article revealed a letter that renewed our excitement. On May 4, 1972, after donating his uniform to the park, Albright wrote to Lawrence S. Nahm, the park's curator, describing a hatband and providing clues to its history:
Back about 1966 I sent up to your department the hatband I wore much of the time I was in uniform. It was made by Chief Ranger Forest [sic] Townsley of Yosemite Park, who was skilled in leather work.
The Townsley Connections
Albright’s statement that he wore the hatband a lot with his uniform isn’t reflected in the almost 1,000 photographs we reviewed. His letter was written about 40 years after he left the NPS, when he was 82 years old, and it wouldn’t be surprising if some of the details had faded with time. He also could have continued using it after he left the NPS in 1933. It was an inconsistent detail, but we set it aside to focus on other questions now that we had a name. Could we find evidence to support that this was the same hatband and if, when, and why Forrest Townsley made it?
If Albright's hatband and the 1928 prototype are one and the same, Albright's recollection that Townsley made it, rather than the Visalia Stock Saddle Company, is incorrect. Perhaps Townsley gave it to him, and he assumed he made it because he knew Townsley was a skilled leatherworker?
Chief Ranger Townsley
Forrest S. Townsley started his career in June 1904 as a patrolman on the Sulphur Springs Reservation in Oklahoma Territory. His grandfather, John Cane Matthews, was a harness maker, and his father, Willis Townsley, worked for him in Iowa. It seems reasonable to assume that Townsley learned leathermaking skills from his father.
Townsley became a park ranger at Platt National Park (now Chickasaw National Recreation Area) when it was created out of Sulphur Springs in 1906. While there he was involved in early efforts to create a uniform for the park’s rangers. He transferred to Yosemite in 1913. Three years later he was promoted to chief ranger, a position he held for 27 years. Townsley suffered an aortic aneurysm and died while on a fishing trip in the park on August 11, 1943. Albright later described him as “a man who contributed both skills and force of character that became recognized as desirable in rangers.”
John A. Townsley
Additional research into Forrest Townsley didn’t reveal anything about the creation of the hatbands, but it was still a crucial clue because his role in NPS history is well known, as is the fact that his son, John A. Townsley, followed him into the NPS and had a distinguished career of his own.
A basic internet search revealed that when the younger Townsley was awarded a Pugsley Medal in 1982, it was noted that, “Throughout his NPS career, John Townsley wore with great pride the distinctive leather NPS hatband of his father—one of the handful issued to those pioneers in NPS leadership.” Suddenly, for the first time, the idea that Albright’s hatband was one-of-a-kind was in doubt.
Townsley's Tale
Could Albright and Forrest Townsley have had the same distinctive NPS hatband? Like the hatbands, the number of questions was growing. Did Townsley have one made to give to Albright while keeping one for himself? Where did the idea that they were given to “pioneers in NPS leadership” come from? How many were made? Who decided who received them? Might others survive?
Although Forrest Townsley died before an oral history could be done with him, the NPS History Collection includes an interview with his son John, born at Yosemite in 1927. Sitting in a box less than 30 feet away from the cabinet housing Albright’s hatband in the NPS History Collection storage area, John Townsley’s oral history transcript has been used for other research but never looked at for history of the hatband—because until the letter was found at Yosemite, his father’s association with the hatband was unknown. What are the odds that John Townsley talked about it? As it turns out, they were excellent.
Townsley acknowledged in his March 15, 1973, interview that “all of my recollections about my father are prior to the time I was 13 years old or else they’re by conversation with other people since then.” With that disclaimer, he recalled,
My dad was interested in the [NPS] uniform business. He went to Merced [California] with a design that he made and had a man make 10 hatbands and those 10 hatbands had sequoia cones on them and a mountain lion. Those were the first ten hatbands that were used in the NPS.
The description of sequoia cones and a mountain lion makes it clear that this is the same hatband design. Moreover, his recollections clarify that Forrest Townsley was the designer, rather than the fabricator. Although Albright remembered that Townsley was a skilled leatherworker, Townsley as designer is broadly consistent with Albright's recollection.
The Visalia Stock and Saddle Company stamp on the Albright hatband is proof that it was made in San Francisco. Was John Townsley's reference to Merced wrong, or is there more to the story?
The big question left unanswered by John Townsley's oral history is exactly when the hatbands were made.
Lost History
John Townsley's revelation that 10 hatbands were made was shocking to us. He noted that they were the first hatbands used in the NPS, suggesting official authorization even though they aren't mentioned in the 1920, 1923, 1925, or 1928 uniform regulations. Townsley went on to say,
I had one of them and after I transferred to Washington one time, I got pretty nostalgic, and I put it on a hat that I was wearing to and from work. One morning when I was late coming [to the Department of the Interior], I took the hat off and was jogging along towards work. When I got there the hatband was gone. I took about three mornings of annual leave [to] put up a sign where I thought I might have lost it and talked to people, but never got a trace of it. I really felt badly about that. Some years later, Sam King, an early ranger in Yosemite, gave me his old ranger hat that has one of those hatbands on it. I think Duane Jacobs has one. There are several others around. But to that extent our family had a little bit of input into the [NPS] uniform business.
Somehow, in the twenty years between the early 1970s, when these hatbands were known by at least a handful of people, and the early 1990s, when Workman was researching and writing his uniform books, the history of this hatband was forgotten.
Notable Differences
The replacement hatband King gave John Townsley remains with the Townsley family. They shared photographs of it with us which confirm its design similarity to the Albright hatband in the NPS History Collection. However, three key differences can be seen: the leather is a dark brown, not reddish brown; the detailing of the sequoia cones near the ring fasteners is missing on the Townsley/King hatband; and the hatband is tied differently.
There are several possible explanations for these differences. It remains possible that Albright's hatband was the 1928 prototype, designed by Forrest Townsley, and that he had copies of it made for the Yosemite ranger force. This would mean that 11 hatbands were made (the prototype and 10 copies). This could support John Townsley's statement that his father had 10 made in Merced, California, despite Albright's hatband's manufacture by the Visalia Stock Saddle Company in San Francisco.
It is also possible that the darker leather hatbands represent a second order from the Visalia Stock Saddle Company or another manufacturer. Given the condition of the Townsley/King hatband, the family was not comfortable removing it from the hat to look for the Visalia Stock Saddle Company mark and the question remains as to the maker of that hatband.
It seems clear that Yosemite, through Forrest Townsley, was the birthplace of this hatband. However, if they were to be worn by the Yosemite ranger force, 10 hatbands wouldn't have been enough.
Yosemite Ranger Force
John Townsley reported that two of these hatbands were in the hands of former Yosemite rangers in the early 1970s. Sam King was a Yosemite ranger from 1931 until 1948 and Duane Jacobs from 1932 to 1942 (and later from 1946 to 1953). Both began in the NPS after the 1930 hatband became part of the uniform and they should have worn that later version. Townsley’s recollection strongly suggests that at least some of the hatbands passed to the next generation of Yosemite rangers, not just to “pioneers of NPS leadership.”
The photographs of the Townsley hat provide a strong visual against which to reanalyze photographs from the 1920s. A photograph from the first chief naturalists' conference, held in 1929, was published in National Park Service Uniforms: Ironing Out the Wrinkles 1920-1932. Workman recognized that Charles Albert "Bert" Harwell, one of three men in the photograph, was "sporting a tooled leather [hatband] similar in configuration to that later adopted by the Service." Without recognizing that Albright's hatband was part of a larger set, and without the benefit of photographs of the hat in the Townsley family collection, Workman didn't recognize the significance of Harwell's hatband. It's interesting to note that Harwell was new to the NPS in 1929 and a park naturalist (rather than a ranger) but he was given one of the first hatbands.
The Townsley family also provided a photograph of Forrest Townsley, dated December 20, 1929, wearing what appears to be this style of hatband. Photographs of Albright, Townsley, and Harwell with the same hatband style in 1929, together with the hatband discussion at the 1928 National Park Conference, lead us further away from the erroneous 1920 date towards the late 1920s for its design and use.
If the 1929 date is accurate, however, there were more than seven other rangers at Yosemite that year. Even assuming that only permanent rangers wore the hatband, it would suggest more than 10 were needed. Rangers such as Charles F. Adair, Henry A. Skelton, John H. Wegner, Billy Nelson, Ernest R. Reed, John W. Bingaman, Bert Sault, Homer B. Hoyt, Gustav Eastman, Carl Danner, Otto M. Brown, Wilfred K. “Bill” Merrill, Arthur Holmes, Ralph Anderson, Vernon Lowry, Oscar Irwin, Emil Ernst, and J. Barton Hershler worked at the park in 1929. Of course, it's possible that only rangers in a specific district in the park or with specific duties were given one of the 10 hatbands. A preliminary review of photographs of these individuals hasn't successfully connected them to the hatband, but additional research or other collections might reveal more information.
Mather Enters the Picture
Our formal research into the hatbands ended in August 2023 when this article was first published. With our efforts focused elsewhere, we continue to "keep our eyes open" for new information as we go about other tasks. Every photo from the 1920s is an opportunity to spot something new, even when hatbands aren't the matter at hand.
That was the case in January 2026 when we came across a photograph of NPS Director Stephen T. Mather from the Yosemite National Park museum collection. Imagine our surprise and excitement to see Mather wearing the early hatband!
The cougar of the early hatband is clearly visible in the photograph, which is dated September 6, 1928. It is now the earliest known image of the hatband. Moreover, the hatband appears to be the same reddish brown color of the Albright hatband in the NPS History Collection. It is certainly much lighter than those seen in the Harwell and Townsley/King photographs above. Unfortunately the details of how it was tied cannot be determined from the photograph.
The 1928 photograph was taken after the February 15-21 dates of the National Park Conference, meaning that Mather's hatband could also represent the prototype discussed at that meeting. Moreover, since Mather's uniform doesn't survive, it remains possible that the Albright hatband and the Mather hatband are one and the same (i.e., the 1928 prototype). Albright succeeded Mather as NPS director on January 12, 1929, and he could have received the original hatband at that time (although he didn't mention that in the letter to Yosemite quoted above).
Assuming they are different hatbands, however, suggests that the earliest hatbands were reddish brown leather, giving further credence to the possibility of more than one order and that more than 12 hatbands of this style were created.
Mather was often photographed wearing civilian clothing and different styles of hats. When in uniform, however, he wore the required flat hat. Photographs from as late as 1926 document that his hat only featured the standard ribbon hatband. Another 1926 photograph in the NPS History Collection features Mather and Albright (neither in uniform) with Yosemite National Park staff, including Forrest Townsley and park superintendent Washington B. Lewis. None of their hats feature leather hatbands, suggesting they didn't exist yet.
The 1928 Mather photograph, together with the National Park Conference agenda, strongly support a 1928 date for these first leather hatbands.
A Continuing Quest
Although gaps in our knowledge about the leather hatband history remain, the fact that two NPS directors wore this style of hatband in 1928 and 1929 gives it official sanction beyond the Yosemite ranger force and cements its status as the first official NPS hatband.
As of March 2026, six historic owners of these hatbands have been identified and two surviving examples are known:
- Stephen T. Mather
- Horace M. Albright (NPS History Collection)
- Forrest Townsley (lost)
- Sam King (now with Townsley family)
- Duane Jacobs
- Bert Harwell
This article will be updated as new information becomes available, until the full history of these hatbands is understood. If you have any information about them, please contact the NPS History Collection archivist.
Sources
--. (1943, August 12). “Yosemite Chief Ranger Dies of Heart Attack.” The Peninsula Times Tribune (Palo Alto, California), p. 10.--. (1943, August 12). “Yosemite Chief Ranger Succumbs.” The Fresno Bee (Fresno, California), pp. 1, 17.
--. (1982, September 21). “Yellowstone Park Chief Dies of Cancer at Age 55.” The Missoulian (Missoula, Montana), p. 2.
--. (undated). “John A. Townsley.” Accessed July 19, 2023, at https://aapra.org/Awards/Pugsley-Medal/Recipient-Biography/Id/75
Albright, Horace M. as told to Robert Cahn. (1985). The Birth of the National Park Service The Founding Years, 1913-1933. Howe Brothers: Chicago.
Bingaman, John A. (1961). Guardians of the Yosemite. Accessed July 19, 2023, at https://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/guardians_of_the_yosemite/history.html
Goza, Samantha. (2023, August 2). Pers. Comm. with Nancy Russell, archivist of the NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry, WV.
Hopkins, Gail. (2023, July 31). Pers. Comm. with Nancy Russell, archivist of the NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry, WV.
National Park Service. (2022, June 20). “Forest Townsley.” Accessed July 19, 2023, at https://www.nps.gov/chic/learn/historyculture/forest-townsley.htm
Sargent, Shirley. (1998). Protecting Paradise: Yosemite Rangers 1898-1960. Ponderosa Press: Yosemite, California.
Townsley, John A. (1973, March 15). Oral History Interview by S. Herbert Evison. NPS History Collection (HFCA 1817), NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry, WV.
Townsley, Joseph. (2023, July 20). Pers. comm. with Nancy Russell, archivist at the NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry, WV.
Watson, Miriam. (2023, August 9). Pers. Comm. with Nancy Russell, archivist of the NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry, WV.
Workman, R. Bryce (1991). National Park Service Uniforms: Badges and Insignia 1894-1991. NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry, WV.
Workman, R. Bryce (1995). National Park Service Uniforms: Ironing Out the Wrinkles 1920-1932. NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry, WV.